CHAPTER IV

SIMPLE FIREWORKS—SAXON & LANCE CLASSES

The fireworks which form a class by themselves are the Saxon or Chinese flyer, and the tourbillion. Both of these consist of a single case made to revolve in the plane of its axis by jets of fire projected through a hole at right angles to the axis.

Saxons revolve about a nail driven through the case into a post or other support; they are charged with a composition of mealed gunpowder, saltpetre, and sulphur.

The case is charged thus: the lower end is firmly “clayed” and the composition is charged up to a point about ⅝ inch below the centre, clay is then charged for ¾ inch, and again composition to within a short distance of the top, which is again firmly clayed. Two holes are bored near each end on opposite sides of the case, and a third hole is bored through the centre of the case at right angles to the other two and of sufficient size to take the nail or spindle on which the case revolves.

The two holes at the end may be connected with match to light simultaneously, or the time of burning may be lengthened by leading the second half from the lower end of the first lit. In the larger sizes, and generally in display work, a small case charged with a colour composition is attached to the side of the case, producing a ring of colour inside the fire of the saxon.

A smaller and cheaper form of saxon is what is in effect half of that described above, the nail being at one end and the propelling hole at the other.

Formerly saxons for display work were made with a wooden centre, on which the two halves, which were charged separately, were fitted, and to which the colour case was secured by a nail.

The tourbillion is a development of the saxon; instead of the central spindle a piece of curved wood is secured to the case, forming a pivot on which to revolve when lying on a flat surface, and two additional holes are bored on the under side of the case, so arranged as to light when the case has sufficiently rapid revolution and project it into the air.

Jones describes tourbillions as made to-day, also saxons under the older name of Chinese flyer. In addition, he describes what he calls “table rockets,” which resemble four double saxon cases fitted to a centre, which has a projecting cone upon which the device revolves.

He says that “table rockets are designed merely to show the truth of driving and the judgment of a fireworker, they having no other effect when fired than spinning round in the same place where they begin till they are burnt out, and showing nothing more than a horizontal circle of fire,” but afterwards adds that “these rockets may be made to rise like tourbillions by making the cases shorter and boring holes in the under side of each case at equal distances; this being done they are called ‘double tourbillions.’”

Frézier shows tourbillions as at present manufactured, which he calls “tourbillion de feu” or “soleil montant,” but the nearest device he shows to a saxon is similar to Jones’s table rocket, made to revolve on a spindle, and having several holes bored down the side of each case, presumably to produce more effect. These he designates “tourniquets” or “soleils tournants.”

He also illustrates two ordinary rockets mounted on a centre similar to that of a double saxon. This he calls “baton à feu,” and describes that one case lights after the other is burnt out, and one gathers that the device is intended to revolve but how it can be made to do this by fire issuing radially is not apparent.

The word tourbillion is the French for a whirlwind and is applied by Ruggieri to a compound firework, which will be considered later under that head.

What we know as tourbillion he names “fusée de table” (a table rocket), and adds that they are commonly called “artichauts.”

The success of all the above, in common with rockets, depends on careful and experienced construction and strength of the case, and it is indeed curious that Jones describes the rolling of the cases for these fireworks without paste except on the edge of the paper. It seems incredible that an experienced pyrotechnist should make such a mistake, and one is almost inclined to agree with Kentish (1878), who says of Jones’s book: “The greater portion of it is absurd and impracticable, and shows it was written by a person who undertook to teach what he had not learnt.” Nevertheless Jones’s book, as Kentish says, has been copied by almost every book published since, just as his own matter was largely pirated from previous works. In fact, for a century and a half the plates illustrating pyrotechnic works were in a great degree fac-similes of one another.

The catherine wheel, or, as it is sometimes called, the pin wheel, is a rotating firework of simple, as distinct from compound construction, and should therefore be included in this class.

It consists of a long, thin case of small diameter, charged with a composition of sulphur, saltpetre, and mealed gunpowder. This case is wound round a circular block of thin wood, with a hole in the centre through which a pin or nail is passed, forming a pivot upon which the wheel turns.

The case of the catherine wheel, unlike any firework we have considered up to the present, burns down as the composition is consumed, and for this reason it may be included equally well in another small class of fireworks. This class includes the lance, the port-fire, the starlights, feathers, and the colour cases used on wheels and saxons, etc.

The lance is used in display work in greater numbers than any other unit. Some idea of the quantity used may be gathered from the fact that on one of the battle set pieces shown at the Crystal Palace as many as thirty thousand lances are consumed in a single display.

Lances consist of thin paper cases about the diameter of a lead pencil, filled with colour composition, and primed, to facilitate the lighting, with mealed powder damped with water. This sets and further serves to retain the contents of the lance, which are not compressed solid as are fountains, rockets, etc.

The port-fire is used as a means of lighting the pieces, etc., of a display, and in the last century for military purposes; its composition consists of a mixture of saltpetre, sulphur, and mealed gunpowder. It was formerly known as a blue candle.

The starlight and feathers, as are the squib, golden rain, etc., are of the garden type, and are not used in display work, as although burning with pretty effect, it is not distinguishable at any distance.

The feather and starlight compositions are similar to that of the flower pot, but the cases are smaller, that of the feather being catherine wheel pipe, but naturally not bent—the ends are closed by “dubbing.” This is a method usually adopted for closing the ends of “small goods.” The end of the case is introduced into an opening formed by opposing V-shaped notches in an upper and lower series of steel plates, the upper set being then forced down. The result is to constrict the end of the case, which is then dipped in a mixture of sealing-wax and glue.

Under the same head fall the Light group, which are wide and comparatively thin cases filled with coloured or “bright” (as white composition is known in the trade) composition. They are used either for illuminating as Bengal lights, or for signalling purposes; if for the latter, they are generally provided with a wooden handle and some means of self-ignition.

The name Bengal light is probably based on the use of Bengal saltpetre, and does not indicate their origin in that province.