Montpelier examiner. [volume] (Montpelier, Idaho) 1895-1937, 1910-07-01

IOniotimeS
depend for their effects wholly upon such paper
CYLINDERS no bigger than good-sized firecrackers,
stuck all over the lattice work of the skeleton
structure employed by the frepainter in lieu. as
me might say, of canvas.
Something more In detail about these fire pic
lures will be said later on but meanwhile it may
,e well to speak descriptively of the processes
lsed in the manufacture of the more simple and
.amiliar kinds of f1reworks-such, for example.
roman candles bombs. rockets pinwheels and
The like All of these. excepting the bombs. are
substantially nothing than cylinders of
oasteboard filled with combustibles and fash
oned in different ways
One of the greatest fireworks factories in the
world is located the outskirts of Brooklyn,
out the stranger who passes by it trolley
IN the way to Coney island would scarce sus-
pect the character of the outfit, which is scat
tered over about twenty acres of land in a series
Of small buildings, some of them being tiny
to accommodate only a single workman The
object of this arrangement is to minimize the
consequences of accidents. If the lone man who
occupies any one of the tiny houses should hap
pen to be blown up he alone would suffer
1t naturally happens that the only building
Of considerable size the premises is one in
which no explosives or other lively combustibles
are used Here, in fact, is where all the paper is
stored, tons upon tons Of it, for the outer wrap
pings of the fireworks. Pyrotechnic toys Of
course, must be pretty to look at else they would
not sell to advantage and the papers utilized for
the purpose are of all colors of the rainbow and
q great variety of ornamental patterns. For
extra fancy goods less gilt and silver
paper is employed.
Upstairs in the same building all of the pa
per cylinders are made the process adopted be-
ing so exceedingly expeditions that person
can turn out as many as 18 gross of them in
day. OF course they of all lengths and diam
eters according to kind and size of fireworks
for which they intended and though the
rocket cylinders rolled by machine all Of the
others made by hand. With the aid of a long
round stick of metal and pot of paste the oper-
ator converts sheets of thin, brown pasteboard
into neat and compact tubes at the rate of three
four minute
dozen work people engaged in this
patton can turn out an immense number of cyl
inders in a day and the manner in which they
are utilized in the manufacture of different kinds
of fireworks will presently be explained. 1t might
be well to say incidentally however that in this
same department made the bombshells. which
stamped by machine out of paper-mache
in halves When they have become dry the
halves are Joined by strips of thin soaked
in paste. each sphere thus produced having
round hole at one end for loading.
Bombs are among the most interesting and
beautiful of fireworks and some of them of
great size-as much as five feet in diameter
They are discharged from mortars and, reaching
height of 1000 feet or more, explode with
great noise. Iberating showers of many-colored
stars or golden rain. or sometimes parachutes
carrying trains of stars. Some are made as
small two inches in diameter-baby Ones
suitable for family use.
The method of their construction is always
the same and is at simple and ingenious.
The papier-mache shell is filled with stars
that is to say. with little pieces of cylindrical
paper tubing packed with different chemical com
positions. Beneath the shell thus loaded is at
tached and firmly glued paper receptacle con-
tanning slow burning composition similar to
gunpowder. Then a fuse is fixed that being
ignited at the instant of the bombs discharge it
will burn just long enough to explode the she'll
at the moment when the projectile has reached
its greatest height In the air. When this hap
pens the paper shell is blown to pieces and the
stars incidentally ignited. thrown far and
wide. Being light. they fall slowly and the effect
produced is very beautiful.
Even the stars, you see. paper cylinders,
though only half an inch perhaps in length. But
they vary much In SIZE according to the uses to
which they are to be put. cuts them by
the millions with small circular saw, taking a
handful OF paper tubes of small diameter and
using the saw to chop them into short pieces of
equal length. Then the little sections are filled
with chemical mixtures of various kinds, nitrate
and chlorate of baryta being used for green car
h Donate of stront1um for red oxylate of soda for
yellow and toddy enoughl paris green for blue
with various adnixtures of chlorate of potash
shellac. etc
IL should have been said that. order to
strengthen the papter-mache shells and so en-
able them to scatter their stars widely
when shattered they wound with strong gro
GERS Irvine, outside of which the final decorative
paper cover is put on There is, however, an
- other and quite new kind of bomb, which is made
In the shape of cylinder. 1t is constructed
that during It's flight through the air 1t makes
a series of breaks, sometimes many ten
throwing out each time a shower of stars This
as might be imagined, is a very beautiful effect
and Is achieved by dividing the containing cyln.
der into series of compartments holding stars
each compartment being set off in its turn.
Some of these cylindrical bombs contain par
achutes, which are arranged like the parachutes
dropped from rockets. Inside of the pasteboard
case is circular piece of tissue paper around
the circumference of which are attached a series
of very long strings To each of these strings
are fastened at intervals number of the little
paper stars already described and the arrange