Replica observation balloon

[andrewv128]

Does anyone know if a full-scale functioning observation balloon replica has ever been built, inflation wagons and all? Are there any original blueprints or technical data out there? Does life insurance cover amateur balloon related fatalities? Asking for a friend...

 

[The Pennsylvania Line]

To the best of my knowledge there are no surviving, formal architectural "blueprints" or technical schematics drawn by Chief Aeronaut Thaddeus Lowe or the Union Army exist today.

Yes there is fatality insurance for hot air enthusiasts.

 

[redbob]

As it took 3300 pounds of iron filings and 1600 pounds of sulfuric acid to generate the hydrogen for each balloon filling in the field, besides the cost in materials; it would be a potential haz mat incident every time that you wished to accurately fill your balloon. And if I remember correctly, I have seen plans/ pictures for the hydrogen generators.

 

[captaindrew]

Does anyone know if a full-scale functioning observation balloon replica has ever been built, inflation wagons and all? Are there any original blueprints or technical data out there? Does life insurance cover amateur balloon related fatalities? Asking for a friend...

We actually have a balloon guy on here, paging @TSCLowe

 

[andrewv128]

As it took 3300 pounds of iron filings and 1600 pounds of sulfuric acid to generate the hydrogen for each balloon filling in the field, besides the cost in materials; it would be a potential haz mat incident every time that you wished to accurately fill your balloon. And if I remember correctly, I have seen plans/ pictures for the hydrogen generators.View attachment 588236

Holy Toledo. I knew they operated off of that, but I had no idea it took such a large amount. The EPA would lock me away! And justifiably so!

 

[TSCLowe]

Does anyone know if a full-scale functioning observation balloon replica has ever been built, inflation wagons and all? Are there any original blueprints or technical data out there? Does life insurance cover amateur balloon related fatalities? Asking for a friend...

As a professional balloon pilot - until injuries from my time in the U.S. Army grounded me - I have a gas balloon system from the 1940's I use for a living history display that stays on the ground. My display opened the Civil War Sesquicentennial Commemorations in front of the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. on June 11, 2011. I then visited all of the major Sesquicentennial Battlefields that supported the balloons finishing in 2013 with the 150th Commemoration of the Battle of Chancellorsville. After the Sesquicentennial I shared my Civil War Balloon Corps Living History Display at multiple events through 2018 when I put it in storage and moved from Virginia to California.

​

From July 2012 until the end of their 2014 season, The Genesee Country Village and Museum in Mumford New York built and operated a working 'replica' of the Intrepid complete with Thaddeus Lowe's portable hydrogen generators and gave paying spectators a tethered ascent to 300ft above the ground to view the Museum's grounds and surrounding countryside.

Their display almost never happened because of the exorbitant cost and limited availability of helium then Macey's Department Store stepped up and donated the helium required for their first year of operation. They ate the costs for the second year but couldn't afford to continue their attraction. The balloon was crated and like the remaining Civil War Balloons after Chancellorsville, were placed in a warehouse for storage ever since.

Balloons during the American Civil War used City Gas (distilled coal) or Hydrogen for lift. With today's exorbitant cost and limited availability to secure helium - what used to cost us $1,200.00 to $1,500.00 to fill a 1,000 cubic foot balloon now cost over $50,000.00 . . . if you could actually get that much helium - U.S. Gas Balloonists have gone back to flying Hydrogen. Unfortunately since one fatal event in 1937, and with today's litigious and 'viciously playful' society, U.S. regulations will not allow us to use Hydrogen for public displays.

To your second question about surviving schematics for Lowe's Hydrogen Generators I'll share this drawing. Technical details are included in Lowe's papers and F. Stansbury Hayden's "Military Ballooning During the Early Civil War":

In addition to being an accomplished Aeronaut, Thaddeus Lowe was first a Scientist and Inventor who accumulated more than 20+ registered patents in multiple fields during his lifetime. Those Patents required significant detailed drawings and included:

1. Gas Manufacturing and Heating: The Water Gas Process; Gas Burning Appliances; Incandescent Burners
2. Artificial Refrigeration and Ice Making: Carbon Dioxide Compression Ice Machine; and Cold Storage Units to include a Ship that would take refrigerated meat from Texas to New York
3. Metallurgy and Steel Production: Refining iron, copper, and steel to increase production efficiency
4. Aviation and Aerospace: While submitted, he did not receive a Patent for his Portable Hydrogen Generators; Aviation Instruments - a Barometer to determine altitude; and a Patent for a large scale, passenger carrying Airship!!


