The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1882-01-07
FireW0rk Making.

imposing establishment to look at.
1t cannot very well be so. 1t is nee
essary to have almost as many work
shops as there are various processes in
the manufacture, and the law requires
that only certain amouat of explosive
material shall be accumulated in each
shop, that only certain number of hands
shall be employed in it, that the CEN
ter of each shop shall be at least twenty
five yards from the center of any
other shop, and that finished fireworks
shall be stored in quantities strictly linn
tied and clearly specified in magazines
sunk in the ground at least fifty yards
from any other magazine or workshop.
A large firework factory, therefore, has
the appearance of rather queer-looking
little industrial village, the open spaces of
which may perhaps be piled up with debris
of one sort and another, while some of the
roadways about it are fringed with a
display of iron mortars, which, to any
one who should chance to come upon
the place without any knowledge of its
character, might very probably suggest
the idea that the heaps of broken frames
rocket-sticks, barrels, and so forth, were
the outcome of a recent bombardment
1t is not altogether an inviting enclo-
sure for stranger to make his way into.
There is big notice of g Danger in
capital letters near the entrance, and all
sorts of notices of pains and penalties
and warnings to trespassers. There are
some fifty workshops and magazines
dotted over about twenty-one acres of
grass land, and the rules and regulations
posted up here and there about the place
convey the idea-quite an erroneous one
no doubt-that a general blow-up may
be expected at any moment. Every
workshop is fioored with kamptulicon
and lined with paper. Not scrap of
iron is employed in their structure, all
nails, ETC., being of copper. The peo-
pie employed in them are compelled to
wear q over-all'' boots made specially
for the purpose without nails, and gar
ments Of wooden, all pockets, in which
lucifers or other contraband articles
might be brought into the place being
strictly forbidden. To insure that this
prohibition is adhered to, every person
is searched before commencing work.
If it is necessary, as it sometimes is at
busy times, to carry on work after dark,
each workshop must be, lighted by gas
lamp shining through the window from
the outside -, 8, y,gg1A ,s~s 4*,.s Is y i.
Perhaps the most delicate. and inter-
esting feature of modern fire. work
making is the charging of Roman
candles those coloredI balls which. are
pulled out softly into the air one after
the other without any report, and which
always are recognized as such a pretty
feature of the Sydenham displays. The
public like to see these balls thrown out
with exactly an equal force, SO as to play
Just within the same sphere In order
to secure this very careful. adjustment is
necessary. a..5. .sY
The fiery balls of color are little humps
of composition filled into the case, and
separated from each other by layer of
" dark-fire," little charge of gunpow-
der being just underneath each. 1t is
this little charge of powder which blows
them into the air, and if all the charges
were alike, every ball would be thrown
out little further than its predecessor,
because the deeper down in the case an
explosion takes place the more violent it
is, the resistance being greater. TO obvi-
ate this the charge of powder is made to
increase as the tube is filled up. The
workman who fills Roman candle,
therefore, has before him series of lit
tie scoops of different sizes for measur-
ing the powder, and uses them in sue
cession, the smallest being used for the
first ball put in and the largest one for
the ball at the mouth of the tube. Tie
"dark fire. is composition which only
shoulders, and which therefore does not
burn down to second ball until the first
has performed its graceful progress
through the air. Of all fireworks the
rocket is perhaps the most beautiful, and
it certainly is the most curious in its
structure. Some of the best of them are
said to rise to height Of more than a
third of mile, and this amazing power
of light is secured by running in very
tightly into the rocket-case compost
ton which burns fercely, and generates
gas very rapidly when once lighted, but
which has only. a very small vent for its
| fury at the lower,end of the case. The
gas generated inside rushes out with
such violence against the air outside that
the rocket is driven upward by it, the
tail of the comet consisting of the sparks
of the fire burning within. Rocket
making of course forms a large part of
the work of any firework factory. In
one shed the cases are being made; in
another building sticks are being split up
and rounded at the head so as to fit into
the rocket-case. In third all sorts OF
curious burdens are being prepared for
the fiery messengers whose heads are
hollow chambers capable of holding ''tail
stars" comets, colored stars, golden
rain, floating lights and score of other
surprises when the rocket can rise nc
higher. These floating lights, by the
way, are well worth passing notice.
They are produced by little tubes of color
borne aloft by small silken parachute,
which, together with the tube, is skilfully
packed into the head of the rocket
London Daily Netos.
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