The American Boy's Handy Book/Chapter 15

​

Did you ever, while watching a beautiful soap-bubble dance merrily through the air, think how closely it resembled the immense silken bubble beneath which the daring aëronaut goes bounding among the clouds?

Especially is this true of the gas-bubble described in the foregoing chapter. When a boy, the author's ambition naturally led him from these vapor balloons to experimenting in Image missingToo long a neck (unsafe). more lasting material than soapsuds. He then devoted his attention for some time to paper balloons, and, after numerous experiments and disasters, succeeded in building balloons of a style which is comparatively safe from accident and seldom the cause of a mortifying failure. If you do not want to disappoint the spectators by having a fire instead of an ascension, avoid models with small mouth-openings or narrow necks. Experience has also taught the writer that balloons of good, substantial, portly build go up best and make their journey in a stately, dignified manner, while the slim, narrow balloon, on the contrary, even if it suc​ceeds in getting a safe start, goes bobbing through the air, turning this way and that, until the flame from the fire-ball touches and lights the thin paper, leaving only a handful of ashes floating upon the summer breeze.

The reader can see here illustrated some of the objectionable shapes as well as some of the safe styles. For large balloons, strong manila-paper is best; for smaller ones, use tissue-paper.

​When you build a balloon, decide first what height you want it; then make the side pieces or gores nearly a third longer; Image missingPumpkin-shaped Balloon (safe). a balloon of thirteen gores, each six feet long and one foot greatest width, when distended with hot air ready to ascend, is a little over four feet high. For such a balloon, first make a pattern of stiff brown paper by which to cut the gores. Το make the pattern, take a strip of paper six feet long and a little over one foot wide; fold the paper in the centre lengthwise, so that it will be only slightly over a half foot from the edges to the fold. Image missingRegular-shaped Balloon (safe). Along the bottom measure two inches from the fold and mark the point. At one foot from the bottom, at right angles from the folded edge, measure three inches and one-half, and mark the point; in the same manner mark off five inches from two feet up the fold. From a point three feet four inches from the bottom measure off six inches and mark the point; from this place the width decreases. At the fourth foot mark a point five inches and one-half from the fold; about three inches and a third at the fifth foot; nothing, of course, at the sixth foot, or top, where the gore will come to a point. With chalk ​or pencil draw a curved line connecting these points; cut the paper along this line and unfold it.

You will have a pattern the shape of a cigar, four inches wide at the bottom, one foot greatest width, and six feet long. After pasting your sheets of manila or tissue-paper together in strips of the required length cut out thirteen gores by the pattern just made; lay one of these gores flat upon the floor, as in Fig. 97; fold it in the centre, as in Fig. 98; over this lay another gore, leaving a margin of the under gore protruding from beneath (Fig. 99). With a brush cover the protruding edge with paste, then turn it up and over upon the upper gore, and with a towel or rag press it down until the two edges adhere. Fold the upper gore in the centre as you did the first one, and lay a third gore upon it; paste the free protruding edge; and so on ​until all thirteen are pasted. It will be found that the bottom gore and top gore have each an edge unpasted; lay these two edges together and paste them neatly.

FIG. 100.

Next you must make a hoop of rattan or some light substance to fit the mouth opening, which will be about one foot and a half in diameter. Fasten the hoop in by pasting the edges of the mouth opening around it. In very large paper balloons it is well to place a piece of string along the edge of each gore and paste it in, letting the ends of the strings hang down below the mouth; fasten the hoop in with these ends before pasting the paper over it. It will be found next to impossible to tear the hoop from a balloon, strengthened in this manner, without totally destroying the balloon.

Should you discover an opening at the top of your balloon, caused by the points not joining exactly, tie it up with a string if it be small, but if it be a large When dry, take a fan and hole paste a piece of paper over it. fan the balloon as full of air as you can, and while it is inflated make a thorough inspection of all sides to see that there are no accidental tears, holes or rips.

Fig. 100 shows the cross wires that support the fire-ball. The latter is best made of old-fashioned lamp-wick wound, rather loosely, in the form of a ball, the size depending upon the dimensions of the balloon. The sponge commonly used ​soon burns out and the balloon comes down in a very little while; but the wick-ball here described seldom fails to propel the little air-ship upward and onward out of sight. A short, fine wire should next be run quite through the wick-ball, so that it can be attached to the mouth of the balloon in an instant by hooking the ends of this wire over the cross wires at the mouth.

If you use a little care you will have no difficulty in sending up the balloon. Place your wick-ball in a pan or dish, put the corked bottle of alcohol beside it, and about thirty feet away make a simple fire-place of bricks or stones, over which place a piece of stove-pipe. Fill the fire-place with shavings, twisted pieces of paper, or anything that will light readily and make a good blaze. In a loop of string fastened at the top of the balloon for that purpose let one of the party put the end of a smooth stick, and, with the other end in his hand, mount some elevated position and hold the balloon over the fire-place. Before touching a match to the combustibles below, expand the balloon as much as possible by fanning it full of air; then light the fire. Be very careful, in all the process that follows, to hold the mouth of the balloon directly above and not too near the stove-pipe, to prevent the blaze from setting fire to the paper, which will easily ignite. At this stage of the proceedings one person must take the bottle of alcohol, uncork it, and pour the contents over the wick-ball in the basin, and the ball must be made to soak up all it will hold of the spirits. The balloon will become more and more buoyant as the air becomes heated inside, and at length, when distended to its utmost, it will begin pulling to free itself. Holding the hoop at the mouth, walk to one side of the fire and with all speed have the ball attached securely in place. Touch a light to it, and it will blaze up. At the words "All right," let go. The same instant the stick must be slid from the loop on top, so as not to tear ​the paper, and away will sail the balloon upon its airy voyage.

