_White._
No. 1.
Nitre 16 parts.
Sulphur 8 „
Meal-powder 6 „
Or,
No. 2.
Nitre 16 „
Sulphur 4 „
Meal-powder 6 „
Or,
No. 3.
Nitre 12 „
Sulphur 4 „
Sulphide of antimony 3 „
Or,
No. 4.
Nitre 72 „
Sulphur 18 „
Regulus of antimony 33 „
Realgar 1 part.
Shellac 1 „
Or,
No. 5.
Nitre 96 parts.
Sulphur 24 „
Regulus of antimony 48 „
Realgar 6 „
Shellac 1 part.
These for the most part give a bluish-white flame, and when employed in
cases of the size mentioned above, burn slowly, and will last as long as
this species of firework is required to last.
_Yellow._
No. 6.
Chlorate of potash 72 parts.
Oxalate of soda 60 „
Stearine 6 „
Sulphur 6 „
Or,
No. 7.
Chlorate of potash 40 „
Oxalate of soda 16 „
Shellac 8 „
Stearine 3 „
_Green._
No. 8.
Chlorate of potash 60 „
Nitrate of baryta 41 „
Calomel 49 „
Powdered sugar 30 „
Shellac 1 part.
Or,
No. 9.
Chlorate of potash 63 parts.
Nitrate of baryta 50 „
Calomel 50 „
Sugar 32 „
Shellac 1 part.
The green colour is never very decided when the compositions are
employed in cases so small as those spoken of above. But by far the best
composition to be used in these small cases is one containing a rather
costly ingredient, which is the chlorate of baryta. The usual price of
this salt is about 8s. per lb., or rather less. It gives a magnificent
colour if it is pure, but if not, it is not worth buying. I give you the
formulæ in which it may be employed, in case you should require a very
brilliant emerald green in these small lances. They are—
No. 10.
Chlorate of baryta 18 parts.
Calomel 7 „
Shellac (very fine) 3 „
Or,
No. 11.
Chlorate of baryta 24 „
Stearine 3 „
Sugar (very fine) 1 part.
Compositions containing chlorate of baryta are perfectly safe _where no
sulphur is employed_. The salt itself is not at all deliquescent. A very
good formula besides the above is one containing three proportions of
chlorate of baryta, and one of powdered sugar. We will next speak of RED
LANCES.
_Red Lances._
No. 12.
Chlorate of potash 13 parts.
Nitrate of strontia 10 „
Calomel 8 „
Shellac 3 „
Dextrine 1 part.
Chertier’s copper 1 „
Or,
No. 13.
Chlorate of potash 12 parts.
Nitrate of strontia 12 „
Calomel 6 „
Shellac 4 „
Chertier’s copper 1 part.
Charcoal (fine) 1 „
A good rose-coloured fire may be produced by a composition containing
the oxalate of strontia, which, though not to be met with everywhere, is
a valuable salt on account of its extreme dryness and fineness. The
formula given next has the merit of being rapid in its combustion.
Should it be thought _too quick_, decrease the proportion of chlorate of
potash, or increase that of calomel. The increase of calomel has the
effect of deepening the colour, but, at the same time, of diminishing
the reflective power of the light.
_Rose-coloured Lances._
No. 14.
Chlorate of potash 24 parts.
Sulphur 2 „
Stearine 3 „
Oxalate of strontia 4 „
This composition will remain good for any length of time, and has
therefore a great advantage over those which contain the nitrate of
strontia. And here I may as well remind you of the importance and
necessity of having this latter salt perfectly dry and fine, otherwise
you will be disappointed of your intended effect in the ordinary
red-fire compositions.
For the blue lances you may use composition No. 8, given in paragraph
23.
But there are also two other formulæ which you will find very
serviceable and effective:—
No. 15.
Chlorate of potash 32 parts
Chertier’s copper 12 „
Calomel 40 „
Sugar 25 „
Or,
No. 16.
Chlorate of potash 6 „
Chertier’s copper 1 part.
Calomel 5 parts.
Sugar 4 „
For the preparation of a purple fire for these little cases, you cannot
do better than use that given for Purple Rocket Stars.
There are still two other colours which you may perhaps find useful and
ornamental, and without which my list would not be complete. They are
the violet and the lilac tints. The violet is at No. 17, and the lilac
at No. 18:—
No. 17.
Chlorate of potash 26 parts.
Calomel 24 „
Carbonate of strontia 4 „
Chertier’s copper 3 „
Sugar 14 „
Or,
No. 18.
