The art of Pyrotechny has, like almost every other art in these days of
experiment and research, undergone many processes of change and
improvement. In fact, that part of the art which relates especially to
the preparation of coloured fires may be regarded as entirely new; for
not only has the danger which arose from the spontaneously-combustible
nature of some of the old compositions for this purpose been obviated
and removed, but many new colours have also been introduced (principally
by the foreign artists), and the pyrotechnist is thus enabled to produce
new combinations and contrasts, which twenty years ago were altogether
unknown.
But, notwithstanding all this improvement and progress, it is a
remarkable fact that no work has been published in England upon this
subject since the year 1830. We have not even kept pace with
neighbouring nations in this respect, for an excellent work has appeared
through the French press, entitled, “M. Chertier sur les Feux
d’Artifice” (the book, however, is now out of print, I believe), and
there is also a very capital manual of the art in German, “Martin
Websky’s Lustfeuerwerkerei.”
It is true that articles have appeared from time to time in
encyclopædias and books of that class, but these for the most part have
been copied out of one into another, and of all that I have been able to
see the best are so condensed as to be to those uninitiated in the art
simply unintelligible and useless, and to the initiated often very
confusing. Moreover, the professional pyrotechnists have thrown no small
mystery over their work, and have done a great deal to further the idea
that the awful Promethean rites to which they have been admitted are not
to be thrown open to ordinary mortals, and I cannot help thinking that
they have thus thwarted the very interests which it was to their
advantage to forward. Let any one only enquire of professional
photographers whether the practice of their art by amateurs has injured
their business, and has not rather increased the demand upon them; and I
see no reason why the same should not be the case with Pyrotechny,
though not, of course, to the same extent, because its study is never
likely to become so popular.
The fact, then, that no work in English upon this subject has appeared
during the last thirty years will, I trust, be regarded as a sufficient
apology for the present publication. From its perusal, however, there
will be derived nothing new to those who have already acquired a
proficiency in the practice of firework-making, and, for aught I know,
the professional pyrotechnist may even be puzzled by the absence of
technical terms. But, on the other hand, I would have it understood that
I am not writing with the purpose of describing for the benefit of
little boys the mode of making squibs and crackers, nor am I going to
tire my readers’ patience, nor to consume my own time, by drawing up an
historical account of the pyrotechnic art in its successive stages; nor
is it my intention to enter into abstract and abstruse discussions upon
the mathematical proportions proper for the artist’s tools and
apparatus; nor to trace, as has been so frequently done, the true and
lineal pedigree of gunpowder. My object is simply this:—to furnish, for
those who are unacquainted with the subject, such information as shall
put them in the way of providing at any time for family parties, or
school treats, an exhibition of fireworks, capable of affording an
hour’s real amusement to any number of people. I say to any number of
people, because it costs no more to exhibit such a display to one
hundred than to ten, and because I believe that it is difficult to find
the person who would rather not see a good exhibition of fireworks, or
who would stigmatise the hour spent in looking at them as “slow.” It is
evident that the public demand for exhibitions of this kind is greater
and more widely spread than it was, and is still on the increase; and
the only wonder is that, under these circumstances, no more practical
system of Pyrotechny should have appeared through the press. I am not
saying that this work will supply the want that many have experienced,
for it will be entirely elementary; but I hope at some future time to
bring out a more advanced and extensive work, should I discover that
anything worth calling an interest in my subject is abroad. This work,
however, will be thoroughly practical, and that with the special object
of showing how exhibitions may be provided at a little cost.
Now, there are three things which have been generally alleged and
admitted as sufficient reasons against the practice of Pyrotechny; these
are, danger, dirt, and expense. Upon each of these three subjects I will
state what experience has taught me to be the truth.
First, as to danger. The explosion of firework factories from time to
time has given a high colour to the risk which the public considers
inseparable from any such manufacture. Some time ago I had the curiosity
to inquire as far as I could into the cause of these large explosions,
and in no one instance could I discover that the accident arose from
anything but carelessness on the part of workmen or some wilful and
unwarrantable defiance of danger; and I am quite convinced that danger
depends far more upon the operator himself than upon the materials used
in his work. A barrel of gunpowder is not the thing one would choose for
a seat while smoking a cigar or toasting a muffin; but be it remembered
that there is no more danger to be apprehended from this barrel of
gunpowder, when properly handled, than from a barrel of beer. And then,
gunpowder is a material which the amateur will need only in very small
quantities, being used far less than is generally supposed, and being
only employed to give projective force or to make reports. Meal-powder,
which is gunpowder in the state of dust and not in grains, is
extensively used, but is in itself perfectly safe. Of course one can set
fire to the one as easily as to the other, but why need it be dangerous
on this account? There is nothing easier than to make the practice of
Pyrotechny dangerous, but, at the same time, it is not only possible,
but very easy, to manufacture fireworks without danger.
Now, as to the dirtiness of the work. It is generally believed that the
making of fireworks renders cleanliness in the operator impossible, and
is destructive of clothes on that account. Now, I maintain that
cleanliness and dirt, as well as safety and danger, are mainly dependent
upon the person, and not upon his work. He can fairly be called dirty
only if he is never clean, or if he makes himself unnecessarily dirty.
