The Chemistry of Powder and Explosives - Sciencemadness Dot Org

PINWHLELS 95
need of a vast theater in which to be fired. The least little
garden suffices for them They burn under the very eye of
the spectator, who loses nothing of their splendor, whereas,
m general, large pieces of fireworks can be enjoyed only at
a distance from the place of firing. Finally, they have over
these last the advantage of their low price and the advantage
that they can be transported without embarrassment
and set m place at the moment of being fired.
Tessier describes ordinary pastilles, diamond pastilles, and
pastilles with colored fires. The shorter and more central tubes
(Figure 32), wound part way around discs 40 mm in diameter,
hold the colored fire compositions. The longer tubes, forming the
larger circles around discs 72 mm in diameter, are the turning
tubes The latter, it will be seen, are so arranged that they burn
for a time before the fire reaches the colored compositions. "The
charging of the tubes is commenced, up to a height of about 17
cms, with the four compositions, Nos 142, 126, 128, and 129, in
the order named. The rest of the tube is charged entirely with
composition No. 149, or with No 152, both of which produce
scintillating aureoles " 36 The charges are tamped tightly m the
tubes by means of a long, thin ramrod and mallet. The compositions
in question, designated by Tessier's own numbers, are
indicated below.
Meal powder
Potassium nitrate
Oak charcoal
Litharge
Powdered mica
Antimony sulfide
Plumbic powder No. 1
Cast-iron filings
Steel wool
142
16
1 1
No 142 is a composition for ordinary pastilles Tessier says
that it produces "numerous sparks forming a feeble aureole. As
this composition is not lively, and as it is not able to make the
Ibid, p 419
126
16
1
2
128
16
1
2
129
32
4
•
5
149
17
3
•
152
.
.
17
3