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Naturally Occurring Polymers—Plants 311

acid is a fossil resin found with peat, coal, or lignite deposits throughout the world. It is used as a
soil conditioner, as a component of oil drilling muds, and as a scavenger for heavy metals. Amber
is a fossil resin found in the Baltic Sea regions, and sandarac and copals are found in Morocco and
Oceania, respectively. Casein, a protein from milk, under the name of Galalith, has been used as a
molding resin and as an adhesive.

9.12 BALLOONS

Balloons have been part of our everyday lives from birthdays to graduations. As with many simple
objects, their origin is unknown. Balloon-like objects have been part of ancient stories and probably
were initially used in sport. These early balloons were made of animal bladders and intestines, both
being protein-based, and hence polymeric. European jesters inflated the animal entrails using them

to entertain others. Galileo inflated a pig’s bladder to help measure the weight of air.

While there are also new world mentions of similar balloon construction, it was not until rubber
arrived on the scene that the manufacture of balloons, as balloons we know today, began.
In 1824, Michael Faraday used NR to produce balloons for his hydrogen experiments at the
Royal Institution in London. He writes “ . . . The caoutchouc is exceedingly elastic . . . .Bags made
of it . . . have been expanded by having air forced into them, until the caoutchouc was quite trans-
parent, and when expanded by hydrogen they were so light as to form balloons with considerable
ascending power . . . ” Faraday constructed his balloons by cutting two layered sheets of rubber and
then pressing the edges together. Flour was applied to the inside of the balloons because the native
rubber was tacky and would adhere preventing it from being infl ated.
Toy balloons were introduced by Thomas Hancock in 1825 as a do-it-yourself kit that consisted of
a rubber solution and a syringe. Vulcanized toy balloons were initially manufactured by J. G. Ingram
of London in 1847. The vulcanizing caused the balloons to be nontacky and not susceptible to
becoming excessively tacky on hot days. Montgomery Ward had balloons in their catalog by 1889.
In America, the story of the balloon coincided with the story of the tire, both requiring an
understanding and use of rubber. The initial manufacture of balloons in the United States was in
1907 by the Anderson Rubber Company in Akron, Ohio. In 1912, Harry Rose Gill, founder of the
National Latex Rubber Products of Ashland, Ohio, made a nonspherical cigar-shaped balloon. Gill
also began packaging balloons in packs, the initial sanitary balloon package.
Neil Tillotson, at 16, began work at the Hood Rubber Company in Boston. After a 2-year period
in the Seventh Cavalry during World War I, he returned to the Hood Rubber Company. Of about
25 Hood chemists, Neil was the only one without a college degree. But, he was inventive and with the

first load of raw rubber latex in the 1920s, he started a lifelong romance with rubber. The company’s
initial efforts with the raw latex were unsuccessful and the company largely dropped its efforts to
produce balloons. Tillotson persevered working out of his own home. Eventually, he managed to
“tame” the latex sufficiently to make stylistic balloons using techniques similar to what is employed

today. They cut a cat-like face from cardboard. He dipped the cat-like mold in latex and allowed it to
dry. Inflated, it did resemble a cat. His first sale was an order for 15 gross for use at the annual Patriots

Day Parade on April 19, 1931. Next, he formed a family business, incorporating later in 1931, using
his family as an assembly line in the production of balloons. During the great depression, Neil trav-
eled by bus around the country to sell his balloons. The Tillotson Rubber Company is still in opera-
tion with the balloon division named Dipco, a nice reminder of the way balloons are still made.
Rubber latex is sensitive to the influence of external forces or chemical agents. Thus, the so-

called alligator balloon is formed when solid colored balloons are dipped in an acid bath, causing
the balloon to turn into two shades, supposedly like an alligator. The radium balloon is produced by
taking a solid colored balloon and dipping it a second time into another color.

Commercially inflated balloons held hydrogen and helium. Hydrogen was preferred because of its

somewhat, about 10%, greater lifting ability. Hydrogen balloons were first produced by Faraday, as
noted before. But, along with its greater lifting power, hydrogen offers a danger. On ignition, hydrogen

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