Meal powder, saltpetre, and sulphur vivum, the sulphur must be the chief part: or, meal powder, saltpetre, brimstone, spirit of wine, and oil of spike; but let the powder be the principal part.
For a Flame inclining to Red.
Saltpetre, sulphur, antimony, and greek-pitch, the saltpetre the chief part.
By the above method may be made various colours of fire, as the practitioner pleases; for, by making a few trials, he may cause any ingredient to be predominant in colour.
Of such Ingredients as shew themselves in Sparks when rammed in choaked Cases.
The set colours of fire produced by sparks are divided into four sorts, viz. the black, white, grey, and red; the black charges are composed of two ingredients, which are meal powder and charcoal; the white of three, viz. saltpetre, sulphur, and charcoal; the grey of four, viz. meal powder, saltpetre, brimstone, and charcoal; and the red of three, viz. meal powder, charcoal, and saw dust.
There are, besides these four regular or set charges, two others, which are distinguished by the names of compound and brilliant charges; the compound charge being made of many ingredients, such as meal powder, saltpetre, brimstone, charcoal, saw dust, seacoal, antimony, glass dust, brass dust, steel filings, cast iron, tanner’s dust, &c. or any thing that will yield sparks; all which must be managed with discretion. The brilliant fires are composed of meal powder, saltpetre, brimstone, and steel dust; or with meal powder and steel filings only.
How to make Cotton Quick-match.
Quick-match is generally made of such cotton as is put in candles, of several sizes, from one to six threads thick, according to the pipes it is designed for, which pipe must be large enough for the match, when made, to be pushed in easily without breaking it. Having doubled the cotton into as many threads as you think proper, coil it very lightly into a flat-bottomed copper or earthen pan; then put in the saltpetre and the liquor, and boil them together about twenty minutes; after which, coil it again into another pan, as is shewn in [Fig. 4.] and pour on it what liquor remains; then put in some meal powder, and press it down with your hands, till it is quite wet; afterwards place the pan before the wooden frame, [Fig. 5], which must be suspended by a point in the center of each end; and place yourself before the pan, tying the upper end of the cotton to the end of one of the sides of the frame.
When every thing is thus got ready, you must have one to turn the frame round, while you let the cotton pass through your hands, holding it very lightly, and at the same time keeping your hands full of the wet powder; but if the powder should be too wet to stick to the cotton, put more in the pan, so as to keep a continual supply till the match is all wound up; you may wind it as close on the frame as you please, so that it does not stick together; when the frame is full, take it off the points, and sift dry meal powder on both sides the match, till it appears quite dry: in winter the match will be a fortnight before it is fit for use; when it is thoroughly dry, cut it along the outside of one of the sides of the frame, and tie it up in skains for use.