Online Encyclopedia
Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.
FIREWORKS
Online EncyclopediaEncyclopedia Home :: FAT-FLA
del.icio.us it!
|
FIREWORKS . In See also:modern times this See also:term is principally associated with the See also:art of pyrotechny " (Gr. snip, See also:fire, and 1- xvii, art), and confined to the See also:production of pleasing scenic effects by means of fire and inflammable and explosive substances. But the See also:history of the See also:evolution of such displays is See also:bound up with that of the use of such substances not only for scenic display but for exciting fear and for military purposes; and it is consequently complicated by our lack of exact knowledge as to the materials at the disposal of the ancients See also:prior to the invention of See also:gunpowder (see also the See also:article See also:GREEK FIRE). For the following See also:historical See also:account the term " fireworks " is therefore used in a rather See also:general sense.
History.—It is usually stated that from very See also:ancient times fireworks were known in See also:China; it is, however, difficult to assign See also:dates or quote trustworthy authorities. Pyrotechnic displays were certainly given in the See also:Roman See also:circus. While a passage in See also:Manilius,l who lived in the days of See also:Augustus, seems to See also:bear this See also:interpretation, there is the definite See also:evidence of Vopiscus 2 that fireworks were performed for the See also:emperor See also:Carinus and later for the emperor See also:Diocletian; and Claudian,3 See also:writing in the 4th See also:century, gives a poetical description of a set piece, where whirling wheels and dropping fountains of fire were displayed upon the pegma, a See also:species of movable framework employed in the various See also:spectacles presented in the circus. After the fall of the Western See also:empire no mention of fireworks can be traced until the Crusaders carried back with them to See also:Europe a knowledge of the incendiary compounds of the See also:East, and gunpowder had made its See also:appearance. Biringuccio,4 writing in 1540, says that at an anterior See also:period it had been customary at See also:Florence and See also:Siena to represent a See also:fable or See also:story at the Feast of St See also: 2 Vopiscus, See also:Carus, See also:Numerianus et Carinus, ch. xix.
See also:Claudianus, De consulatu Manlii Theodori, 325-330.
Vanuzzio Biringuccio, Pyrotechnia.
Strutts, See also:Sports and Pastimes of the See also:English See also:People.
6 De Frezier, Traiti See also:des feux d'artifice (1707 and 1747).
Notes and Queries, See also:series 5, vol. ix. p. 140, and series 8, vol. ii. pp. 145 and 254.
IO
421 (1648), " to represent a See also:tree or See also:fountain in the air." The most
gigantic See also:head out of ,which flames were made to issue:' in the See also:river procession on the occasion of the See also:marriage of See also: With such a display See also:Antwerp welcomed the See also:archduke of See also:Austria in 1550.6 Then the " fire combat " came into See also:fashion. Helmets from which flames would issue were provided for the performers; there were also swords and clubs that would give out See also:sparks at every stroke, lances with fiery points, and bucklers that when struck gave forth a detonation and a See also:flame. A picture of a combat with weapons such as these will be found in Hanzelet's Recueil de See also:machines militaires (162o). In addition, the fireworker See also:grew to be some-what of a scenic artist who could devise a romantic background and fill it with shapes bizarre, beautiful or terrific; he had to make his See also:castle, his See also:cave or his rocky See also:ravine, and people his stage with distressed damsel, errant See also:knight or devouring dragon. Furthermore he had to give See also:motion to the inanimate persons of the See also:drama; thus his dragon would run down an incline on hidden wheels, be actuated by a rope, or be propelled by a rockets In 1613 at the marriage of the See also:prince See also:palatine to the daughter of See also: :Mysteries of Nature and Art (1635). This contains a picture of a green See also:man. ° Geschichte des Feuerwerkswesen (See also:Berlin, 1887). The See also:Jubilee pamphlet of the See also:Brandenburg See also:Artillery. ' See " Fairholts' Collection " bequeathed to the Royal Society of Antiquaries. 9 See also:Journal of the Royal Artillery, vol. xxxii. No. 11. See also:Somers' Tracts, vol. iii. 8 De Frezier. 9 Diego Ufano, Artillery, in See also:Spanish (1614) ; See also:Master Gunner See also:Norton, The Gunner and The Gunner's See also:Dialogue (1628) ; F. de Malthe (See also:Malthus), Artificial Fireworks, in See also:French and English (1628) ; " Hanzelet," Recueil de plusieurs machines militaires et feux artificiels pour la guerre et recreation (162o and 163o) ; Furttenback, master gunner of See also:Bavaria, Halinitro Pyrobolio,inGerman (1627) ; ( John See also:Babington See also:Matross, Pyrotechnia, 1635) ; Nye, master gunner of See also:Worcester, Art of Gunnery (Worcester, 1648) ; Casimir Siemienowitz, lieut.