And so with the pyrotechnist. While handling such things as charcoal he
does not expect his hands to be white, but he need not handle charcoal
as if with the purpose of making his hands black. Every one must have
observed how some people, in whatever they are engaged, in whatever they
undertake, will do their work cleanly and neatly, while others can do
nothing without “making a mess.” I myself have made the principal part
of several exhibitions of fireworks, have mixed all the compositions,
have done everything, in fact, except the actual ramming of the
compositions into the cases, in my own sitting-room, which, I flatter
myself, is as clean and tidy a room as one need wish to live in; and
were it not for the presence of the boxes in which I keep my tools, &c.,
&c., no one, ten minutes after my work is over, would know what I had
been about. This, however, I have only done for want of accommodation,
for I would much prefer working in some outhouse or room given up to the
purpose where my apparatus would be less out of place as furniture, and
where, instead of having to get out all my things afresh every time, I
could resume my work exactly at the point where I had left it, for by
this means a great saving of time would be effected. I would also
strongly recommend to the beginner the use of an apron, and some holland
sleeves to fasten tightly round the wrist and extend above the elbow,
for many of the compositions employed are of a subtle and dusty nature,
and will penetrate the clothes until the operator becomes accustomed to
use them in such a way as shall not make them troublesome in this
respect. I know, however, on the best possible authority—viz., that of
experience—that fireworks can be made without detriment to clothes and
without violation of cleanliness.
Expense now, in the third place, remains to be considered. It is,
perhaps, not generally borne in mind that the reason why fireworks are
expensive to purchase is that they take time to manufacture. The brown
paper of which the cases are made, and the compositions with which they
are filled, are of little value as compared with the time of the workmen
employed. Now one supposes that if firework-making is adopted as an
amusement, there is sufficient spare time for its practice. But the
amateur must not suppose that he can become proficient without some
small outlay at the first; his tools and apparatus will cost him
something, but when once procured they will enable him to make twenty
exhibitions as well as one. And he will do well to bear in mind that if
he will purchase such things of the persons whom I am about to recommend
he will incur no unnecessary expense. He should also know what to order;
and he will find that if he confine himself, as far as possible, to the
manufacture of one useful size of each kind of firework, he will greatly
diminish the number of tools necessary for making and filling his cases.
Much expense will also be avoided by his purchasing the necessary
chemicals, not in the smallest quantities procurable, this being the
most uneconomical mode of purchase. I have avoided the employment of any
of those costly preparations which have of late become known to the
pyrotechnist, and are employed principally in the compositions for
producing coloured fires; not, however, from any wish to ignore their
excellence, but because I have been able to produce without them effects
with which I have always been satisfied.
I shall now append a list of those fireworks the manufacture of which it
is my intention to describe, and which in combination will be found to
produce all the effects that the amateur need desire:—
Rockets, with heads of brilliant, tailed, and coloured stars, and golden
rains.
Roman candles, with brilliant, blue, green, yellow, and red stars.
Gerbes and jets of brilliant, Chinese, and common fires.
Wheels of various devices, horizontal and vertical, plain and
illuminated.
Bengal white and coloured slow fires for illumination.
Lances, white and coloured, for making up devices, such as names,
crests, mottoes, wreaths, &c., &c.
Tourbillons, plain and brilliant.
Chinese flyers of different kinds.
Mines of serpents and crackers.
Brilliant suns, single and double, fixed and revolving.
Portfires for lighting exhibition pieces, &c.
The pieces which I have enumerated above will furnish all the necessary
elements of an excellent display. And I have no hesitation in saying
that by careful attention to my directions all these pieces may be
successfully made. I shall recommend nothing but what has been found to
succeed constantly in my hands, and may, I am sure, be made to answer in
the hands of others. I entirely disclaim, however, any attempt to
describe the modes of manufacture adopted by the professional
pyrotechnists. I know nothing of the secrets of their trade, nor have I
any desire to acquaint myself with them; I only know that my own system
of working never plays me false, however different it may be from
theirs.
There are, however, a few things which I strongly recommend the amateur
not to attempt to make, for the reason that their manufacture entails a
considerable amount of tedious and uninteresting work, and they may be
bought ready made of the professional pyrotechnists at a cost to which
no one need object. They are such things as quick-match, mine serpents,
and crackers, and pin wheels, if indeed these are necessary.
I will now proceed to give an idea of the relative numbers in which the
several pieces may be employed to form a good exhibition. This will, of
course, be but a mere sketch or outline, intended to show how things,
very simple in themselves, may be rendered very effective in
combination:—
10 rockets: 3 of these with heads of brilliant stars, 3 with tailed
stars, 2 with coloured stars, and 2 with golden rains.
10 Roman candles: 6 of these to throw brilliant stars, and 4 coloured
stars.
12 wheel-cases: 3 to make a single triangle wheel, 4 to turn an
illuminated vertical wheel, and 5 to turn a horizontal mine wheel.