How do parade balloons work

First, it was air, then a mix of low-density helium and air, and today the balloons are filled with 12, cubic feet of helium. The balloons are filled the night before at the official balloon inflation and take around 90 minutes to blow up. While it might take an hour and a half to inflate the balloons, it only takes about 15 minutes to deflate and pack them up for next year.

Once most of it is out, they lay down on the balloon kind of like you would with an air mattress , roll the character up, and put it in storage. However, they can carry a lot of weight. Since each balloon carries an average of about 12, cubic feet of helium they can lift around pounds. That explains how some balloons have managed to knock over street lamps and cause injury in years past. Balloons were introduced in , three years after the inaugural parade, and featured cartoon animal characters to replace the live zoo animals.

Initially, the balloons were air-filled and carried by string. Later, a mixture of low-density helium and air was used. This enabled parade designers to create large-proportion balloons like a foot meter hummingbird. Depending on what's being depicted, a figure may be fashioned vertically, horizontally or somewhere in between. It all starts with a pencil sketch. Aerodynamic and engineering consultants assist with calculations to make sure the balloon will fly properly.

An exact-scale replica made out of clay and a painted model also an exact-scale replica are fashioned before the actual balloon is cut out of fabric. Each balloon has several chambers and includes a zipper, an inflation device and a high-pressure valve.

Flight, inflation and deflation tests are run, and cosmetic adjustments are made. Finally, the balloon can appear in the parade, up to one year after the process began. Balloons are constructed of polyurethane, though they used to be made of rubber. Since the switch from air to helium, the behemoth balloons have coasted along with a big dose of help from volunteer balloon wranglers.

But it hasn't always been that easy to keep the balloons afloat. In , the balloons were filled with air and hoisted by cranes onto trucks due to a helium shortage. Poor weather conditions kept the balloons from being inflated at all in The balloons' dimensions vary, but most are about five to six stories high and somewhere around 60 feet 18 meters long and 30 feet 9 meters wide. This particular procession was part of the opening ceremony for a stage drama.

Processions and parades have long been used by dignitaries as one of the most important forms of celebrations, but that changed in the United States in the early s as parades and parade floats became a central part of American life. The New Orleans Mardi Gras parade as we know it was first held in And the Tournament of Roses?

The well-known parades we mentioned above are legendary because of the creativity and nostalgia and spectacle they provide. And many have some serious parameters and a big price tag to participate. Each parade also has specific design constraints. Because the floats sometimes have to travel long distances in order to get to the parade or they have to pass under bridges or through tunnels, they might have a height constraint.

How are these massive and magical parade floats even supported? A lot of engineering! The base of a float, or a float bed, must be carefully constructed, and designers must be able to calculate the strength of the frame.

This planning is super important because if it rains at all during a parade, a float can be three times as heavy as it was before. The structure built on top of the float bed must also be able to stand up to potential winds, freezing cold, or hot and humid temperatures, so the shape and design we see must be both sturdy and lightweight. This could be fiberglass, metal, wood, polyvinyl, or polyurethane foam. To make the motion look as smooth as possible, floats have multiple operators that use computers and manual fine-tuning.