Abstract: A one-piece load line pocket (30) is disclosed for a hot air balloon (10). The load line pocket comprises an elongate fabric tape having a pair of opposing, longitudinally extending shoulders (31, 32). One of the pair of shoulders is adapted to be placed in overlapping relation, respectively, with an adjacent balloon envelope gore (24) and stitched thereto. The gores (24) are secured together in closely adjacent relation to each other but free of any direct interconnection therebetween. The tape also has a longitudinally extending, tubular pocket (34) intermediate to and integrally formed with the pair of shoulders (31, 32) for freely enclosing a load line (18) which extends from the top to the bottom of the balloon envelope (11) for supporting a balloon carriage (16).

Abstract: A balloon envelope is disclosed which has the ability to minimize and isolate destructive tears, and which comprises a latticework of interconnected vertical and lateral reinforcing tapes which form open areas therebetween, and with a fabric panel overlying and covering each open area. The fabric panels are sewn to the surrounding tapes in a manner such that there is no direct interconnection between adjacent fabric panels. The envelope is fabricated by a procedure wherein the vertical gores, which are each composed of a vertical array of the fabric panels, are initially formed by sewing adjacent side edges of adjacent panels to intermediate laterally directed tapes, and then sewing a vertical tape component along each side of the resulting array of panels. The vertical side edges of the thus formed gores are then sewn together to form a sphere-like configuration.