-general of the Ordnance to the king of See also:Poland, The Great Art of Artillery, in French (165o).celebrated See also:work of them all was the Great Art of Artillery by Siemienowitz, which was, considered important enough to be translated into English by See also:order of the See also:Board of Ordnance, nearly eighty years after it had appeared.1p .The classic See also:facade now came into fashion; on it and about it were placed emblematic figures, and disposed around were See also:groups of rockets, Roman candles, &c., See also:musket barrels for projecting stars, and mortars from which were fired shells called balloons, which were full of combustibles. The figures were carved out of See also:wood which was soaped or waxed over and covered with See also:papier mhche so that a skin was formed: this was cut vertically into two parts, removed from the wood, formed into a hollow figure, and filled with fireworks. See also:National fireworks now assumed a stately and dignified appearance, and for two centuries played a conspicuous part all over Europe in the public expression of thanksgiving or of See also:triumph. Representations and sometimes accounts will be found in the See also:British Museum 11 of the more important English displays, from the See also:coronation of James II. down to the peace rejoicings of 1856, during which period national fireworks were provided by the officials of the Ordnance. But since the days of See also:Ranelagh and See also:Vauxhall fireworks have become a subject of private enter-prise, and the triumphs of such firms as Messrs See also:Brock or Messrs See also:Pain at the Crystal See also:Palace and elsewhere have been without an See also:official See also:rival. (J. R. J. J.) Modern Fireworks.—In modern times the art of pyrotechny has been gradually improved by the work of specialists, who have had the See also:advantage of being guided by the progress of scientific See also:chemistry and See also:mechanics. As in all such cases, however, See also:science is useless without the aid of See also:practical experience and acquired See also:manual dexterity. Many substances have a strong tendency to combine with See also:oxygen, and will do so, in certain circumstances, so energetically as to render the products of the See also:combination (which may be solid See also:matter or See also:gas) intensely hot and luminous. This is the general cause of the phenomenon known as fire. Its See also:special See also:character depends chiefly on the nature of the substances burned and on the manner in which the oxygen is supplied to them. As is well known, our See also:atmosphere contains oxygen gas diluted with about four times its See also:volume of See also:nitrogen; and it is this oxygen which supports the See also:combustion of our See also:coal and candles. But it is not often that the pyrotechnist depends wholly upon atmospheric oxygen for his purposes; for the phenomena of combustion in it are too See also:familiar, and toe little capable of variation, to strike with wonder. Two cases, however, where he does so may be instanced, viz. the burning of See also:magnesium See also:powder and of See also:lycopodium, both of which are used for the See also:imitation of See also:lightning in theatres. Nor does the pyrotechnist resort much to the use of pure oxygen, although very brilliant effects may be produced by burning various substances in See also:glass jars filled with the gas. Indeed, the art could never have existed in any-thing like its See also:present form had not certain solid substances become known which, containing oxygen in combination with other elements, are capable of being made to evolve large volumes of it at the moment it is required. The best examples of these solid oxidizing agents are See also:potassium nitrate (See also:nitre or See also:saltpetre) and chlorate; and these are of the first importance in the manufacture of fireworks. If a portion of one of these salts be thoroughly powdered and mixed with the correct quantity of some suitable combustible See also:body, also reduced to powder, the resulting mixture is capable of burning with more or less See also:energy without any aid from atmospheric oxygen, since each small piece of See also:fuel is in See also:close juxtaposition to an available and sufficient See also:store of the gas. All that is required is that the liberation of the oxygen from the solid particles which contain it shall be started by the application of See also:heat from without, and the 10 Translated by George Shelvocke, 1727, by order of the surveyorgeneraI of the Ordnance. ii " Crace Collection " in the See also:print-See also:room ; the King's Prints and Drawings in the library. See also " The Connection of the Ordnance See also:Department with National and Royal Fireworks," R. A. Journal, vol. xxii. No. 11. 