sful improvements, which thrive on their own merits, the
Balloon Frame has passed through and survived the theory, ridicule and
abuse of all who have seen fit to attack it, and may be reckoned among
the prominent inventions of the present generation, an invention neither
fostered nor developed by any hope of great rewards, but which plainly
and boldly acknowledges its origin in necessity.

[Illustration: FIG. 107.--_Isometrical Perspective View of the Balloon
Frame._]

The increasing value of lumber and labor, must turn the attention of men
of moderate means to those successful plans which have demonstrated
economy in both, and at the same time preserved the full qualities of
strength and security so generally accorded to the old fogy principles
of framing, and which, we presume to say, is inferior in all the true
requisites of cheap and substantial building. Light sticks, uninjured by
cutting mortices or tenons, a close basket-like manner of construction,
short bearings, a continuous support for each piece of timber from
foundation to rafter, and embracing and taking advantage of the
practical fact, that the tensile and compressible strength of pine
lumber is equal to one-fifth of that of wrought iron, constitute
improvements introduced with this frame.

If, in erecting a building, we can so use our materials that every
strain will come in the direction of the fibre of some portion of the
wood work, we can make inch boards answer a better purpose than foot
square beams, and this application of materials is one reason of the
strength of Balloon Frames.

[Illustration: FIG. 108.--_Floor Plan._]

The Balloon Frame belongs to no one person; nobody claims it as an
invention, and yet in the art of construction it is one of the most
sensible improvements that has ever been made.

That which has hitherto called out a whole neighborhood, and required a
vast expenditure of labor, time, and noise, can, by the adoption of the
balloon frame, be done with all the quietness and security of an
ordinary day's work. A man and boy can now attain the same results,
with ease, that twenty men could on an old fashioned frame.

The name of "Basket Frame" would convey a better impression, but the
name "Balloon" has long ago outlived the derision which suggested it.

[Illustration: FIG. 109.--_Elevation Section--manner of nailing--A.
corner stud, 4 by 4--B. joist, 3 by 8--C. stud, 2 by 4._]

[Illustration: FIG. 110.--_D. Upper Edge of