As far as your 'friend's' "amateur pursuits" note: The Federal Aviation Administration regulates Pilot Certification and Airspace. Tell your 'friend' "amateur pursuits" may lead to arrest, fines, and potential jail time even if they injure or kill themself.

Respectfully Submitted,

TSC Lowe, Aeronaut
Civil War Balloon Corps Living History

 

[TSCLowe]

@redbob: John Wise was the 'father' of ballooning in the U.S and had his personal balloon in Washington D.C. shortly after the South fired on Fort Sumpter.

His book "A System of Aeronautics" gives a hydrogen-production recipe reported as approximately:

125 lb iron + 144 lb sulfuric acid → 600 ft³ hydrogen

Scale Wise's practical recipe to fill the Union or Intrepid, 32,000-ft³ balloons:

32,000/600=53.33
Therefore:

Iron:

125×53.33≈6,667 lb

Sulfuric acid:

144×53.33≈7,680 lb

Depending upon concentration and density, 7,680 lb of commercial concentrated sulfuric acid would be roughly 500 gallons.

The commonly repeated statements that a large Lowe balloon could be completely filled using only 1,600–3,300 pounds of iron and comparatively small quantities of acid cannot be true for a fresh 32,000-ft³ hydrogen inflation.

The mathematics and chemistry simply do not permit it.

The likely explanation is that historians have confused one or more of the following:

generator capacity, one generator charge, two-generator charge, materials consumed during part of an inflation, topping off an already partially inflated balloon, and the total materials necessary for a completely empty 32,000-ft³ envelope.

This distinction is particularly important for reconstructing the logistics of Intrepid at Fair Oaks/Gaines' Mill, because the famous photographs show an inflation operation, but do not by themselves establish that the envelope began completely empty.

I would treat ~5,000 lb of iron as the physics-based absolute minimum for a fresh 32,000-ft³ hydrogen fill—and Wise's contemporary operating data suggests that something closer to 6,500–6,700 lb of iron could have been required in actual 1860s practice.

A significant water source was also essential to Lowe's Civil War hydrogen operation because the sulfuric acid was not simply poured directly onto the iron at full strength. Water was a necessary part of controlling the chemical reaction and producing usable hydrogen safely and efficiently.

One of the reasons we know of Balloon Camps today is because: 1. the iron slag left onsite, 2. the nearby water source.

Respectfully Submitted,

TSC Lowe, Aeronaut
Civil War Balloon Corps Living History

 

[bankerpapaw]

To the best of my knowledge there are no surviving, formal architectural "blueprints" or technical schematics drawn by Chief Aeronaut Thaddeus Lowe or the Union Army exist today.

Yes there is fatality insurance for hot air enthusiasts.

Hydrogen is very dangerous. Remember the Hindenberg?

 

[gary]

Since reduction of natural gas availability helium is harder to get. Be authentic, use hydrogen!

Eye keeeed.

 

[TSCLowe]

@bankerpapaw: Yes, Hydrogen can be very dangerous and of course you bring up that one fateful day in New Jersey.

Over the three years of their existence Union Balloons made over three thousand (3,000) accident and incident free ascents using City Gas or Hydrogen for lift. Until injuries from my time in the Army grounded me I personally logged thirty four (34) accident and incident free ascents using hydrogen for lift.

Because of the high costs and limited availability of helium today modern Gas Balloonists are again using hydrogen for lift.

When used with respect and safety hydrogen will do what is is supposed to do . . . .

When used without respect and safety, well, "Oh The Humanity"

Knowing he shouldn't, the Hindenburg's Pilot gave in to pressure violating weather safety. He flew in weather that included atmospheric electricity from a nearby thunderstorm because media was on the ground and the band was playing . . . and the rest, as they say, is history.

