high-altitude weather balloons with cameras around 1890?

So, about ten years before Marconi demonstrated that radio waves could be sent from Cornwall, England, to Newfoundland, Canada.
 
http://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/society/marconi-guglielmo.php

‘ . . . On the 12 December [1901] Marconi pressed his ear to the telephone headset of his rudimentary receiver and successfully heard "pip, pip, pip" - slightly more than 2100 miles from the transmitter. This demonstrated that transatlantic wireless communication was possible. While "ground waves" followed the curvature of the earth for only a short distance over the horizon, "sky waves" also bounced off the ionosphere in the upper atmosphere and returned to earth, which although unknown at the time, . . . ’
Okay, so bouncing waves off the ionosphere was unknown at the time. But a high-altitude balloon is not going to have this whole issue of whether “ground waves” can follow the curvature of the Earth.
 
In mid-1896 Nobel applied for patents in England and France for “An Improved Mode of Obtaining Photographic Maps and Earth or Ground Measurements” using a photographic camera carried by a “…balloon, rocket or missile…”. During the remaining of 1896 the mechanical design of the camera mechanism was pursued and cameras manufactured. In April 1897 (after the death of Alfred Nobel) the first aerial photos were taken by these cameras.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0094576509003452

It seems that if Alfred Nobel lived longer he might have the money, motivation and prestige to prusue such a project.
 
Top