The Pyrotechnist's Treasury; Or, Complete Art of Making Fireworks. Thomas Kentish
or quickmatch.
A steel-pen inserted, nib backwards, in the end of a small paper tube, rolled round the end of a penholder, makes a neat little scoop. It may be fastened in with a little plaster of paris. A scoop may also be made with a quill.
Cracks in wooden bowls may be stopped with the same material; and, if painted over with linseed oil, after getting dry, will remain waterproof for a long time. A screw may be made to hold in brickwork, by drilling a hole in the brick, and pushing in the screw, covered with plaster.
To Make Touchpaper.
Dissolve 1⁄2 an ounce of nitre in 1⁄2 a pint of hot water. Procure some 12 lb. double crown blue; cut each sheet into four equal parts, 15 by 10. Lay them smooth upon each other, and, with a sash-tool dipped into the nitre solution, wash them over on one side, and hang them up to dry.
To Make Slowmatch.
Dissolve 1 dram of nitrate of lead in 1⁄2 an ounce of boiling water. Cut a sheet of blotting paper into six equal parts, and wet them on both sides, with a sash-tool, with the solution. When dry, paste a piece all over, and upon it smoothly press another piece; upon this, pasted, put a third piece; and so on, till all the six form a stiff board. Lay them under a heavy weight; and, when dry, with a sharp knife and straight-edge, cut the whole into strips 1⁄4 of an inch broad. Four inches will burn about a quarter of an hour. Narrow tape, boiled in the solution, makes excellent slowmatch.
To Make Quickmatch.
Put into a pan 1 lb. of grain-powder, or meal-powder; pour upon it some thin hot starch, and stir it well about, breaking all lumps, till the mixture is of the consistency of paint. Procure some lamp-cotton, such as forms the wicks of candles. It will probably consist of sixteen or twenty-four strands. Divide it carefully into lengths of eight strands. This is not so easy a task as might appear. The best way is to act the reverse of a man spinning string. Divide the end of the cotton, say of sixteen strands, into two of eight each; fasten them to two screw-hooks, a few inches apart. Take one in each hand, and walk backwards, gently pulling them apart, and when they catch, untwist them: with care they will separate without breaking or entangling. Drop the end of one of the pieces into the pan; and, as it keeps falling, coil it round and round in the mixture, and press it down with an iron spoon, until as much is pressed in as the quantity can saturate. Be very particular that it is thoroughly soaked. Have ready a wooden frame, fig. 13, of deal, resembling a swing looking-glass, with the glass taken out. It may be 5 feet by 4. The frame is to be supported on pivots between two uprights. Fix a nail or hook at the left-hand corner of the frame, and tie the end of the cotton to it which has been hanging outside the pan. Get a person to slowly turn the frame and hold it steady. Take hold of the cotton in the right hand, shut the hand, and allow the cotton to slip gradually and slowly through it, as the frame is turned; squeeze it very gently, so as to allow it to come out well coated, and contrive to make it as round as possible. When all the cotton is wound upon the frame, spread some sheets of paper—old newspapers—on the floor; at each corner place a brick; lay the four corners of the frame upon the four bricks; sift dry meal-powder all over the match, turn it over and sift over the other side. Prop the frame against the wall, and leave it to dry. One ounce of white starch will be sufficient for a pint and a half of water. Rub the starch up smooth with a little of the water, then add the rest, and boil it.
A New Method.
Put into a gallipot, or basin, some hot starch, made as before directed, or some cold gum-water, or cold dextrine solution; and with a small stencil-brush, or a 3⁄8 sash-tool, cut across the middle to make the bristles short and stubby, stir in some meal-powder, till it is well mixed and looks like black paint. To avoid repetition, it will be convenient to refer to this under the name of Meal-paste. Take two towel-horses, fig. 14, and set them parallel 5, 10, or 20 feet apart. In the top rail of each, drive four nails 1⁄2 an inch asunder. Fix the dry cotton to the nail a, carry it across to the opposite nail b, pass it round the second nail c, bring it to the opposite second nail, and so on, till the cotton lies in four parallel lines, like the strings of a harp placed horizontally. Hitch the cotton, without cutting it, to the hook of the weight, fig. 15. This weight is made by taking a piece of brass tube, 1 inch diameter, and 4 inches long. Stop one end with a bung, fill it with melted lead; and before it sets push in a lucifer match, having previously cut off the priming. As soon as the lead is cold, pull out the match, which having been partially burnt smaller, will come out easily, and in the hole left by it screw a cup-hook, as drawn. Invert the weight, pick out the bung, and fill its place with more melted lead. Now procure two pieces of planed deal board; one 4 inches square, the other 6 inches square. With the left hand hold the smaller piece close underneath the cotton; and with the sash-tool or stencil-brush, work the meal-paste well into the fibres of the threads, pressing the cotton on the board till it is thoroughly soaked, and rolling it over, laterally, to make it as round and smooth as possible. It is best to begin on the left, and work towards the right. If the wetting slackens the threads, pull them tight. Now brush some meal-powder through a fine sieve, to free it from lumps; put a tablespoonful or two upon the larger board; hold it close under the four threads, as the other, with the left hand, and move it laterally forwards and backwards, and down the whole length, at the same time brushing the meal over the threads, with a soft, dry, sash-tool, till they are smothered, and giving them an occasional jar to shake off the superfluous meal. By a little practice they may be made as smooth and as round as a piece of wire. Leave the weight hanging to them till they are dry. Instead of four nails on each rail, a dozen may be put; and if the towel-horses are set 12 yards apart, 144 yards may be soon made. In this case, three or four heavier weights would be required. These contrivances, however, are by no means necessary for an amateur; four hooks or nails opposite four others, anyhow supported, will be sufficient; and six or eight feet apart is a good distance. A small quantity may thus be made one day, and a small quantity another; and for this purpose it is best to use gum-water, as it is always ready, and a little can be added to the dry left the day before, and a little fresh meal stirred in. Three or four threads of white darning-cotton, which is of two twists, make very good match; knitting or crochet cotton, which is of three twists, produces, alone, excellent match; two or three pieces of the first, or two of the latter, put into a leader pipe, side by side, blow through with a violent report. Match may also be made of the very narrowest white tape, 3⁄16 of an inch broad; this, from its flatness, is peculiarly suited for enveloped stars. For general purposes, however, lamp cotton is decidedly the best, as it is most loosely twisted, and therefore the most absorbent. If match is liable to be exposed to damp, it should be cased in thick leaders, and be prepared with starch; in other respects, nothing can surpass gum-water. Of course iron pound-weights, with a ring in them, will answer the purpose, or an iron pestle tied to the cotton, or anything heavy; but the kind I have advised are most convenient. They will weigh about a pound and a quarter each. The weight may hang over a chair-back.
Match, to be perfect, ought, when cut across, to look black throughout; it should, also, be stiff, straight, and round; but, to test it, cut off about 10 inches; put one end of this into a leader pipe, so that 5 inches will be in the pipe, and 5 out. Hold the end of the leader with a pair of tongs, or lay it on the ground; light the naked end. If the match is good it will burn gradually, though swiftly, till it gets to the pipe; it will then blow through with a bang. The nearer the leader pipe fits the match the better, only it ought to be large enough to allow it to go easily