Respectfully Submitted,

TSC Lowe, Aeronaut
Civil War Balloon Corps Living History

 

[RebelWeber]

As a professional balloon pilot - until injuries from my time in the U.S. Army grounded me - I have a gas balloon system from the 1940's I use for a living history display that stays on the ground. My display opened the Civil War Sesquicentennial Commemorations in front of the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. on June 11, 2011. I then visited all of the major Sesquicentennial Battlefields that supported the balloons finishing in 2013 with the 150th Commemoration of the Battle of Chancellorsville. After the Sesquicentennial I shared my Civil War Balloon Corps Living History Display at multiple events through 2018 when I put it in storage and moved from Virginia to California.

​

View attachment 588530

From July 2012 until the end of their 2014 season, The Genesee Country Village and Museum in Mumford New York built and operated a working 'replica' of the Intrepid complete with Thaddeus Lowe's portable hydrogen generators and gave paying spectators a tethered ascent to 300ft above the ground to view the Museum's grounds and surrounding countryside.

View attachment 588534

Their display almost never happened because of the exorbitant cost and limited availability of helium then Macey's Department Store stepped up and donated the helium required for their first year of operation. They ate the costs for the second year but couldn't afford to continue their attraction. The balloon was crated and like the remaining Civil War Balloons after Chancellorsville, were placed in a warehouse for storage ever since.

Balloons during the American Civil War used City Gas (distilled coal) or Hydrogen for lift. With today's exorbitant cost and limited availability to secure helium - what used to cost us $1,200.00 to $1,500.00 to fill a 1,000 cubic foot balloon now cost over $50,000.00 . . . if you could actually get that much helium - U.S. Gas Balloonists have gone back to flying Hydrogen. Unfortunately since one fatal event in 1937, and with today's litigious and 'viciously playful' society, U.S. regulations will not allow us to use Hydrogen for public displays.

To your second question about surviving schematics for Lowe's Hydrogen Generators I'll share this drawing. Technical details are included in Lowe's papers and F. Stansbury Hayden's "Military Ballooning During the Early Civil War":

View attachment 588536

In addition to being an accomplished Aeronaut, Thaddeus Lowe was first a Scientist and Inventor who accumulated more than 20+ registered patents in multiple fields during his lifetime. Those Patents required significant detailed drawings and included:

1. Gas Manufacturing and Heating: The Water Gas Process; Gas Burning Appliances; Incandescent Burners
2. Artificial Refrigeration and Ice Making: Carbon Dioxide Compression Ice Machine; and Cold Storage Units to include a Ship that would take refrigerated meat from Texas to New York
3. Metallurgy and Steel Production: Refining iron, copper, and steel to increase production efficiency
4. Aviation and Aerospace: While submitted, he did not receive a Patent for his Portable Hydrogen Generators; Aviation Instruments - a Barometer to determine altitude; and a Patent for a large scale, passenger carrying Airship!!


As far as your 'friend's' "amateur pursuits" note: The Federal Aviation Administration regulates Pilot Certification and Airspace. Tell your 'friend' "amateur pursuits" may lead to arrest, fines, and potential jail time even if they injure or kill themself.

Respectfully Submitted,

TSC Lowe, Aeronaut
Civil War Balloon Corps Living History

Well if they kill themselves they will avoid the fines and the jail time.

 

[andrewv128]

As a professional balloon pilot - until injuries from my time in the U.S. Army grounded me - I have a gas balloon system from the 1940's I use for a living history display that stays on the ground. My display opened the Civil War Sesquicentennial Commemorations in front of the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. on June 11, 2011. I then visited all of the major Sesquicentennial Battlefields that supported the balloons finishing in 2013 with the 150th Commemoration of the Battle of Chancellorsville. After the Sesquicentennial I shared my Civil War Balloon Corps Living History Display at multiple events through 2018 when I put it in storage and moved from Virginia to California.

​

View attachment 588530

From July 2012 until the end of their 2014 season, The Genesee Country Village and Museum in Mumford New York built and operated a working 'replica' of the Intrepid complete with Thaddeus Lowe's portable hydrogen generators and gave paying spectators a tethered ascent to 300ft above the ground to view the Museum's grounds and surrounding countryside.

