The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1901-03-09

SltS)n TO il by city councils, has had
| hard time. There are now laws against
| all kinds of so-calIed .cannon-crackers
/ IN nearly every State The cannOn-crack-
erS were made with ChlOTate OF potash
| and sulphur. and some times with dyna-
mite 1t was not necessary to have so
| thick a paper shell. to make the noise so
/ the manufacture OF that kind Of cracker
! was rather cheap, and the Yankees could
! compete on the larger styles with the
! cheap labor OF the Chinese. BY the law
! against such crackers the Chinaman had
the field again for his product for some
I time. but now Yankees have beaten nm
I cut q gain with their machinery.
| As manufactured now in America ard
/ in all other countries, fireworks are made
/ exclusively OF gunpOWder OF low pow
! er. All other kinds of explosive have
! been found dangerous. likely 10 so OF
! by spontaneous combustion from shock
/ or from friction Mess ign!ted or put
/ in the oven, fireworks are absolutely
| safe.
Each manufacturer Of fireworks has
| his own secrets. In no other trade are
| the details of special production so care
! fully guarded. As 4 rule, for secrecy and
/ for safety. only one man Is put IN
/ building. any frequently an operator who
/ makes one part Of a speciality does not
/ know how the other parts are made. In
/ diyIdUai skill figures largely IN the sue
/ cess of a production, and men VINO are
/ skilled guard their art as the alcheLhislS
| OF Old used to- The American fireworks
/ maker eycelS in all kinds OF fireworks
/ The art Of ma king bombs comes from the
/ Japanese and the Italians have the knack
| of making the most noise, the Eng
/ fish surpasS these countries in exhibition
work, but The Yankee combines the whole
| to a most advantageous erect
! The greatest medium il the hands of
| the sky artist is found to DC the colored
| fires. and of these h has an almost
| numberieSs variety IL is obliged TO use
! them at all times. Mos druggists thlik
| they can tell how to make coloTed hres.
| and they direct the use oI sulphur. ana
certain chemicals, the >hemlcai reaction
| of which produces chiorate OF potash,
| one of the most unstable explosives
/ known The pyrotechnlc ARTIST mas IedTi-
ed by experience, and his COiored hreS are
made by mixing metals with sheilac- Inc
sheIIac acts as a lava in burning ahd
helps also to burn the material Whlch
! happens TO be mixed with IL or green
baryta is used. for blue copper, yellow IS
produced by soda. red by strontium, TioI
let by mixing strontium, copper ana
sheIlac. and so On with the complex col
ors Just as painter would with the
paints of his palette.
| To produce intense whites aluminium IS
| now used in place OF magnesium, Whlcn
| Is far too expensive and really not SO
satisfactory Ordinary white IS produced
| with saltpetra These colors are used
| alone for general effects Of light, but en-
liter in a greater or less degree into all
display fireworks. The little balls of col
or which shoot from roman candies, crop
from sky rockets spout from mines. are
ali made by bits Of these cOlored hTeS,
which have been compressed into small
forms
| HISTORY OF THE ROMAN CANDLE
The most simple display frework is the
Roman candle. In principle Its construc-
ton is the same as that of more com
lplicated pieces. The workman first makes
a very hard paper tube of strong Ma
Mia board IN the bottom Of II he puts
2 bit Of clay, which is intended TO keep
the fire from going out Of the wrong
end Upon this he puts little bit OF
powder rammed down hard, and upon
that a piece Of colored fire like pellet,
| lust q bit smaller that the bore Of the
tube. Upon the top of this he puts
layer of low-power powder, made with
large charcoal This Is the ingredient
| which makes the tZ and the shower o.
sparks. Upon the coarse powder Is put
again regular powder, and the rest q the
materials in order until the tube - fun,
a short fuse completing the whole The
fuse, on being lit, fires the coarse pow
der, which makes the sparks As Il burns
down 10 the colored nTe pellet beIrW II
sends spark into the powder Lehlnd II"
pellet which eXplOdeS, sending the bum
ing color sky..ard.
/ The c0nstrU. son Of a skyrocket is SINH
lar but a triA.e more complicated J ne
| rocket goes up by virtue OF the confined
gases rushing OFT Of a small aperture and
| infringing upon the air In order TO con
| fine the gases the case OF the rocket must
! be very tough 1t IS made OF strong pa
per. dried and hardened for days Inside
/ This cylinder steel rod Is placed. and
| with q hydraulic ram against The INSIDE
OF the shell, making powderilke stone
The top Of the rod IS covered, and the
completed charge OF powder IS IN the
| form of a long cup with thick sides The
open end is filled with q choke Of clay
and a fuse is put in
Over the end of the cup is placed the
pointed cap 10 form the head, which con-
tains all the pretty effects which are TO
be displayed when the rocket reaches its
journeys end IN sailing up IN the ar
/ Z he
gunpOwder, and eventually, through the
top Of the cup the confined gases eX-
plode the cap and set hre TO the coIoFed
With the exception OF bombs. the sky
| rocket Is ca pable of more than any other
piece of freWork. The effects to De got
zen from the cap vary from a plain ball
of fire 70 a name written across the SKY
| in floating colors. These latter effects
concealed in the cap, which unfold when
the explosion comes and noat gently TO
earth, carrying their blazing freight OF
color The art of making these parachute
! effects is one of the most difficult in all
pyrotechny, and IS possessed by but q few
| workmen.
THE AERIAL BOMB.
The aerial bomb is another distinct
class Of frework and 1t combines two diff
fereut features of the art, noise and col
or. Its purpose is TO make as much noise
| as possible So far manufacturers have
| been able TO make a bomb that produces
thirty-eight different sets of coiors, or
has. as the technical term goes, thirty
eight breaks. The limit of the breaks is
set by the time which the bomb takes TO
fall to the ground after il has started to
explode, which is generally after it has
reached height Of about 400 feet
The bomb is made Of cylindrical pa
per case OF varying diameter from TWO
inches 20 a foot, at the bottom Of which
is a cloth bag filled with powder which
constitutes the driving charge to expcI
the bomb out of the mortar Inside the
bomb case upon the cardboard bottom
which covers the powder in the bag the
colored fires, '-nigge- -chasers,' OF stars,
! which are wanted to produce the effect
/ pasteboard disk, through the middle Of
! bomb is constructed in a similar way,
I until the whole thirty-eight are put in.
The fuse that goes through the middle is
! connected with q fuse extending down 10
the firing charge. The whole is put into
the mortar and the match applied 70 the
I fuse A time fuse regulates the eXplO-
| sion Of the first break, and the remain
der follow in quick succession
These are but a typical few Of thou
sand varieties OF fireworks made upon the
same principles. PinWheeIs are a Vari-
ant upon the skyrOcket, so are Niger
Chasers,' and the list could be indefinitely
extended.
Set-pieces are always the work Of an
| artist, and require the same eye for color