| Balloon is a small sized toy made of latex. Mainly, balloons are used for
decorating the premises and during holidays.
History:
- For the first time, balloons were made from animal's urinary
bladder;
- Modern day balloons appeared only in 1824. Balloons were
invented by English scientist Michael Faraday during his experiments
with hydrogen.
Balloons exist in various shapes. Majority of balloons have simple
oval shape.
Looking at modern-day balloons, many people think that this bright &
pleasing toy was available only recently. Some, more updated,
consider, that balloons appeared somewhere in the middle of last
century side-by-side with the onset of technical revolution.
But, actually - no! History of balls, filled with air started much
earlier. Only, ancestors (forefathers) of balloons looked
differently than they look these days.
First references about the manufacture of balls, flying in air, are
found in Karelian manuscripts. In them, creation of such ball, made
from skin of whale and bull, is described! And chronicles of XII
century narrate us that practically each family of Karelian village
had an air balloon. Moreover, ancient karelians partially sorted out
the problems of finding ways with the help of air balloons – people
could travel distances between settlements using air balloons. But
such travel, alas, was dangerous enough: animal skin cases could not
withstand the air pressure for longer periods –i.e. in other words,
these air balloons were explosion hazardous. And, in the end, only
legends have remained, which can be either believed or not …
But not even 7 centuries have passed from the time of semi-mythic
epoch, how rubber air balloons were invented by Professor Michael
Faraday in London. Scientist studied elastic properties of rubber -
and made two "flat cakes" from this material. So that the “Flat Cakes”
did not stick together, Faraday worked-up the inner sides of “Flat
Cakes” with flour. Only after that, Faraday pasted the un-worked
edges, which are still sticky, with fingers. As the end result, he
could make a something, looking like a bag, which can be used for
experiments with hydrogen.
Only after 80 years, scientific bag for hydrogen turned out to be a
popular entertainment; rubber balls were widely used in Europe during
city holidays. Due to filled gas, the bags could go up in air and this
pleased the public, which was not still aware of air flights and other
miracles of technology.
But these air balloons in someway or the other resembled their
legendary predecessors: hydrogen (and hydrogen, as is known, is gas
explosive) was used. But, nevertheless, public got used to hydrogen –
thanks, that special troubles due to air balloons, filled with this
gas, were not heard till 1922. In 1922, on one of city holidays of
USA, a certain joker, for the sake of fun, blew up decorative air
balloon. An officer was a victim of this explosion and consequently,
law and order authorities reacted promptly enough. Amusement, which
appeared to be enough dangerous was at last stopped by prohibiting the
filling of air balloons with hydrogen. Nobody suffered from this
decision – more safe helium occupied the place of hydrogen in
balloons. Balloons, filled with helium gas, went up in air as
hydrogen-filled balloons.
In 1931, first modern latex air balloon (latex polymer was obtained
from rubber latex) was introduced by Neil Tillotson. And since then,
shape of air balloons, at last, could change! Earlier, balloons were
round - and with arrival of latex, opportunity to create long, narrow
air balloons appeared for the first time. This innovation immediately
found application: designers who decorate the holidays, started making
balloons in the shapes of dogs, giraffes, planes, hats... and Company
of Neil Tillotson prospered. She sold millions of balloon sets,
intended for creation of funny figures, through mail.
Certainly, quality of air balloons, at that time, was not such, as it
is now: upon blowing, balloons lost part of their brightness and the
balloons were not durable and quickly got burst. Hence, air balloons
gradually lost their popularity – i.e. they could lift up in air but
in 20th century, the balloons seemed to be no more miraculous and
attractive
Therefore, long before the end of 20th century, air balloons were
purchased only for city and children holidays. Production of balloons
was not profitable and as a result, many manufacturers of that period
diversified their company activities and started manufacture of
contraceptives (which were also manufactured from latex).
But inventors did not forget about air balloons and worked towards the
improvement of air balloons. And at last, the situation has changed!
Now, the industry manufactures such balloons, which do not lose color
upon blowing - and in addition, balloons became much stronger and
durable. Therefore, now air balloons once again became very popular -
designers willingly use them to decorate various holidays, concerts
and presentations. Weddings, birthdays, city holidays, PR companies,
show... - improved and bright air balloons are found at every place.
Such is the interesting and ancient history of somewhat simple fun,
which is familiar to us from childhood. |
January 9 is the International Balloon Day. Balloons were invented thousands of years ago, and used to be made of dried animal bladders. These days balloons abound in a variety of types - from party and greeting card balloons, to balloon aircraft, and even balloon mail.
