Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1885-12-19
The Toy Dalloo0.
TRADE SECRETS REVEALED By soN or
SUNNY ITALY.
From the rhfladolphia News

SUNNY ITALY.
From the Philadelphia News
The Italian reporter Of the Neses, knowing the
anxiety Of little toddlers TO learn the secret Of
the toy balloon trade, yesterday corraled an
Italian with his bunch Of gas bags on 9Th street,
ana In half an hours talk, carried on In the
musical language Of Tuseanys sunny cline,
eiicited few facts about balloons and their
manufacture.
The balloon peddlers buy the little rubber
porting them themselves and sometimes buy
ing them through New York importers. When
but immersion in warm wafer and . little
pulled apart. When the balloon man con-
3. GENE Ss % ne
does the work OF filling in the morning before
ries but one kind of balloon with him, which is
either the gas balloon, fastened to the end of q
thread, or the air balloon ON the end Of toy
country fairs, Where men 'n and maidsns chill l.
drsn A. and Old women alike buy and carry about
These are simply inflated gum bladders,
painted and gelatined, filled with nothing more
than atmospheric air. The bright-colored and
dustrious Italians excite the desires of the chill
dren along north 9th street, are generally those
fastened to threads, and are inflated SO as to
expensive and troublesome kind that the bal
Don men have to make. The ordinary "stick bal
mere bowppe Of any KIND sn hand belows
being generally used for the purpose. For the
imitation OF the "string" balloons the first thing
chine, in which he manufactures the light gas
with which he blows up the flmy bags. These
machines are Of foreign manufacture, and can
firm In New York. The gas is made by mixing
certain proportions of muriatic acid and zinc
with some other ingredient, the nature of which
the makers refuse to divufge, in the large gene
rating tank OF the machine. From the large
tank rubber pipe connection carries the gene
stands upright. From the top Of this smaller
tank piece of pipe of small caiber extends
four or five inches. There is key in the pipe
When the peddler knows the day will be fair
ne knows also that the balloon market will be
s,e rsi1g ONE and he makes supply Of gas sufi
sits down at his initiating machine with a pile
OF rubber biadders on one side of him and his
spool OF white thread on the other One by one
he takes up the little rubber bags inserts the
small pipe into the neck of the bag, turns the
Key, and out swells the balloon to the proper
is twisted tight enough to prevent the escape
OF the gas. few turns Of thread, q knot and
the balloon is strong. Then they mus! be orna-
mented With little daubs of paint, which repre-
sent flags, eagles, faces, birds and animals. To
protect them from the influences OF the weather,
and also to give them their bright, glistening
appearance, which Is much more pleasing to
the 1nfantile eye than the duh color of the un-
dressed rubber, thin film Of very fine gelatine
- SPA VeSN oSCI Iuc" Win b UTuSu. l0oy are
then tied IN lunches and sent into the street
In the hands of the entire family, from the head
OF the house, the man ufacturer OF the toys,
down 70 the smallest child.
On nice, bright day family of Italians,
spread along Chestnut and 9Th streets can
easily sell from $50 to 200 balloons in q day.
and earn from twelve to seventeen dollars. At
THAT rate OF profit, If every day were bright and
every days sales SO good, the balloon peddler
Wonld soon make an Independent fortune The
days OF heavy sales are few, however, and there
are less than q half dozen men in Philadelphia
VINO nave an initiating machine and these are
the only ones who know how the initiating gas
iS made.
Another drawback to the extensive manu-
facture of toy balloons is the fact that it is a
toy for the day only, and a stock of inflated
balloons cadnot be kept hand. as they
either collapse so much as to become unstable
or else burst If kept over night. The salesman
or maker gets over this difficulty by letting out
the gas from those balloons which they fail to
sell and initiate them again the next time they
want TO offer their wares for sale.
y! nave stoppa da beesness," said an old
balloon maker named Fogacci, who was met
by Ne'os reporter last night. "Maka me
seeck."
The fumes of the muriatic acid and zinc, he
said, were injurious to the health, and besides
that the balloon maker gets his lungs full OF the
dust of the rubber in testing the bags before
1nhating them, and the smell of the cheap
paint which he uses in ornamenting them nau-
seates him. Nearly all the balloon peddlers
are at present making the circuit of the differ
can be seen on the streets of Philadelphia
They will all be back again during the coming
week, and Chestnut and 9Th streets will be
Lined with them.