Never attempt to send up a balloon upon a windy day, for the wind will be sure, sooner or later, to blow the blaze aside and set the paper on fire, and if once it catches up in the air there is not much use in trying to save it.

After you have made a balloon like the one just described and sent it up successfully, you can try other shapes. A very good plan in experimenting is to make a small working model Image missingFig. 101.Method of pasting Paper and Strings for Parachute. of light tissue-paper, fill it with cold air by means of an ordinary fan, and when it is expanded any defect in form or proportion can be readily detected and remedied. If it be too narrow, cut it open at one seam and put in another gore, or vice versâ, until you are satisfied with the result; with this as a pattern, construct your larger balloon. Such a model, eighteen inches high, lies upon the writer's table. He has sent it up in the house several times by holding it a few moments over a burning gas-jet. The balloon rapidly fills with heated air, and when freed soars up to the ceiling, where it rolls along until the air cools, then falls gently to the floor.

The parachute shown in the tail-piece is simply a square piece of paper with a string at each of the four corners, meeting a short distance underneath, where a weight is attached. Fig. 101 shows how to make one that will not tear. It is made of two square pieces of paper. Two pieces of string are laid diagonally across the first paper; on top of this the second piece of ​Image missingFig. 102.Parachute attached to the Fuse and Wire. paper is pasted, enclosing the strings without disturbing them; the ends of the strings come out at the corners.

These parachutes are attached to a wire that hangs from the balloon in this manner: From the centre and top of the parachute is a string, we will say, a foot long; this is tied securely to one end of the large fuse from a pack of Chinese fire-crackers; a few inches from the other end of the fuse another string is tied and fastened to the wire. Just as the balloon starts the free end of the fuse is lighted (Fig. 102). When it has burned itself away past the point where the lower string has been fastened, it of course severs the connection between the parachute and the balloon, and the parachute drops, but does not go far, before the air beneath spreads it out, the weight at the bottom balances it, and it floats away slowly, settling lower and lower, but often travelling miles before finally reaching the earth.

All manner of objects may be attached to a parachute—notes addressed to possible finders, letters, or figures of men or animals. The latter look very odd in the air.

A real passenger balloon may be very closely imitated by painting crossed black lines upon the upper part of a paper balloon to represent the net-work. A pasteboard balloon-car, made after the manner shown in Fig. 103, and holding two pasteboard men cut out as shown in Fig. 104, may be hung on by hook​ing the wires attached to the car over the hoop at the mouth of the balloon. When the balloon and car are a little distance Image missingFig. 103.The Car. up in the air, it takes a sharp eye to detect the deception, because distance in the air cannot be easily judged.

But so far we have dealt only with day balloons; for night, you must attach some luminous object.

A lantern made like the one described in "Kite-time" (Fig. 29) may be fastened to the balloon by a long string and wire, and when it goes swinging after the larger light above, it has a curious appearance. In a similar manner, a long string of lanterns may be hung on to a large balloon, or packs of Chinese crackers may be exploded in mid-air by means of a fuse.

The writer has experimented in other fireworks, but found them very dangerous to handle. Mr. Stallknecht, of the Hat, Cap and Fur Trade Review, however, showed the author how to make a simple, safe, and beautiful pyrotechnic out of a Roman candle with colored balls, a piece of wire and a fuse. The fuse used can be bought in almost any city or town; ​ ​it is sold to miners for setting off blasts. With the wire make a sort of wheel, with two or three spokes; cut open the Roman

Image missingFig. 105. candle and extract the powder and balls; wrap up each ball with some of the powder loosely in a piece of tissue-paper and tie the paper at the ends upon the spokes or cross wires of the wheel, as shown in Fig. 105. Run the fuse spirally around, passing through each parcel containing a ball, and allow the long end of the fuse to trail down beneath from the centre or side (Fig. 106). To the rim of the wire wheel attach several wires of equal lengths with hooked ends; hook these on to the hoop at the mouth of the balloon just before letting it go, and light the trailing end of the fuse. As the fire creeps slowly along, the balloon mounts higher and higher. Image missingFig. 106.Fireworks. Suddenly the whole balloon glows with a ruddy, lurid glare. The fire has reached the first ball. another instant you see a floating globe of pale green light, then blue, and so on, until all the balls are consumed. Showers of pretty, jagged sparks are falling constantly during the illumination, caused by the burning powder. By the time all is over the tiny light of the solitary ball in the balloon looks like a star in the sky above, ​travelling where the wind chooses to blow it. The most experienced aëronaut has but very little more command over the actions of his immense silken air-ship than has the young amateur who builds his balloon of tissue-paper and sends it skyward with a ball of fire for its motive power.