Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 01.djvu/488

LEFT BALL AND SOCKET 396 BALLINOER BALL AND SOCKET, a joint used in machinery and piping. It consist^ of a spherical end of a rod or pipe fitting into a hollow sphere of the same size on a like piece. The object of this joint is to pro- vide a close, movable connection, and to prevent leakage in pipes. BALLABAT, or BALLAARAT, an Australian town in Victoria, chief center of the gold-mining industry of the col- ony, and next in importance to Mel- bourne, from which it is distant W. N. W. about 75 miles. It consists of two distinct municipalities, Ballarat West and Ballarat East, separated by the Yarrowee creek, and has many handsome buildings, and all the institutions of a progressive and flourishing city. Gold was first discovered in 1851. The surface dig- gings having been exhausted, the pre- cious metal is now got from mines ^ as deep as some coal-pits, the gold being obtained by crushing the auriferous quartz. There are also foundries, woolen mills, flour mills, breweries and distil- leries, etc. Pop. (1918) 39,970. BALLAST, a term applied (1) to heavy matter, as stone, sand, iron, or water placed in the bottom of a ship or other vessel, to sink it in the water to such a depth as to enable it to carry sufficient sail without oversetting. (2) The sand placed in bags in the car of a balloon to steady it and to enable the aeronaut to lighten the balloon by throw- ing part of it out. (3) The material used to fill up the space between the rails on a railway in order to make it firm and solid. BALLENY ISLANDS, a group of five small volcanic islands, discovered in the Antarctic Ocean, in 1839, nearly on the Antarctic Circle, and in longitude 164° E. One contains Freeman's Peak (12,000 feet). BALLIN, ALBERT, German ship- master and financier. He was born in Hamburg, in 1857. He spent several years in England, studying the shipping conditions there, and returned to Ger- many, where in 1886, when only 29 years old, he became director-general of the Hamburg-America line, the great steam- ship line, whose operations spread all over the globe. His remarkable admini- strative and executive abilities were re- flected in the growth of the organiza- tion, which at the outbreak of the World War had a capital of $37,500,000, gross yearly profits of $15,000,000, and 180 ships on its sailing lists. He was re- puted to be a close friend and confiden- tial adviser of the Kaiser, and it was stated that he exerted all his efforts dur« ing the conflict to prevent any action on the part of Germany that would bring ALBERT BALLIN the United States into the war. He died suddenly Nov. 10, 1918. BALLIN, HUGO, an American artist, born in New York in 1879. He studied art in New York City and in Rome and Florence and was awarded many prizes both in the United States and in foreign countries, including the Hallgarten prize in 1907. His mural decorations are espe- cially noteworthy, but examples of his easel printings are found in many pri- vate and public collections. He was a member of many societies of artists, of the National Institute of Arts and Let- ters, and since 1905 an Associate of the National Academy. BALLINGER, RICHARD ACHILLES, an American public official, born in Boonesboro, la., in 1858. He was edu- cated at the University of Kansas, Washington College, and Williams Col- lege, graduating from the latter in 1884. He was admitted to the bar in 1886 and for several years practiced law in Kan- kakee, 111., and New Decatur, Ala. In 1889 he removed to Port Townsend, Wash., where he remained until 1897, when he removed to Seattle. He was United States Court Commissioner from 1890 to 1892, Judge of the Superior Court of Jefferson co.. Wash., from 1894 to 1897, Mayor of Seattle from 1904 to 1906, Commissioner of the General Land Office in Washington from 1907 to 1909, and Secretary of the Interior of Presi*