ANARCHY 'N' EXPLOSIVES - VOLUME #6 ================================== by Doctor Dissector, 6/14/89 SKY ROCKETS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Next to the Roman Candle, these are perhaps the most popular articles of the pyrotechnical craft and, on good authority, apparently antedate the candle. So much has been written about sky rockets that any detailed description would be superfluous. The French, particularly, have left a most complete history, sometimes amusing, in view of the present status of rocket manufacture. The rocket consists of a tube of paper rammed with suitable composition, its lower end choked to about one-third of the diameter of its bore, and having a hollow center extending upward through the composition to about 3/4 of an inch of the top. A stick attached to the tube serves to balance it while ascending. Roughly, the composition of a rocket, that is, the portion of it that is burning while it is ascending, should be seven times its diameter in length. Six-sevenths is pierced through the center while one-seventh is solid and acts as a fuse to communicate the fire to the heading when the rocket reaches the highest point of its flight. The tube is made of strong paper, preferably 3 turns of hardware paper on the inside with 4 or more turns of straw board or Kraft paper on the outside. A good rocket case can also be made of heavy rag or building paper, if it is properly rolled with good paste. The process of choking the case and ramming in a mold has been practically discontinued. An average model for a 1 pound rocket is given in the file "ROCKET.ANS" (ANSI graphics format). Good rockets should be uniform, all those of one caliber ascending to the same height and bursting at about the same time. This is particularly desirable in bouquets of 100 or more, fired simultaneously, or a straggling effect is produced. Most rockets larger than 3 ounces are rammed singly or by gang rammers, which can be built on a custom basis. Today, hydraulic rammers are also in use. For very large rockets, a scoop of clay is shaken in and rammed with eight good blows of a mallet on the longest rammer. Then, a scoopful of composition is rammed with about eight lighter blows. This is repeated until the case is filled to about 1 inch from the top. Shift rammer as it becomes necessary to use shorter ones. There should be 1 inch of solid composition above the top end of the spindle. Now the final charge of clay is put in and the hollow pin rammer is used. This sets the clay while leaving an opening for the fire to reach the heading. Care must be used to see that the hollow tube just pierces the clay. If it does not go through, the heading will fail to fire; if it goes too far, the heading will fire prematurely. (The heading is the blast charge or whatever you want to ignite) the following are good compositions for rockets of the different sizes given: (given in weighted parts) 1-3 ounces 4-8 ounces 1-3 pounds 4-8 pounds Potassium Nitrate 18 16 16 18 Mixed Coal 10 9 12 12 Sulfur 3 4 3 3 If rockets burst before ascending, add more coal; if they ascend too slowly, add more Potassium Nitrate. For the smaller sizes, use fine coal, for larger, coarser in proportion to the diameter. In 4-8 pound rockets, use partly granulated Potassium Nitrate. SERPENTS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The eggs for producing this remarkable article consists of small pellets of sulfocyanide (thiocyanate) of mercury which has the remarkable property of swelling 25-50 times its original size when lighted, producing a ling, snake- like ash. To prepare it, make a concentrated solution of mercuric chloride and add, little by little, a solution of potassium sulfocyanide, stirring constantly. A grayish precipitate will be formed, and when the last addition of sulfocyanide no longer produces cloudiness, permit the mixture to settle. Drain the supernatant liquid off as much as possible, remove the precipitate to a filter paper, placed in a glass funnel, and wash slightly. When it is thoroughly dried, reduce it to a fine powder. When ready to for the eggs, moisten the composition very sparingly with a weak solution of gum arabic which may be added a pinch of potassium nitrate and, made into cones, by ramming. However, this product is poisonous to man and other living species, since it is composed of cyanide and mercury. Thus, another formula has been devised to accommodate safety. A safer version of the above serpent can be made of the following: Naphtha pitch (10), Linseed oil (2), Fuming nitric acid (7), and Picric acid (3 1/2). Reduce the pitch to a fine powder; add linseed oil and mix well in a mortar. Add the fuming nitric acid, always a little at a time, Allow to cool for 1 hour. Wash several times with water, the last time allowing the mass to stand in the water for several hours. Dry thoroughly; powder finely and add picric acid, rubbing it in well. Moisten with gum arabic water and form into pellets about the size of a #4 star. SMOKES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This branch of pyrotechny seems to have been somewhat overlooked, though its possibilities for daylight entertainment as a supplement of night displays could open an interesting field for those with enough imagination to develop it. There are as many colors and tints of smoke as there are flames and aerial combinations. The simplest form of the smoke used in pyrotechny is the smoke pot, as used in spectacles like THE LAST DAYS OF POMPEII and BURNING OF ROME, where it is desired to give the effect of destruction by fire. Smoke and spark posts consist of short cases about 4-6 inches in diameter and 6-12 inches in length. A basic formula subject to variation is: Smoke 1 Smoke 2 Spark 1 White Potassium Nitrate 4 6 --- 12 Lampblack 1 --- --- --- Fine Charcoal 1 --- 1 1 Realgar 1 --- --- --- Rosin 1 --- --- --- Sulfur --- 1 1/4 --- 16 Antimony Sulfide --- 1 --- --- Meal Powder --- 1 2 --- Sawdust --- --- 1 --- WHISTLING FIREWORKS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The peculiar property of picrate of whistling while burning has been known for a long time. You can manufacture whistling fireworks using this substance. In a porcelain receptacle, dissolve 1 pound of picric acid in the least possible quantity of boiling water; add 1/4 pound of potassium carbonate, a little at a time, stirring continuously. When effervescence has subsided, add 1 pound of powdered potassium nitrate. Stir thoroughly, allow to stand for an hour and then place it on a heavy piece of filter paper in a glass funnel, to drain. When it is dry, crush to a fine powder with a wooden roller. Although this is a reasonably safe composition, only small quantities should be handled at a time, as an explosion will cause disastrous result, or will they? heh heh. The dry powder may be rammed into tubes from 1/4 to 3/4 inches in diameter, and will produce the whistling sound when burned. Bamboo tubes are most effective. Owing to the ease with which potassium picrate detonates, whistles cannot be use in shells, but small tubes, 1/4 inches in diameter and 2 1/2 inches long, when charged with the above composition, may be placed in the heads of rockets or fastened to the outside and arranged to burn while the rocket is ascending. Attached to wheels, they are quite amusing, but the most effective use for them is in a series of six or eight, ranging in size from 1/4 to 3/4 inches in diameter, set side by side like a Pandean pipe and burned simultaneously. A non--picrate whistle, safer than the one above, is made from potassium chlorate (3), and Gallic acid (1). This composition makes a very good whistle and is not nearly as troublesome to prepare as the one using picric acid. COLORED FLAMES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Colored flames are made by dissolving various substances in alcohol. A copper can filled with cotton is impregnated with the alcoholic solution. It is lighted by a tuft of cotton protruding from the opening. For green flame, use boric acid. Red flame uses strontium or lithium chloride. Yellow flame requires sodium chloride. A blue flame may be produced with copper sulfate or cesium carbonate X-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-X Another file downloaded from: The NIRVANAnet(tm) Seven & the Temple of the Screaming Electron Taipan Enigma 510/935-5845 Burn This Flag Zardoz 408/363-9766 realitycheck Poindexter Fortran 510/527-1662 Lies Unlimited Mick Freen 801/278-2699 The New Dork Sublime Biffnix 415/864-DORK The Shrine Rif Raf 206/794-6674 Planet Mirth Simon Jester 510/786-6560 "Raw Data for Raw Nerves" X-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-X