Pseudomagnetism

Recently I decided to entirely replace my existing shop with what I consider to be a much more aesthetically pleasing, and spacious, building; the shop floor is a now a broad, high-ceilinged, iron-framed gallery. Clearly I had to retain the breakable windows, and clearly I had to retain a balloon deck from which visitors might board the Touring Dirigible. (Even considering its antiquity, the Dirigible is still very popular. It would probably be worth me renovating it a little as, well, it is a little ugly.)

The ceiling of the gallery is rather high at nine metres or so above floor level, and given that the balloon deck is on the first floor there needs to be some method of reaching it. To begin with I merely placed a large hole through which one could fly, but really, unassisted flight is terribly ungainly and gauche. A large spiral staircase... hm, well, not really me.

I decided upon a balloon-related solution instead. The central component of this is a platform suspended from four balloons, filled of course with my secret formula of lifting gas and thus providing considerably more lift than one might expect from their size. The platform is placed underneath the above-mentioned hole in the first floor. Such a platform, of course, if not strictly controlled would simply rise to the rafters, stay there and be no use to anyone, and so when it is either on the shop floor or at the balloon deck, it is held in place by sturdy bolts.

When the balloon is released from the shop floor it naturally rises upwards, turning slowly, until it reaches the correct elevated position at which point the upper bolts engage. How, though, does it descend? The most straightforward solution would be to have it pulled down by chains, or perhaps drop ballast, but I am certainly not here to provide straightforward solutions, and thus have employed a gigantic Electro-Magnet to pull the platform down again. It sparks and buzzes and pulls the platform down until the lower bolts can be engaged.

Here follows the obligatory video demonstration:

Electro-Magnetic Balloonery on Vimeo

Of course, this is not a traditional electromagnet, which would collapse the entire building, use a ridiculously immense amount of power (I haven't even bothered calculating this) and brutally rip all of the "bling" from the attachment points of passers-by (perhaps not a terribly bad thing, come to think of it). I am not at liberty to discuss the precise mechanism at this time, I'm afraid, under orders from the Ministry.

Actually I am a little concerned about this and would prefer a more traditional physics-based approach. I may still change it entirely.

Oh, and a quick message to the segment of the population who, upon being given a peculiarly-named object by another peculiarly-named object, have the immediate reaction to rez it upon the ground or other surface: please don't. One advantage to having one's own personal Biological Clock running on good old British Summer Time, though, is that periods of Grid-Disruptive Fence-Breaking do tend to occur whilst one is asleep, and be fixed by the time one awakens.