naphtha, like the preparation used to  waterproof rain togs and galoshes, and then vulcanized; they were  thick, more like todays balls or the tough inflated pig bladders  used in games before. The latex toy balloon was invented in 1931 by  Neil E. Tillotson of Colebrook, New Hampshire. The originals were  white or black; colored balloons came along even later, when dyes  that would not dissolve the latex were developed.