Which inventor listed first made rubber balloons?

The first rubber balloons were made by Professor Michael Faraday (1791-1867) in 1824 for use in his experiments with hydrogen at the Royal Institution in London. "The caoutchouc is exceedingly elastic," he wrote in the 'Quarterly Journal of Science' the same year. Caoutchouc is a form of unvulcanized rubber also called natural rubber and India rubber.

"Bags made of it...have been expanded by having air forced into them until the caoutchouc was quite transparent, and when expanded by hydrogen they were so light as to form balloons with considerable ascending power...".

Farady made his balloons by cutting round two sheets of rubber laid together and pressing the edges together. The tacky rubber welded automatically, and the inside of the ballon was rubbed with flour to prevent the opposing surfaces joining together.

Farady was an English scientist who also contributed to the study of electromagnetism and electrochemistry. Although he received little formal education, he was one of the most influential scientists of his time. He is well recognized and noted for his multiple contributions and inventions including an early form of the Bunsen burner, used as a common piece of laboratory equipment that produces a single open flame.

Thomas Saint invented the sewing machine. Samuel Bentham invented plywood. Peter Mark Roget was a physician, natural theologian and lexicographer best known for publishing the 'Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases'.