422 See also:action then goes on unaided. This, then, is the fundamental fact of pyrotechny—that, with proper See also:attention to the chemical nature of the substances employed, solid mixtures (compositions or fuses) may be prepared which contain within themselves all that is essential for the production of fire. If nitre and potassium chlorate, with other salts of nitric and chloric acids and a few similar compounds, be grouped together as oxidizing agents, most of the other materials used in making firework compositions may be classed as oxidizable substances. Every See also:composition must contain at least one See also:sample of each class: usually there are present more than one oxidizable substance, and very often more than one oxidizing See also:agent. In all cases the proportions by See also:weight which the ingredients of a mixture bear to one another is a matter of much importance, for it greatly affects the manner and See also:rate of combustion. The most important oxidizable substances employed are See also:charcoal and See also:sulphur. These two, it is well known, when properly mixed in certain proportions with the oxidizing agent nitre, constitute gunpowder; and gunpowder plays an important part in the construction of most fireworks. It is sometimes employed alone, when a strong See also:explosion is required; but more commonly it is mixed with one or more of its own ingredients and with other matters. In addition to charcoal and sulphur, the following oxidizable substances are more or less employed:—many compounds of See also:carbon, such as See also:sugar, See also:starch, resins, &c.; certain metallic compounds of sulphur, such as the sulphides of See also:arsenic and See also:antimony; a few of the metals themselves, such as See also:iron, See also:zinc, magnesium, antimony, See also:copper. Of these metals iron (See also:cast-iron and See also:steel) is more used than any of the others. They are all employed in the form of powder or small filings. They do not contribute much to the burning See also:power of the composition; but when it is ignited they become intensely heated and are discharged into the air, where they oxidize more or less completely and cause brilliant sparks and scintillations. See also:Sand, potassium sulphate, See also:calomel and some other substances, which neither combine with oxygen nor See also:supply it, are sometimes employed as ingredients of the compositions in order to See also:influence the character of the fire. This may be modified in many ways. Thus the rate of combustion may be altered so as to give anything from an instantaneous explosion to a slow fire lasting many minutes. The flame may be clear, smoky, or charged with glowing sparks. But the most important characteristic of a fire-. one to which great attention is paid by pyrotechnists—is its See also:colour, which may be varied through the different shades and combinations of yellow, red, green and See also:blue. These See also:colours are imparted to the flame by the presence in it of the heated vapours of certain metals, of which the following are the most important:—sodium, which gives a yellow colour; See also:calcium, red; See also:strontium, See also:crimson; See also:barium, green; copper, green or blue, according to circumstances. Suitable salts of these metals are much used as ingredients of fire mixtures; and they are decomposed and volatilized during the See also:process of combustion. Very often the See also:chlorates and nitrates are employed, as they serve the See also:double purpose of supplying oxygen and of imparting colour to the flame. Toe number of fire mixtures actually employed is very great, for the requirements of each variety of firework, and of almost each See also:size of each variety, are different. Moreover, every pyrotechnist has his own taste in the matter of compositions. They are capable, however, of being classified according to the nature of the work to which they are suited. Thus there are See also:rocket-fuses, gerbe-fuses, See also:squib-fuses, See also:star-compositions, &c.; and, in addition, there are a few which are essential in the construction of most fireworks, whatever the See also:main composition may be. Such are the starting-powder, which first catches the fire, the bursting-powder, which causes the final explosion, and the See also:quick-match (See also:cotton-See also:wick, dried after being saturated with a See also:paste of gunpowder and starch), employed for connecting parts of the more complicated See also:works and carrying the fire from one to another. Of the general nature of fuses an See also:idea may be had from the following two examples, which are selected at See also:hazard fromamong the numerous recipes for making, respectively, tourbillion fire and green stars: Tourbillion. Green Stars. See also:Meal gunpowder . . 24 parts. Potassium chlorate . i6 parts. Nitre to „ Barium nitrate . . Sulphur 7 „ Sulphur . . . 12 Charcoal . 4 „ Charcoal . Steel filings 8 „ Shellac . Calomel Copper sulphide . . 