Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1883-10-18
How PyrOtechnies are Manufactured.


A visitor to one of those case-making
sheds, in which good fire may be roar
ing in an open Fireplace, will perhaps
be rather startled to notice a number
Of barrels and jars, which he will be
apt 20 assume are filed with fire-work-
making materials of an explosive char
acter, or they wouldn't be in build
ing with a fire in it. The London Dai-
In NelcS SAYS: These receptacles rep
resent the most modern development
of the pyrotechnic art. just take dip
into this barrel and bring out little of
its contents on the point of a knife and
hold it in the dark part of that gas
flame. It is arsenite of copper and sal
ammoniac, and instantly the broad
light of MONDAY is Overpowered with
blue glare that would have fairly as
tonished Friar Bacon, or the Heather
Chinee, or John Darlington, or any other
artist in fire of ancient days. We make
another dive and bring out a little
chlorate of baryta, and a dazzling out
burst of green is the result when placed
in the flame. Here is a barrel of sal
ammoniac, which is combined with
color-giving substances to give depth
and intensity. Another receptacle holds
chlorate of potash, a source of oxygen
gas, without a good supply of which
neither fireworks nor those for whose
enjoyment they are made can be eX-
cOloring substance are very perilouS.
If, for instance, a little of compound
of nitrate of strontia and sulphur and
potash-the source of the most vivid
red color known to chemists-if lit
tie of this should be left after display
at the Crystal palace, it is always either
fired or buried. 1t is too dangerous to
attempt to store. All this branch of
| pyrotechny is of quite recent develop
ment. Forty or fifty years ago colOred
| fireworks were unknown, or nearly so.
Perhaps the most delicate and interest
ing feature of modern fre-work-mak-
ing is the charging of Roman candles
| those cOlored balls which are pulled
out softly into the air one after the
other without any report and which
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 sphere. In order 80 secure
this, very careful adjustment is nee
essary. The fiery balls of color are lit
| tie Jumps of composition filled into the
case, and separated from each other by
a layer of clark fire, little charge
of gunpOwder being just underneath.
| 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 farther than its
predecessor, because the deeper down
in case an explosion takes place the
more violent it is, the resistance being
greater To obviate this the charge of
powder is made to increase as the
| tube is filled up. The workman who
| fills a roman candle, therefore, has
before him a series of little scoops
of different sizes for measuring the
| powder, and uses them in succession,
| the smallest being used for the first ball
put in, and the largest one for the ball
at the mouth of the tube. The OZARK
| fire. is a composition which only smOld-
ers, and which therefore. does not burn
| down to a 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 GER
| tainlY is the most curious in its struct-
ure. Some of the best of them are said
| to rise to height of more than a third
| of mile, and this amazing power of
| ulSSuG Is S0CuIcu ny IulLliiSS very lightly
| into the rocket case a composition which
burns fercely and generates gas very
rapidly when once lighted, but which
has only 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 large part of the work
of any ire-work 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 messenger whose heads are
holding chambers capable of holding
':tail stars comets, colored stars,
golden rein, floating lights, and a score
of other surprises when the rocket can
rise no higher.