Miracles of Modern Magic
Harry Whiteley
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Inflated Balloons Produced from a Hat
THIS quite recent addition to the stock-in-trade of a conjurer is well worthy a place in many programmes. The balloons used should be of the wide neck kind, and may be obtained at any toy dealer at threepence each. Besides these a number of much smaller balloons are required (the smallest obtainable), which cost half a crown per gross.
Bicarbonate of soda and tartaric acid prove the most reliable inflating agents, a quarter of a pound of each material sufficing to inflate about half a dozen balloons. The tartaric acid should be emptied in a jam jar of similar vessel, just covered with water and allowed to stand. With the assistance of a syringe this tartaric water is pumped into one of the small balloons until it attains the size of a small egg; it is then tied up at the mouth and inserted through the neck into the larger balloon. Into the latter is now placed a table-spoonful of bicarbonate of soda and then tightly tied up. When it is desired to inflate the balloon it is nonly necessary to squeeze it from the outside. The pressure breaks the skin of tartaric water, which, acting on the carbonate, causes an effervescence that fully expands the balloon in a few seconds.
If using an opera or crush hat for the trick, four of the prepared balloons can be concealed beneath the springs, the hat lying closed on the table. This avoids the necessity of loading, which operation is necessary when an ordinary hat is used.
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