Chlorate of potash 12 „
Prepared chalk 4 „
Sulphur 5 „
Calomel 3 „
Sulphide of copper 10 „
With regard to the use of sugar in pyrotechnic compositions it must be
borne in mind that it is a substance which readily attracts damp, so
that it must be kept in a closely-corked or stoppered bottle. It should
be reduced to powder in a very dry mortar, and then sifted through very
fine muslin, to fit it for pyrotechnic uses. And the mention of muslin
here reminds me of a fact which experience has brought to light, and
which you will find it highly convenient to remember. All those powdered
salts and pyrotechnic ingredients which clog the meshes of a wire sieve
will easily pass through a sieve made of muslin. For instance, powdered
stearine, shellac, sugar, and the salts of strontia and baryta will be
found to sift much more readily through muslin, _provided the muslin be
dry and clean_. This will enable the amateur pyrotechnist to fit himself
up with sieves of any fineness at a very small cost. He will require
only a tin or zinc drum, about 6 inches in diameter, and 4 inches high,
with a wire ring round each end. Over one of these ends he can stretch a
piece of muslin of the required thickness, and fasten it with a strong
elastic band. Or he may have a metal ring made large enough to fit over
the muslin and round one end of the drum, which he can remove when a
change of muslin is necessary. I do not by any means recommend this kind
of sieve for sifting such things as meal-powder, charcoal, or sulphur;
for I consider a receiver, made to fit on to the sieve, indispensable in
the case of sifting these articles. The dust arising from this operation
will otherwise find its way into your eyes, and nose, and clothes, and
over everything in your room.
It is, perhaps, unnecessary for me to add that all the above
compositions must be made up with the greatest exactness, and no
ingredients must be used but such as are thoroughly dry and in the
finest powder. The most successful pyrotechnists have never been able to
produce proper effects, even with the purest and best materials and
chemicals, unless those materials have been first reduced to the
necessary state of fineness and dryness, and then mixed till they have
become most intimately incorporated.
We will now suppose a sufficient number of these lances to be filled
with the selected compositions. They must be primed precisely in the
manner described under the head of “Golden Rains.” When finished they
will be about two and a-half inches long, and about equal in size to an
ordinary drawing-pencil.
[Illustration:
Fig. 73.
]
The first thing to be done is to decide upon your design. This, I
presume, will not be very large. I need not furnish you with a series of
suggestions for these designs, for the chance is, that, after all I can
say, the one which you wish to execute will be one of your own
conception, or at all events, one which you would rather carry out in
your own way. But I give here a plain sample of the work (fig. 73),
which is merely intended to make clearer my verbal directions. _The
letters should not be less than ten inches high._
In the first place you must either procure a board of sufficient size
for your design, or you must make a wooden framework of the shape that
you require. Suppose the design to be a V.R.: now either sketch this out
upon one side of your board, or, if you wish to have it larger than a
board will allow, make a plain rough framework describing the letters.
When this is done, decide upon the distance at which you can place the
lances one from another. This distance is generally about two inches,
but no exact rule can be laid down, for so much depends upon the sort of
design that you think of executing, and upon the scale of its size.
I will now suppose that you have your design carefully drawn upon the
board or framework. Upon the outlines of your sketch make little pencil
circles wherever you intend to place a lance; and, as far as it is
possible, arrange that the lances shall be equidistant one from another.
Of course the prime object of the arrangement must be to make the
outline of the letters, figures, &c., as plain and bold as possible. Now
with a centre-bit, or, what is better, a pin-bit, _bore a hole about a
quarter of an inch deep_ where your circles are pencilled. These holes
must be of such a size that the closed ends of the lances will fit
easily into them. When you have completed this operation, get either
some glue or some of the mixture of size and red lead which I have
recommended before; and when it is liquid, dip into it the closed end of
each of the lances. Enough of the mixture will adhere to the lances to
allow of their being secured firmly in the holes that you have bored. In
a very short time all will be hard and dry, and you will then have a
series of lances projecting at right angles with your board or
framework, each having its mouth primed, and all being of the same
length.
The only thing that remains now to be done is to clothe these primed
mouths with quick-match. This is by no means difficult, but requires a
certain amount of patience. Take a length of match in its case, and,
having exposed one end of the black match itself, put a small pin
through it into the priming of one of the lances. This will fasten it
down, and at the same time will insure its ignition. Then lead the
quick-match on to the next lance, cutting away with scissors a piece of
the under side of its case, to allow the match in passing to touch its
priming. Put a pin through the match into the priming of this lance
also, and so on till all are clothed. If more of the casing of the match
has been cut away than is necessary, it will be well to paste small
strips of paper wherever this has happened, as any exposure of the black
match will endanger the piece, rendering it liable to ignition from the
sparks of other fireworks. This piece of caution must be carefully
attended to, because lance-work is generally employed with the finale of
an exhibition, when a great many pieces are going off at once, and when
the effect of the whole may be easily spoiled by the untimely firing of
one part.
The arrangement of colours in lance-work must, of course, be left
entirely to the artist himself. It matters not what the arrangement is,
if the colours be only properly contrasted. Remember that the most
effective and striking contrasts are blue with yellow, red with green,
purple with red, white with violet or red.
In the case of letters, or a monogram, a border of an oval or circular
shape adds very much to the effect. This border should be of a different
colour to that used for the letters, &c.
Lance-work is not very largely used in pyrotechnic exhibitions; one
specimen of it in each display is quite as much as is generally seen.
But it certainly is a pyrotechnic feature, and on that account must not
be passed over. Lance-work is generally accompanied in its exhibition
with Roman candles, or with some arrangement of gerbes to take off what
would otherwise be its bare appearance. When introduced as a centre to
some framework of sparkling fire it is very beautiful, particularly if
colours be employed in it.
I need hardly add that when it is fired the framework is to be placed
vertically, and _the lances are to burn horizontally_. It is a good plan
to paint the framework black.