Pyrotechnics: The History and Art of Firework Making

by Alan St. H. Brock

The writer, as he has before remarked, has no wish to belittle the value of the chemist’s work in relation to pyrotechny, but a knowledge of chemistry is not the most important attribute of the successful pyrotechnist.

As in other arts so in pyrotechny, experience and natural aptitude are the first essentials.

Chertier may have had little knowledge of chemistry, but in spite of or perhaps because of his lack of chemical knowledge, he was able to produce a work which, from the point of view of the practical pyrotechnist, has never been equalled.

His researches were conducted by practical experiments; he had one end in view, namely, pyrotechnic effect, and by exhaustive trials of the materials obtainable, unbiased by theoretical consideration, he succeeded in advancing the art to a stage undreamed of a few years previously. It is true that many of his formulæ are not in use to-day, in this country that is, on account of the danger of using sulphur or sulphur compounds in conjunction with chlorate of potash; but there can be no doubt that his writings and research work laid the foundation of modern pyrotechnic practice.

Once the theory of colour production was established, that is to say the volatilisation of a metal salt in a hotly burning composition, it was a matter of less difficulty to either eliminate the sulphur, which was present chiefly as a burnable, or to replace it.

This prohibition, as we have seen, took place in 1894, under Order in Council 15, and affected the production of coloured fireworks far less than might have been anticipated. During the period between the introduction of chlorate of potash and the Order in question, the development of commercial chemistry had increased greatly the number of chemicals available in pyrotechny, so that in some few cases it was found possible to replace the chlorate.

In addition, moreover, most of the leading makers, anticipating some form of restriction on this admixture, had been for some time previously seeking substitute colour formulæ, and although it may be said by some that colours were obtained by the use of chlorate and sulphur which have not been equalled by subsequent formulæ, yet most have not only been equalled but improved upon, and the small minority remaining are an insignificant price to pay for the security and safety gained in manufacture.

Between the publication of Chertier’s book in 1856 (nearly thirty years later than his first pamphlet) and the close of the century, several works on pyrotechny made their appearance, several by Frenchmen: Tessier, 1859, “Traité Pratique des Feux colorés,” two works in the Roret encyclopædia series, “Pyrotechnie Civile” and “Pyrotechnie Militaire,” published 1865, and in 1882, “Traité pratique des Feux d’Artifice,” by Denisse.

The English works of any value during this period were: “Pyrotechny,” by Practicus, Brown’s “Practical Firework Making,” and “The Pyrotechnist’s Treasury,” by Kentish, 1878. Hutstein and Websky’s “Art of Firework Making,” published at Leipzig in 1878, a book published under the same title by Oscar Frey about 1885, and “A Theoretical and Practical Treatise of Civil Pyrotechny,” by Antoni, published at Trieste in 1893, together with some works on military pyrotechny published both in Europe and the United States, complete the list.

Some of the military works are of considerable value, but are chiefly directed to the study of rockets and signals; some, however, are in the same category as “The Artillerist’s Manual and British Soldier’s Compendium,” by Captain F. A. Griffiths, R.A., published in 1852. The section dealing with fireworks in this work might almost be taken as an attempt to be humorous on the subject. The author quotes in all seriousness formulæ dating from the days of Bate and Babington, and knows so little of his subject that he gives instructions for making the same firework under different names under the impression that they are distinct units, the information being obviously pillaged from earlier writers. Generally a study of the above-mentioned works indicates that the tendency in pyrotechnic compositions has been in the direction of simplification. During the eighteenth century the useless ingredients had been in a great measure eliminated. The “burnables” had been reduced from a long list of alchemistic survivals to a mere half-dozen or so.