The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1906-06-29
HOW THE FIRE
CRACKERS ARE MADE

emma exports $1,000, 900
pounds of tirecrackers of a value
vast amount of noise-producing ma
terlal the bulk comes to the United
States. y small quantity goes to Eng
land. Other countries buy only in
Intestinal
The exports represent only a small
fraction of the amount manufactured
and used in China. There are no large
In small houses and in the shops where
they are sold. In the latter places the
proprietor of the shop. his wife Cor
WiVesl n children do the work. No
record is kept of the number made and
sold, and no estimate is possible of
their cost. The use of crackers is uni
versal in china and has been as far
probable that in the beginning they
were used to brighten away evil spirits.
o they are most frequently an ex-
preston of good feeling or of ceremo-
NOUS compliment. They are used at
weddings, births and funerals. at fes-
t%ivities, religious. civil and military
ceremonies, AT New Years, to salute
persons about to make a journey and,
in fact, on all occasions out of the or
binary routine.
In making crackers only the cheapest
kind of straw paper which can be pro-
duced in the immediate locality where
the crackers are made is used for the
body of the cracker. A little finer
paper is used for the wrapper. A piece
of straw paper 8 by so inches will make
t~wenty-one crackers one and one-half
inches long II o%ne-fourth of an inch
in diameter.
The powder is also of the cheapest
grade and is made in the locality where
used. 1t costs $50 to IT'S cash per catty,
or 6 or Z cents gold per pound.
For the fuse a paper (called leather"
in Shanghai is used, which is imported
from Japan and is mad from the inner
lining of the bamboo. In other places
a fine rice paper is used, generally
stiffened slightly with buckwheat flour
paste, which, the Chinese say. adds to
its inflammability. A strip of this pa
per one-third of an inch wide by four
Teen inches Ca Chinese foot) long is laid
down the middle of it with a hollow
bamboo stick. A quick twist of the
paper makes the fuse ready for use.
1t is not S to persuade the Chinese
to exhibit their modes of manufacture
to a foreigner, but Mr.. Williams, United
States vice consul at Shanghai, thus
describes the work as he has seen 1T:
The straw paper is first rolled by
hand round an iron rod, which varies
in size according to the size of cracker
to be made. To complete the rolling a
rude machine is used. This consists of
two uprights supporting an axis, from
which is suspended by two arms a
heavy piece of wood slightly CONVEX on
the lower side. There is just room be-
tween this swinging block and the top.
of the table 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, this tightening it until no more
can be passed under the weight. For
the smallest whip crackers the work.
man uses for compression instead of
this machine a heavy piece of wood
fitted with a handle like that of a car
penter's plane. In filling crackers 200
to 300 are tied together tightly in a
bunch. Red clay is spread over the end
of the bunch and forced into the end of
the cracker with a punch. While the
clay is being tamped in q little water
is sprayed on it, which makes it pack
closer. The powder is poured in at
the other end of the cracker. With
the aid of an awl the edge of the paper
is turned in at the upper end of the
cracker, and the fuse is inserted
through this"
Worknen at this trade receive about
the average rate of wages paid here
for common labor. The trade is con-
sidered unhealthy and dangerous and
1,o 80 NOT Iociro hjo ri H..