The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-12-13
THE JOLLY FIREoRAcKER.
The Genesis of the Little Rasoal-EY-
erybody Knows His Exodus.
From the Chicago "a

erybody Knows His Exodus.
From the Chicago Record.
Occasionally the chemist dumped the
mixture in his mortar upon a small sheet
of tin, and went into the dark room ada
cent to his laboratory. In a few seconds
there would come a brilliant flash of col
ored light, and then a dense smoke would
fill the place Sometimes instead of the
flash an ejaculation of disgust would
come from the dark room, and the chem
list, returning. would report a failure. Fin
ally he said:
These producers of spectacular shows
have an idea that a pyrotechnist can make
any kind of light, touch off any combina-
ton of chemicals with perfect safety, and
! yet keep inside the laws and ordinances
made and provided. Here is one who wants
me to make a shower of fire, the real
| thing, something that he can advertise in
connection with his working volcano as a
| real shower of fire, actual lava flowing in
terrific torrents down the sides of the
practical mountain or something like
that If this show was only given in the
open air l could accommodate him, but
the fire department and insurance inspec-
tors will have something to say about
shower of real fire on theater stage.
THE American fireworks-makers," he
/ continued, ARE far ahead of European
/ pyrotechnists, We are more inventive,
and, if l must say II, have more nerve.
/ and work on a larger scale. There is not
| a thing in the whole line of fireworks,
/ from the inoffensiYe squib to the most
| complicated set pieces, in which we are
/ not in the lead. Even the Chinese have
to knock under to US in the manufacture
of firecrackers. And torpedoes, too. Have
you noticed that in recent years young
America has turned up his nose al the
small firecrackers which formerly came
only from China Nothing short of the can
non cracker, the giant cracker, the great
moguls which go off with an explosion
worthy of small cannon will suit our
lads now"
Americans began TO make firecrackers in
large quantities only few years ago. but
now they are turned out by the thousands
and no Chinese cracker can compare with
those made in this country, so far as noise
and explosive racket is concerned. Most
of the firecrackers are made in the east
and the largest factory, / believe, is in
New Jersey. In the town where this fac
tory is located great deal of the work
is done in the homes of the operatives,
for it is all handwork. The smallest fire.
crackers made there are about two and
one-half inches long, and from that size
they run up to those big fellows a foot
| long and longer. The tube of the cracker
is made of straWboard; the fuse is spun
cotton, soaked in a mixture of starch and
fine gunpowder and the explosive com
pound is a mixture of powdered charcoal.
bichromate of potash and chlorate of pot
ash. This mixture is supposed to be a Sc
cret but ii has been used for years in MAX
ing squibs, devil chasers and explosive pin
wheels. The Chinese makers of irecrackers
are very expert in rolling the tubes, but
right here comes in the Yankee ingenuity
which meets Ia bOr wit 10 fn,~
ing machines and devices and beats it in
productive capacity. One American girl
can turn out more frecracker tubes in a
day than a dozen Chinese can, and they
are better tubes for the purpose, too. The
pasteboard is cut into sheets of such a size
that when a sheet which is two and one
half inches wide, is rolled up it will make
a neat tube half an inch in diameter of sew
eral thicknesses of pasteboard. The ten
inch firecrackers are about two and one
half inches in diameter The girl takes
about fifty sheets of pasteboard and deftly
arranges them with one move of her hand
on slab of stone so that the fifty sheets
have parts of their ends exposed. Then
with wide paste-brush she lays a strong,
quickly-drying paste on the sheets and is
ready to roll them into tubes.
The tool which does this work is a steel
roller of the exact size of the inside diam
eter of the firecracker, which runs back
and forth on two steel tracks about half
an inch high. The girl places her fifty
sheets of pasteboard on the board between
the tracks of the tube-making machine
and pressing the roller against the sticky
pasted end of the top sheet of pasteboard
gives the roller a forward turn, and the
pasteboard curls around the piece of pol
ished steel into a tube. 1t is done in sec
ond, and the next instant the tube is lying
in a box with others. One girl can turn
out about $500 tubes day. The tubes are
next placed on a rack in hot room and
dried hard for two or three days, and are
then ready for the filing.
The bottom of an Americanlfnade fire.
cracker is plugged with a piece of cork
or pith or with a pasteboard wad. The
top is plugged with clay or wood-pulp.
mixed with a strong adhesive, and through
this clay, which is generally used, the fuse
runs The fuse is put in first and the
young man who does 1t works the fire.
crackers off in punches of 100. He has a
board in which is placed in upright posi-
tions 100 brass, wooden or iron pins These
pins are just the size and shape of the
inside of the firecracker. but are about
three-quarters of an inch shorter, SO that
when a tube Is slipped down over one of
the pins the tube will stick up above it
three-quarters of an inch. Each pin has
a round hole running down through its
center and before the tube is placed on
the pin the fuse for the firecracker is
stuck in the hole, leaving a couple Of
inches Of it above the pin. The workman
takes pinch Of prepared clay and rams