BALLOONS AND PARACHUTES.
=Balloons= that really go up are always attractive but by thoughtful
planning they can be made much more beautiful. A nice white balloon
against a blue sky is very pleasing, but most boys like more color.
The hot air balloons are made of tissue paper, and consist of an
inverted bag with a light piece of reed at the bottom to keep the mouth
open. The most successful shape is shown by Fig. 184. This need not
be perfectly round on top, but may be pointed, as in Fig. 185. If the
balloon is too nearly round like a ball, it is liable to turn over and
allow the hot air to escape. If the balloon is too long and slender
vertically, it would probably flounder around in the breeze too much.
There is not the variety possible in balloons that there is in kites,
as no ballast can be attached that is of much service. In some shapes
only a very little is necessary to keep them in an upright position,
in this case a little ballast will suffice, and a number of shapes can
be made with this addition. The ballast should be suspended by strings
from the reed at the bottom, see Fig. 186. The ballast may only be a
piece of cardboard, but in some cases that little is very necessary.
Some of the boys try models of the dirigible, but usually they get
something too large for hot air manipulation. The dirigible is more of
a cigar-shaped balloon. Strings run down to a framework that carries
the propeller, which is a paper windmill in this case, but it is very
difficult to keep these representative parts light enough to be carried
by the hot air medium.
In making a balloon like Fig. 184 the covering is made in tapering
sections. The pattern given is for a five-foot balloon. The width at
the lower end of the section is five inches, three feet farther up
fifteen inches, and it comes to a point at the top. The edges of these
sections form a long curve, Fig. 187. Five feet would require just a
little over two lengths of tissue paper. There are seven sections in
the balloon.
[Illustration: FIGS. 184, 185, 186.
FIGS. 187, 188, 189, 190.
FIGS. 191, 192.]
=Inflation.= Two methods are used to fill the balloons. A wire is
stretched across the frame of the mouth of the balloon and another at
right angles to it. A ball of excelsior having been soaked in paraffin
is attached at the crossing of the two. The ball should be flattened
into a disc about two inches in diameter and one inch in thickness.
Holding the balloon up by the top the paraffin disc is lighted with a
parlor match. It burns and creates heat that collects in the upper part
of the balloon. When it is filled so that it lifts a little and wants
to get away it is released carrying up the heat generator with it.
The paraffin ball continues to furnish hot air until it burns out. A
balloon so equipped will travel several blocks, high up in the air. The
paraffin ball is also wound about with a very fine wire which is also
used to attach the ball to the wires across the opening of the balloon.
It will be seen at once that a good sized opening is necessary and in
this design, the reed band is ten inches in diameter.
The other method of filling is by means of a stove pipe furnace or
some similar device, but in this case all the heating is done on the
ground. A hole is dug in the ground and the stovepipe is banked in as
a chimney. A fire is built in the hole and the hot air goes up thru
the pipe to the balloon that is suspended over it. If it was not for
the stove pipe the blaze would ignite the walls of the balloon. Some
quite large balloons have been sent up in this way. A piece of tin or
sheet iron is good to make a cover for the hole in the ground so as to
prevent the dirt from falling in on the fire. Some use a little oil on
the fire, but there should not be too much else the blaze will reach
up thru the pipe so far as to burn up the balloon. It is well to have
a cord above so as to hold the balloon up and if it is too high to
hold with the hand, a pole with a wire on the end of it that could be
readily released might be used. As the bag gets inflated it is best to
remove the pole and hold to the bottom by the hands.
In pasting the pieces of paper together, there should be about ¼”
laps. Care must be observed in the pasting that there are no detached
places, places where the paste does not stick well, as the hot air will
escape. In the model given, one section was blue, two white, one red,
and three white, making seven in all. Sometimes the colors are worked
in differently. Half of a section will be one color, and the other half
another, and next to each will be placed some contrasting color. Still
further breaking up can be done until quite a design is worked out.
It is possible to decorate a plain balloon with surface design, but
it must be bold and not over done. An example or two may be helpful,
Figs. 188, 189, 190. Yellow and black, black and red, purple and white,
green and white, and many other good combinations can be selected, but
two or three colors are better than many. The best grade of tissue
paper is very much superior to the cheap, as the tendency of the cheap
to split out is very unsatisfactory and there are thin porous spots.
The French tissues, so called, are the best, and they come in many
shades of good colors.
=Parachutes= are other forms of balloon. They do not ascend from the
ground, but are released up in the air and float downward. Sometimes
a current of air will catch one and carry it far up and away. They
are made like an umbrella covering, sometimes in sections and again
in one piece, Figs. 191 and 192. When made in sections, they are very
much like the upper one-third of a balloon. They are made from the
size of your hand to beauties that are eight feet across; when made
of brilliantly colored paper, they are very interesting. They have
a weight suspended underneath to keep them upright in the descent.
Parachutes are usually taken up on a kite line and are released well
up in the air. The usual method of shaking them off the line is not
as good as a definite release by a tripping string from the ground.
If large ones are used, one at a time is sufficient and is simple to
release. The parachute is tied with a bow-knot to the kite line with
the extra string and as this string is pulled the knot comes untied and
the parachute is released. When smaller ones are used they can be tied
in a series and the lowest down on the string or the highest can be
released, then the next, and so on. The same string can be used to tie
on a long series.
No matter how small the parachute, it must have its suspension strings
and weight. We have tried parachute showers that have only been a
partial success, thus far. A bunch of these little parachutes each
with its own string tied to the kite line, have been released, but
in pulling them up they are so liable to get twisted up, that when
released they cling together. If they could be carefully laid in some
kind of an apron that would protect them from the breeze, I am sure
they might be tumbled out so as to separate without entanglement. It is
a very pretty sight to see a large bunch turned loose, each spreading
its tiny night cap to the air as it starts downward. They should be
of all colors, and for this purpose the one piece models and one foot
in diameter are best. There is always a scramble for the souvenir
parachutes when they are released. If one had a rubber stamp outfit, it
would be interesting to print something on their cover. Thread would be
used for the suspension cords and perhaps a shingle nail for the weight.
Another method of release given elsewhere is sometimes used by the
Chinese and Japanese, is effected by using a lighted punk such as used
to set off firecrackers; when the punk burns down far enough, it burns
off a supporting thread, thus releasing the object held.