Daily Kennebec journal., 1899-07-01
CRACKERS FOR the FOURTH.
China Exports 10000, 900 Pounds Year
and This Country Takes Nearly All.

WORKS is so trlT1lnS tHdt IL is ulIhCuit
for the American consumer to realize
that the great bulk of them are i'm
ported from China-half way round the
terrestrial sphere" said the dealer in
pyrotechnics, whose establishment in
Park place is just now passing through
it's season of greatest activity. Every
year nearly sO,OOO,OOO pounds of fire.
crackers, valued at about $1,70O,00O by
the Chinese imperial customs. are ex-
ported, and of this shipment by far the
largest part is sent by sailing vessels
to New York Much less than 1000, 900
pounds is sent to England, and exceed
ingly small quantities reach other
countries Thus the United States is
second to China in the use of fireworks.
The exports, however. represent but
a small fraction of the amount manu-
factured in China, where. notwith-
standing the vastneSS of the industry.
there are no large manufactures. The
crackers are made in small houses by
the coolies and in the shops where they
are sold. In the latter places the pro
prietor of the shop. his wife Cor wives.
more often and children do the work.
No record of the number annually
made and let off is to be found among
Chinese statistics, so it is impossible
to correctly estimate the value of the
output. 1t must be, though. some
where in the tens Of millions of taels.
only the cheapest kind of straw
paper which can be produced in the
in, al locality whara the crac <prS
are made is used for the body of the
articles. and a piece 9 by so inches will
| make y crackers one and one-half
| inches in length and one-fourth of an
| inch in diameter. For the wrapper pa
per of higher grade is used. The pow
| der is of the very cheapest grade. cost
| ing from so to Las cash per 'catty,' or
| from s to : cents gold per pound. A
certain kind of paper called leather in
| Shanghai is used for the fuse. This
paper is imported from Japan and is
made from the inner lining of the
| bamboo In other places a superior
rice paper lis used 1t is generally
lstiffened with a paste made from buck
| wheat flour. which, according to the
| belief of the Celestials, adds to its in
| flammablitN. \ strip of this paper Il
| inches Ga Chinese FOOT long by one
| third of an inch wide is laid on a table
and an infinitesimal quantity of pow
der poured down its middle by means
of hollow bamboo stick. A dexterous
twist of the paper makes the fuse
ready for use
The first work of the cracker
maker is TO roll the coarse straw paper
around an iron rod with his hands
This rod varies in thickness according
to the size Of the cracker to be con-
structed. To complete the rolling a
rude machine is used. 1t consists of
| two uprights supporting an axis. from
| which is suspended by a pair Of arms
| heavy piece Of wood. slightly convex
on the lower side. There is just suff-
| cient room between this swinging
| block and the top of the table at which
| the cracker manufacturer works to
place the cracker. As each layer of
paper is put on by hand the cracker is
placed on the table and the suspended
| weight is drawn over the roll. thus
pressing the layers firmly together un-
| til no more can be passed under the
block
In making the smallest crackers.
| known technically by the appellation
| of 'hwpi crackers, the workmen uses a
heavy piece Of wood. fitted with A
handle like that Of a carpenters plane.
| for purposes of compression instead of
| the swinging block. In filling crackers
from 200 to $50 are tied together in a
| compact bunch. Red clay is spread
over the end of the bunch and forced
into the end of each cracker with
punch of rude design. While the clay
is being tamped in lit water is
sprayed upon it, causing Il to pack
closer. The powder is poured in at the
other end of the cylinder With an
awl the edge of the paper is turned in
at the upper end Of the cracker and the
fuse inserted. The long ends of the
fuse are braided together in such a
way that the crackers lie in two paral-
lei rows. The braid is doubled on it
self, and a large. quick firing fuse in
serted, and the whole is bound and Sc
cured with fine thread. The bundle
is then wrapped in paper and sold.
The double sounding cracker which
has just found it's way into the United
States, is wonderfully popular in
China. 1t has two chambers separated
by a plug Of clay, through which runs
a connecting fuse. There is also fuse
extending from the powder in the
lower chamber through the side of the
cracker. When the cracker is to be let
off it is set on end and fire placed to
the dangling end of the>>fuse. The
powder exploding in the lower cllamber~
throws the cracker high in the air,
where the second charge is exploded by
fire from the fuse extending through
he plug between the two chambers.
In the manufacture of the double
saunders the clay is first tamped in
with a punch to form the separating
plug. The lower chamber is then filled
with powder and closed by turning
over the paper at the end. The upper
chamber is loaded and closed with the
red clay. A hole is punched in the side
of the lower chamber with an awI. and
the fuse inserted through the opening
The ordinary-siZed cracker. one and
one-half inches long by one fourth of
an inch in diameter. costs in the city
of Canton one tael. or 81 cents per TO-
900 for export. At Hankow the best
nf hi ciy