The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1891-07-14
PYROTECHNICS.
James Pain ST. Gives Some Points About
Making Fireworks.

James Pain ST.. Gives Some Points About
Making Fireworks.
James Pain Sr. is an Englishman who has
blue specks in his face. received in gun
powder explosions. James Pains father
and James Pains grandfather also had blue
specks in their faces. For generations the
PaiaS have had their faces tattooed by pow
der, because for generations they have
made fireworks. James Pain ST., the head
of the firm, Is at the Leland. He came over
from London to see the production of "a
Night in Pekin,' and he remained to be-
come enthusiastic over Chicago.
The art, or the business of making fire.
works. is undergoing wonderful change"
said MIR. Pain. ut is marvellous to me. as
can look back to the time when | was boy
and my father was at the firms head. to no.
tice the advancement made in q pyrotechnic
way. III Chinese, who made the first fire.
works, make the same pieces and make them
in the same way to-day as they did 100 years
ago, All the firecrackers you set off here on
the Fourth are of Chinese make. made in
China, l mean, and they are just like those
the Chinese were shooting off a centur Y
ago, except that they are "A little cheaper
EirecrackerS are the only things in which
we cannot compete with the Chinese.
They make them at cost almost nfini-
tesimal. and he duty on Them think, is
but dollar a box. Then they are sold
here Tor cents package, l should say,
and we cannot compete with them on that.
The duty on European firecrackers is from
% TO TO so per cent, so you do not get many
of my crackers here" Mr.. Pain talks Of
irecrackers tiuently, and on Roman can
dies he is an authority. 1--WE make many
rockets for the British navy" said he, but
they are different, very, from the ones you
send to streak the sky on the night of the
Fourth of July. With these rockets We
have TO take especial pains. They have to
be of certain size, OF certain length, of a
certain circumference. The rockets are
used extensively in the English navy, as are
Roman candles. These we have to make
with more than extraordinary care, for they
are compelled to shoot Il certain number Of
stars and of designated color. These
colOred candles are not only used by navies
and by ships OF the line as signals, but
by other vessels as well as mere marks of
courtesy"
rs the process of colorng the fire that
comes out of these pieces difficult one, or
one protected by patent or any secret
prOceSs?".
''Oh, no." was the response, ";here are
few secrets in the manufacture of fireworks
which we will not expose to-day. Gun
powder or mealed gunpowder Is extensively
used. As TO the colors, they are furnished
by chemical process. Red, as you find it
Ia fireworks. is always furnished by nitrate
OF strontla, green by chloride OF caryta, blue
by oxide of copper, and white by the ordi-
nary Bengal fire. The most intricate bit of
labor in fireworks Is making pin wheels, or
Catherine wheels, as they are more prop
erly named. These require peculiar skill
for each-and the coil is but q strip of
paper, you knOw-bas to be Bonded, as it is
necessary TO fix them in circular condition.
Aud to bend strips of gunpowder by wet
tIng-you may have some idea what all that
involves. "-Chicago Herald