2 „ Although the making of compositions is of the first importance, it is not the only operation with which the pyrotechnist has to do; for the construction of the cases in which they arc to be packed, and the actual processes of packing and See also:finishing, require much care and dexterity. These cases are made of See also:paper or pasteboard, and are generally of a cylindrical shape. In size they vary greatly, according to the effect which it is desired to produce. The relations of length to thickness, of See also:internal to See also:external See also:diameter. and of these to the size of the openings for See also:discharge, are matters of extreme importance, and must always be attended to with almost mathematical exactness and considered in connexion with the nature of the composition which is to be used. There is one very important See also:property of fireworks that is due more to the See also:mechanical structure of the cases and the manner in which they are filled than to the precise chemical character of the composition, i.e. their power of motion. Some are so constructed that the piece is kept at See also:rest and the only motion possible is that of the flame and sparks which See also:escape during combustion from the mouth of the See also:case. Others, also fixed, contain, alternately with layers of some more See also:ordinary compositions, balls or blocks of a special mixture cemented by some See also:kind of See also:varnish; and these stars, as they are called, shot into the air, one by one, like bullets from a See also:gun, See also:blaze and burst there with striking effect. But in many instances motion is imparted to the firework as a whole—to the case as well as to its contents. This motion, various as it is in detail, is almost entirely one of two kinds-rotatory motion round a fixed point, which may be in the centre of gravity of a single piece or that of a whole See also:system of pieces, and See also:free ascending motion through the air. In all cases the cause of motion. is the same, viz. that large quantities of gaseous matter are formed by the combustion, that these can escape only at certain apertures, and that a backward pressure is necessarily exerted at the point opposite to them. When a large gun is discharged, it recoils a few feet. Movable fireworks may be regarded as very light guns loaded with heavy charges; and in them the recoil is therefore so much greater as to be the most noticeable feature of the discharge; and it only requires proper contrivances to make the piece See also:fly through the air like a See also:sky-rocket or revolve round a central See also:axis like a See also:Catherine See also:wheel. Beauty of motion is hardly less important in pyrotechny than brilliancy of fire and variety of colour. The following is a brief description of some of the forms of fire-work most employed : Fixed Fires.—Theatre fires consist of a slow composition which may be heaped in a conical See also:pile on a See also:tile or a flagstone and lit at the See also:apex. They require no cases. Usually the fire is coloured—green, red or blue; and beautiful effects are obtained by See also:illuminating buildings with it. It is also used on the stage; but, in that case, the composition must be such as to give no suffocating or poisonous fumes. See also:Bengal See also:lights are very similar, but are piled in saucers, covered with gummed paper, and lit by means of pieces of match. Marroons are small boxes wrapped round several times with find See also:cord and filled with a strong composition which explodes with a loud See also:report. They are generally used in batteries, or in combination with some other form of firework. Squibs are straight cylindrical cases about 6 in. See also:long, firmly closed at one end, tightly packed with a strong composition, and capped with See also:touch-paper. Usually a little bursting-powder is put in before the ordinary composition, so that the fire is finished by an explosion. The character of the fire is, of course, susceptible of great variation in colour, &c. Crackers are characterized by the cases being doubled backwards and forwards several times, the folds being pressed close and secured by twine. One end is primed ; and when this is lit the See also:cracker See also:burns with a hissing noise, and a loud report occurs every time the fire reaches a See also:bend. If the cracker is placed on the ground, it will give a jump at each report; so that it cannot quite fairly be classed among the fixed fireworks. Roman, candles are straight cylindrical cases filled 48 „ I „ 5 8 with layers of composition and stars alternately. These stars are simply balls of some special composition, usually containing metallic filings, made up with See also:gum and See also:spirits of See also:wine, cut to the required size and shape, dusted with gunpowder and dried. They are discharged like blazing bullets several feet into the air, and produce a beautiful effect, which may be enhanced by packing stars of differently coloured fire in one case. Gerbes are choked cases, not unlike Roman candles, but often of much larger size. Their fire spreads like a sheaf of See also:wheat. They may be packed with variously coloured stars, which will rise 30 ft. or more. Lances are small straight cases charged with compositions like those used for making stars. They are mostly used in complex devices, for which purpose they are fixed with wires on suitable wooden frames. They are connected by leaders, i.e. by quick-match enclosed in paper tubes, so that they can be regulated to take fire all at the same time, singly, or in detachments, as may be desired. The devices and " set pieces " constructed in this way are often of an extremely elaborate character; and they include all the varieties of lettered designs, of fixed suns, fountains, See also:palm-trees, waterfalls, See also:mosaic work, Highland See also:tartan, portraits, See also:ships, &c. Rotating Fireworks. See also:Pin or Catherine wheels are long paper cases filled with a composition by means of a See also:funnel and