Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1910-07-02

II might be called fire pictures, and
which are erected upon scaffoldings
sometimes as much as a hundred feet in length,
depend for their effects wholly upon such paper
cylinders, no bigger than goodsized frecrackers.
stuck all over the lattice work of the skeleton
structure employed by the fre-padnter in lieu as
might say, of canvas.
Something more in detail about these fire pic
lures will be said later on; but meanwhile 1t may
be as well speak descriptively of the processes
used in the manufacture of the more simple and
familiar kinds of freworks-such, for example,
as roman candles, bombs rockets, pinwheels and
the like All of these, excepting the bombs, are
substantially nothing more than cylinders of
pasteboard, filled with combustbles and fash
toned in different ways.
One of the greatest fireworks factories in the
world is located the outskirts of Brooklyn.
but the stranger who passes by it on trolley car
on the way to Coney island would scarce sus-
pect the character of the outfit. which is scat
tered about twenty acres of land in series
of small buildings, some of them being so tiny
to accommodate only a single workman The
object of this arrangement is to minimize the
consequences of accidents. If the lone who
occupies any one of the tiny houses should hap
pen to be blown up he alone would suffer.
It naturally happens that the only building
of considerable size the premises is in
which explosives other lively combustibes
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, 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
a great variety of ornamental patterns. For
extra fancy goods more less gilt and silver
paper is employed
Upstairs In the same building all of the pa
per cylinders made the process adopted be-
ing exceedingly expeditions that one person
turn out many 10 gross of them in
day. OF course they of all lengths and diam
eters according 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 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.
A dozen work people engaged in this occu-
patton turn out immense number of cyl
inders in a day and the manner in which they
utilized in the manufacture of different kinds
of fireworks will presently be explained. 1t might
be well to say incidentally. however that in this
department made the bombshells, which
are stamped by machine out OF pap1ermache
in halves When they have become dry the
halves joined by strips of thin canvas soaked
in paste, each sphere thus produced having
round hole at one end for loading
Bombs are among the interesting and
beautiful of fireworks and some of them are of
great size-as much five feet in diameter
They discharged from mortars and, reaching
a height of 1000 feet more, explode with
great noise, liberating showers of manycolored
stars golden rain, sometimes parachutes
carrying trains of stars. Some made
small two inches in diameter-baby ones
suitable for family
The method of their construction is always
the same and is at once 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 shell
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 to be put A man cuts them by
the millions with small circular saw, taking a
handful of paper tubes of small diameter and
using the to chop them into short pieces of
equal length. Then the little sections filled
ayith chemical mixtures of various kinds, nitrate
and chlorate of baryta being used for green. car
Donate of strontium for red, oxylate of soda for
yellow and oddly enough) paris green for blue,
with various admixtures of chlorate of potash,
shelac, etc.
1t should have been said that, in order to
strengthen the papier-mache shells and to en-
able them to scatter their stars more 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 so constructed
that during its flight through the air 1t makes
series of breaks sometimes many ten,
throwing out each time shower of stars. This.
as might be imagined, is a very beautiful effect,
and is achieved by dividing the containing cylin-
der into series of compartments holding stars.
each compartment being set on 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 a circular piece of tissue paper, around
the circumference of which are attached a series
of very long strings. To each of these strings
int