30 gram Meteorological Balloon Neck Size Comparison
As a result of the cessation of balloon production by Kaysam Worldwide Inc. Many United States users will be switching to meteorological balloons made by Totex of Japan.
The quality of the Totex balloon is very high due to the more modern methods of forming the balloons employed by Totex. However the neck sizes of the Totex 30 gram pilot balloon is significantly smaller than the commonly shipped Kaysam 30 gram balloon. Historically two neck sizes were specified for U.S. specification 30 gram balloons, recently only the larger size pictured below was being shipped by Kaysam.
Samples of 30 gram Kaysam balloons purchased in June of 2003 were compared to samples of 30 gram Totex balloons obtained from Kaymont a US distributor for Totex.
The balloon necks were flattened and the with measured with a caliper. The sample balloons were then fitted to U.S. Specification 30/100 gram Pilot Balloon Nozzle*.
30 Gram Balloons:
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| Kaysam 30 Gram Neck Flattened | Totex 30 Gram Neck Flattened |
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| Both 30 gram balloons for comparison | Both 30 gram balloons with necks overlapping |
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| Kaysam 30 gram balloon on nozzle | Totex 30 Gram balloon on nozzle |
In the photos above it is apparent that the Totex balloons can be used with the U.S. standard dual injector gram balloon nozzle. However a single injector nozzle having only the larger diameter injector will not be usable, with the Totex balloon.
Injector Sizes:**
Large - 44.2mm (O.D. of rounded top) x 41.3mm (O.D. Cylinder)
Small - 22.2mm (O.D. of rounded top) x 17.4mm (O.D. Cylinder)
a 10 Gram balloon comparison is also on this web site.
*The nozzle system above is a double sided us nozzle ML-373 and sized identically to the ML-462 nozzle (ML-462 is weighted differently for dual gas operation) The ML-373 above has weight added for helium gas use but its injectors are the same diameters as the ML-462 standard 30/100 gram pilot balloon nozzle system.
**Measured sizes on this particular ML-373/GM nozzle not taken from a specification sheet.