Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 16.djvu/663

* PYROTECHNY. 579 PYROXENE. cardboard body, or fuscc, filled with propelling coliiposition, to the upper end of which is at- tached a shorter and wider paper tube called the pot, which contains the (jarniture, or material that produces the brilliant clusters of golden, ruby, emerald, or sapphire-like stars, or showers of golden or colored rain, or of fiery serpents, which appear when the rocket has risen to a great height. The pinched upper end of the pot is covered with a conical cap, which Ijy cleaving the air assists the rocket in its flight, and the whole is attached to tiie end of a stick which guides the rocket in its flight. When a rocket is to be discharged the lower end of this stick is stuck into the ground ; or better, the rocket is ])laced in an inclined wooden trough and the touch paper at the base of the fusee which com- municates with the priming in the centre of the fusee is lighted. The garniture is ignited by the flame which flashes through a hole in the clay plug at the top of the fusee as the rocket reaches its greatest altitude. PixwiiEELS and other revolving pieces are con- structed by coiling the paper case, when not too tightly filled with composition, about a flat wooden block or frame which in use is attached to a tree or board by a nail upon which it may freely revolve, the revolution being determined by the pressure of the gas evolved as the compo- sition burns. Touch Paper consists of a thin, rather tough paper which has been sponged with a weak solu- tion of saltpetre until saturated and then dried. Quick-Match consists of cotton wick which has been saturated with a weak solution of salt- petre, then coated with a thick paste of gun- powder and gum, spread evenly over it, and then dried. Colored Fire. In producing light and eolor, there is added to the gunpowder composition steel filings for brilliant fire or cast-iron filings for Chinese fire. Copper filings give a greenish tint to flame; zinc filings a fine blue color: powdered magnesium a dazzling white light : amber, colo- phony, or common salt affords yellow fire. Lamp- -black produces a very red color with gunpowder, and a pink with nitre in excess, and it serves for making golden showers. Yellow sand or glisten- ing mica communicates to fireworks golden radia- tions. Vei-digris imparts a pale green : sulphate of copper and sal ammoniac a palm-tree green ; barium salts a grass green; strontium salts crimson; calcium salts orange. Potassium pic- rate on burning produces a whistling sound and lias recently been introduced for use in whistling bombs and rockets. Camphor yields a very white flame and aromatic fumes. Lycopodium burns with a rose color and a magnificent flame. The published recipes and formulas for the manu- facture of the materials used in fireworks are very numerous, while each manufacturer has his special mixtures and methods of treatment. For example, yellow stars and iicllotr shoirers are made of nitre 16 parts, sulphur 10, charcoal 4, gunpowder 16, and lampblack 2, all being finely ground and intimately mixed. A deeper and richer golden color is produced by using '2 parts less of sulphur and of charcoal respectively and 4 parts more of gunpowder in the mixture. To prnrlnce stars either of the above mixtures is moistened with gum water, rolled into a sheet and cut into cubes which are then dried. For red mixture for colored fires potassium chlorate 29.7 parts, sulphur 17.2, charcoal 1.7, strontium nitrate 45.7, black antimony sulphide 5.7. For green, potassium chlorate 32.7 parts, sulphur 9.8, charcoal 5.2, barium nitrate 52.3. For blue, potassium chlorate 54.5 parts, charcoal 18.1, ammoniacal copper sulphate 27.4. For uhile, sulphur 20 parts, saltpetre 60, black antimony sulphide 5, flour gunpowder 15. All fireworks mixtures and compositions should be handled with extreme care. All friction should be avoided, especially while the ingredients are being mi.xed. Compositions containing chlorates, and particularly chlorates and sulphur, are es- pecially sensitive to friction and jjcrcussion, and furthermore are liable to explode spontaneously. The sensitiveness of such mixtures may be noted in the toy torpedo or throw-down, in which a very small amount of the mixture, mingled with gravel to give the device weight, are enveloped in tissue paper. Owing to frequent accidents to person and property, through explosions and fire, arising from the use of firecrackers, and espe- ciall.y the larger sizes known as cannon cracJcers, giant crackers, and dynamite crackers, a straw- board cracker containing a chamber filled with compressed air has recently been invented as a substitute. Greek fire (q.v.) is supposed by some to have been composed of asphaltum, nitre, and sulphur, by others to have had approxi- mately the composition of gunpowder. . modern composition known by this name consists of a solution of phospliorus in carbon disulphide with or without sulphur, potassium chlorate, and mineral oil. Rockets, known as Congreie rockets, carrying explosive shells and incendiary composi- tions in the pot, were used in the siege of Bou- logne in 1806 and in the British war with the Burmese. Benyal lights are used as distress sig- nals at sea, while Roman candles, or similar de- vices throwing colored stars, are used, with a telegr-aphic code, for over-water conununication. In 1900 there were prodticed in the United States $1,785,271 worth of fireworks, nearly one-half of the total amount being produced in the State of Xew York: Bibliography. The literature of pyrotechny contains the following works, whose scope is in- dicated by their titles: Babington, Pyrotechnia, or a Discourse of Artificial Fireworks (London, 1635) : d'Orval, Traitc de&feux d'artifice pour le stpe'ctacle et pour la guerre (Bern, 1750) ; Rug- gieri, Pyrotechnie militaire (Paris, 1812) : Cut- bush, A System of Pyrotechny (Philadelphia. 1825) ; Chertier. youveUes recherches sur Ics feux d'artifice (Paris, 1843) ; Tessier, Chimie pi/rotechnique (Paris, 1859) ; Browne, The Art of Pi/rotechny (London, 1879) : Cesare Sonzogno, 11 pirotccnico moderno (Milan, 1892). See Ex- plosives; Greek Fire; Gunpowder; Sioal- ixo and Telegr-^-PHY, Military; Signals, Marine. PYR'OXENE (from Gk. vOp, pyr. fire + Urns, jrn«.5, guest), or AUGITE. A name .applied to a'sroup of mineral metasilicates, of which the mineral pvroxcne is the type. The latter is a metasilicate of calcium and magnesium, often with iron, and sometimes with manganese, and zinc, that crystallizes in the monoclinic system, and is usually found in prismatic crystals, al- thoush sometimes granular, coarse or fine. Ac- cording to its composition the species is divided by Dana into the following sub-species: Diopside,