View attachment 588534

Their display almost never happened because of the exorbitant cost and limited availability of helium then Macey's Department Store stepped up and donated the helium required for their first year of operation. They ate the costs for the second year but couldn't afford to continue their attraction. The balloon was crated and like the remaining Civil War Balloons after Chancellorsville, were placed in a warehouse for storage ever since.

Balloons during the American Civil War used City Gas (distilled coal) or Hydrogen for lift. With today's exorbitant cost and limited availability to secure helium - what used to cost us $1,200.00 to $1,500.00 to fill a 1,000 cubic foot balloon now cost over $50,000.00 . . . if you could actually get that much helium - U.S. Gas Balloonists have gone back to flying Hydrogen. Unfortunately since one fatal event in 1937, and with today's litigious and 'viciously playful' society, U.S. regulations will not allow us to use Hydrogen for public displays.

To your second question about surviving schematics for Lowe's Hydrogen Generators I'll share this drawing. Technical details are included in Lowe's papers and F. Stansbury Hayden's "Military Ballooning During the Early Civil War":

View attachment 588536

In addition to being an accomplished Aeronaut, Thaddeus Lowe was first a Scientist and Inventor who accumulated more than 20+ registered patents in multiple fields during his lifetime. Those Patents required significant detailed drawings and included:

1. Gas Manufacturing and Heating: The Water Gas Process; Gas Burning Appliances; Incandescent Burners
2. Artificial Refrigeration and Ice Making: Carbon Dioxide Compression Ice Machine; and Cold Storage Units to include a Ship that would take refrigerated meat from Texas to New York
3. Metallurgy and Steel Production: Refining iron, copper, and steel to increase production efficiency
4. Aviation and Aerospace: While submitted, he did not receive a Patent for his Portable Hydrogen Generators; Aviation Instruments - a Barometer to determine altitude; and a Patent for a large scale, passenger carrying Airship!!


As far as your 'friend's' "amateur pursuits" note: The Federal Aviation Administration regulates Pilot Certification and Airspace. Tell your 'friend' "amateur pursuits" may lead to arrest, fines, and potential jail time even if they injure or kill themself.

Respectfully Submitted,

TSC Lowe, Aeronaut
Civil War Balloon Corps Living History

Thank you so much for all that information. I was just kidding about the "asking for a friend thing". I would never be crazy enough to try to build a balloon. I think all the work you have done is great. I had no clue if a replica existed, much less being used and displayed so much like you described. You are a credit to preservation!. That is what I love about this forum. It never takes long to find a true expert who is willing to share so much knowledge, information, and stories.

 

[Bur Oak]

Hydrogen is very dangerous. Remember the Hindenberg?

People always point to the Hindenburg, but don't really understand hydrogen or how it burns. Hydrogen is not explosive. It burns with a pale blue flame, and virtually all the heat goes straight up. There is almost no radiant heat. A sheet of aluminum foil would be adequate protection. If it was just the hydrogen burning, the top would have burned off the Hindenburg, while the bottom would have remained largely intact. The Hindenburg burned with a red-orange flame, and the flames rapidly spread to the entire outer skin, top, sides and bottom.

I saw a convincing documentary based on research by a NASA scientist. His assertion was that the materials used to dope the outer skin were largely responsible for the disaster. They used iron oxide for waterproofing and powdered aluminum for reflectivity to reduce heat from the sun. Those are two components of thermite, and are used in solid rocket fuel. This helps to explain how the flames spread so rapidly, especially to the lower portions of the airship. While the hydrogen no doubt contributed to the inferno, it wasn't solely the culprit. In fact the skin may have only ignited most of the hydrogen once the flames from the skin compromised the individual hydrogen bags inside.

 

[gary]

I've heard the same about the Hindenburg's paint coat.

 

[J C J Barefoot]

Does anyone know if a full-scale functioning observation balloon replica has ever been built, inflation wagons and all? Are there any original blueprints or technical data out there? Does life insurance cover amateur balloon related fatalities? Asking for a friend...

Just an FYI. At the National Museum of the US Air Force in Dayton Ohio, as part of the extensive collection there is an exhibit devoted to the history and development of observation balloons including their use in the CW. Very informative. Also, if you've never been to the museum it is simply amazing. To do the entire 3 buildings takes
1 1/2 to 2 days.