packingwire'and afterwards See also:wound round a disk of wood. This is fixed by a pin, sometimes vertically and sometimes horizontally; and the See also:outer primed end of the See also:spiral is lit. As the fire escapes the recoil causes the wheel to revolve in an opposite direction and often with considerable velocity. Pastiles are very similar in principle and construction. Instead of the case being wound in a spiral and made to revolve round its own centre point, it may be used as the See also:engine to drive a wheel or other form of framework round in a circle. Many varied effects are thus produced, of which the fire-wheel is the simplest. Straight cases, filled with some fire-composition, are attached to the end of the spokes of a wheel or other mechanism capable of being rotated. They are all pointed in the same direction at an See also:angle to the spokes, and they are connected together by leaders, so that each, as it burns out, fires the one next it. The pieces may be so chosen that brilliant effects of changing colour are produced; or various fire-wheels of different colours may be combined, revolving in different planes and different directions —some fast and some slowly. Bisecting wheels, plural wheels, caprice wheels, spiral wheels, are all more or less complicated forms; and it is possible to produce, by mechanism of this nature, a See also:model in lire of the See also:solar system. Ascending Fireworks.—Tourbillions are fireworks so constructed as to ascend in the air and rotate at the same time, forming beautiful spiral curves of fire. The straight cylindrical case is closed at the centre and at the two ends with plugs of plaster of Paris, the composition occupying the intermediate parts. The fire finds vent by six holes pierced in the case. Two of these are placed close to the end , but at opposite sides, so that one end discharges to the right and the other to the See also:left; and it is this which imparts the rotatory motion. The other holes are placed along the See also:middle See also:line of what is the under-See also:surface of the case when it is laid horizontally on the ground; and these, discharging downwards, impart an upward motion to the whole. A See also:cross piece of wood balances the tourbillion ; and the quick-match and touch-paper are so arranged that combustion begins at the two ends simultaneously and does not reach the holes of See also:ascension till after the rotation is fairly begun. The sky-rocket is generally considered the most beautiful of all fireworks; and it certainly is the one that requires most skill and science in its construction. It consists essentially of two parts,—the body and the head. The body is a straight See also:cylinder of strong pasted paper and is choked at the See also:lower end, so as to present only a narrow opening for the escape of the fire. The composition does not fill up the case entirely, for a central hollow conical See also:bore extends from the choked mouth up the body for three-quarters of its length. This is an essential feature of the rocket. It allows of nearly the whole composition being fired at once; the result of which is that an enormous quantity of heated gases collects in the hollow bore, and the gases, forcing their way downwards through the narrow opening, urge the rocket up through the air. The See also:top of the case is closed by a plasterof-Paris plug. A hole passes through this and is filled with a fuse, which serves to communicate the fire to the head after the body is burned out. This head, which is made separately and fastened on after the body is packed, consists of a See also:short cylindrical paper chamber with a conical top. It serves the double purpose of cutting a way through the air and of holding the garniture of stars, sparks, crackers, serpents, See also:gold and See also:silver See also:rain, &c., which are scattered by bursting fire as soon as the rocket reaches the highest point of its path. A great variety of beautiful effects may be obtained by the exercise of ingenuity in the choice and construction of this garniture. Many of the best results have been obtained by unpublished methods which must be regarded as the secrets of the See also:trade. The stick of the sky-rocket serves the purpose of guiding and balancing it in its See also:flight; and its size must be accurately adapted to the dimensions of the case. In winged rockets the stick is replaced by cardboard wings, which See also:act like the feathers of an arrow. A See also:girandole is the simultaneous discharge of a large number of rockets (often from one See also:hundred to two hundred), which either spread like a See also:peacock's tail or See also:pierce the sky in all directions with rushing lines of fire. This is usually the final feat of a great pyrotechnic display. See Chertier, Sur See also:les feux d'artifice (Paris, 1841; 2nd ed., 1854); See also:Mortimer, Manual of Pyrotechny (London, 1856) ; Tessier, Chimie pyrotechnique, ou traite pratique des feux colores (Paris, 1858) ; See also:Richardson and See also:Watts, Chemical Technology, sv. " Pyrotechny
(London, 1863–1867) ; See also: Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML. Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide. |
|
|
[back] FIRESHIP |
[next] FIRM |