A Splash of Color for Winter

By Suzanne Norquist

Now that the holidays are over and white landscapes abound, I would welcome some color in my dreary world. And what better way to find it than with festive balloons? The colored latex filled with air or helium are just the thing to brighten one’s mood.

Balloons haven’t always been fanciful party decorations. In ancient times, children played with balloons made of animal innards. And scientists used them in experiments. Galileo, in the 14^th century, used a pig’s bladder to measure the weight of air.

That’s enough about body parts—on to more recent history.

Larger balloons came along before the smaller ones. The Montgolfier brothers constructed a hot air balloon capable of carrying people in 1783. They first tested it with a sheep, a hen, and a duck. After that successful flight, people took to the air. That same year, Jacques Charles built a hydrogen balloon for passengers.

The smaller version came about as part of a scientific experiment to study the properties of gases. In 1824, Michael Faraday fashioned balloons out of rubber. He cut two pieces of rubber and pressed the gummy edges together. Flour sprinkled in the middle kept the insides from sticking. One of the things he learned was that hydrogen-filled balloons would float.

 

By the following year, Thomas Hancock, a pioneer in rubber manufacturing, was selling DIY balloon kits in England. They included liquid rubber and a syringe to blow it into a ball.

In 1847, J.G. Ingram of England introduced balloons made from vulcanized rubber latex, the prototype for modern balloons. Latex was harvested from rubber trees, which was then heated and processed with sulfur. The temperature didn’t affect these balloons as much as the natural rubber ones.

By 1889, people could purchase red rubber balloons in the Montgomery Ward catalog. However, they weren’t manufactured in the United States until 1907.

The long, skinny balloons used for balloon twisting were introduced in 1912.

They have provided entertainment for over one hundred years. In the early 1900s, Samuel Sarmiento was known as the "Balloonatic.” Ted Metz went by the title "King of the Balloon Twisters” in the 1920s and 1930s. And “Mr. Balloon” enthralled audiences of the 1950s and 1960s. Marvin Hardy dominated the balloon entertainment scene of the 1970s and 1980s.

When someone wanted balloons to float, they typically filled them with hydrogen. Unfortunately, the gas is notoriously unstable and tends to explode, causing harm to those around it. In the nineteen-teens, firefighters in New York tried to ban the use of this hazardous gas in balloons.

After a serious accident involving hydrogen balloons at a New York City function, hydrogen was banned in the city. Manufacturers switched to helium, which is also lighter than air but is chemically stable.

With the safer gas, creative individuals found all kinds of uses for them. Helen Warny started the Toy Balloon Company in New York, which used them for advertising, parade floats, and fashionable window displays.

In 1931, Neil Tillotson developed the modern process for manufacturing balloons by dipping a mold into the latex. This development enabled the safe and inexpensive mass production of balloons. It turned a novelty item into a party essential.

For fun, Tillotson cut a piece of cardboard into the shape of a cat’s head and dipped it. The result was a “cat’s head” balloon that kept its shape when blown up.

There have been a few other advancements, such as balloon-within-a-balloon and mylar balloons. However, the basic product has remained essentially unchanged for the last hundred years.

If I want to have a party to scare away the winter doldrums, I can decorate with balloons—the kind that don’t explode.

 

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Love In Bloom 4-in-one collection

“A Song for Rose” by Suzanne Norquist

Can a disillusioned tenor convince an aspiring soprano that there is more to music than fame?

“Holly & Ivy” by Mary Davis

At Christmastime, a young woman accompanies her impetuous younger sister on her trip across the country to be a mail-order bride and loses her heart to a gallant stranger.

“Periwinkle in the Park” by Kathleen E. Kovach

A female hiking guide, who is helping to commission a national park, runs into conflict with a mountain man determined to keep the government off his land.

“A Beauty in a Tansy”

Two adjacent store owners are drawn to each other, but their older relatives provide obstacles to their ever becoming close.

Republished from Bouquet of Brides

Buy links: https://books2read.com/u/bOOx8K

https://www.amazon.com/Love-Bloom-Mary-Davis/dp/B0FPLFYCXR/

 

 

Suzanne Norquist is the author of two novellas. Everything fascinates her. She has worked as a chemist, professor, financial analyst, and even earned a doctorate in economics. Research feeds her curiosity, and she shares the adventure with her readers. She lives in New Mexico with her mining engineer husband and has two grown children. When not writing, she explores the mountains, hikes, and attends kickboxing class.