Firecracker
From Free net encyclopedia
- See Firecracker (album) for information on the Lisa Loeb album.
A firecracker (also known as a noisemaker or banger) is a small explosive device primarily designed to produce a large amount of noise, especially in the form of a loud bang; any visual effect is incidental to this goal.
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Culture
Firecrackers are commonly used in the celebration of Chinese New Year by Chinese communities around the world. Firecrackers are believed to scare off evil spirits and attract the god of wealth to people's doorsteps. In the spring festive period of 2006, US$124 million of fireworks and firecrackers were set off in mainland China.
Firecrackers are also used other festivals like Independence Day in the United States of America and Depawali.
Legal issues
The legal status of firecrackers typically stems from their notable effect on noise pollution as well as the issue of their safety, especially when used by children. Devices which are designed to explode at ground level are seen as more dangerous than those with a prolonged burn time and/or an aerial explosion. Proponents of firecracker sales sometimes question the consistency of these laws, pointing out that legal fireworks can also be dangerous due to the risk of high-temperature burns (as in the case of sparklers), and that projectile fireworks intended for aerial use can often legally incorporate a noisemaking explosive device as a last stage.
Note that firecrackers are virtually all scientifically classed as "low explosives" which burn through deflagration, as opposed to "high explosives" such as dynamite which actually produce a supersonic detonation wave. Some legal definitions nevertheless define banned firecrackers (such as the M-80 in the United States) as "high explosives".
Image:Lewes Bonfire, LBBS, Banger blitz.jpg
Novelty noisemakers
In general, novelty noisemakers, such as "party poppers" or "snappers" (usually called "trick noisemakers") are not considered true fireworks, and are legal in many places where fireworks are illegal.
Firecracker Brands, Packs & Labels
Image:Black Cat 16s C-2 (nasty).jpg Early (pre-1920s) Chinese firecrackers (aka Mandarin firecrackers) were typically 1/2-inch to 2-inches long, and approximately 1/4-inch in diameter, and were charged with blackpowder. Mandarin crackers produced a less loud, duller, thud when they exploded, compared to modern flashlight crackers (which utilize a different explosive composition known as flashpowder). Mandarin crackers produced a dimmer, less brilliant, flash when they exploded also. Individual Mandarin crackers were most often braided into "strings" of varying lengths, which, when set afire, would explode in rapid sequence. Generally, the strings (sometimes containing as many as several thousand crackers) would be hung from an overhead line or high hook before being ignited. Most Mandarin crackers were colored all red and did not generally have designs or logos decorating their exterior surface (aka "shell wraps"). Occasionally a few yellow and green Mandarin crackers were created and would be braided into the predominantly all red strings, to symbolized the emperor and the ruling class, while the numerous red crackers symbolized the common man.
Once flashpowder, which produces a significantly sharper and brighter bang, replaced blackpowder as a firecracker's explosive charge (in approx. 1924) manufacturers began competing to gain the purchasing loyalty of the consuming public (i.e., mainly boys 8-16 years of age). Literally thousands of brands were created during the flashlight cracker's heydey period from the 1920s through the early 1970s. Only a small percentage of brands lasted more than a year or two. Nowadays, collectors actively seek out examples of the various lables which contained the brand name and image associated with that brand. Image:Cock Brand 32s C-1.jpg Until very recently (i.e., mid 1980s) firecracker production was a low-tech process. They were entirely handmade, beginning with the operation of rolling thin tubes. Once the firecracker tubes were rolled by hand (most commonly from newspaper) and labeled, and then filled with powder, their ends were crimped and fuses inserted... all by hand. Image:Doughboy C-1 30s String.jpg These finished firecrackers were unually braided into "strings" and sold in packs which came in many sizes... from the very small (called "pennypacks" containing as few as 4 to 6 firecrackers) to the most common size packs (containing 16 and 20 crackers per pack), to larger packs (containing 24, 30, 32, 40, 50, 60, 72, 90, 100 and 120 firecrackers), to huge "belts" and "rolls" (firecracker packages which contained strings of several hundred to several thousand crackers each). Firecracker packages were typically wrapped in colorful and translucent "glassine" paper, as well as clear cellophane. Glassine was the most popluar, however.
The final packaging operation involved applying a branded pack label on each and every pack and then bundling quantities of finished packs into larger wholesale lots called "bricks" which contained an average of 80 packs each (varying according to the size of the packs being bundled... for example, packs of 32 crackers might only have 40 packs to the brick, compared to packs of 16 or 20 which would have 80 packs to the brick).de:Böller fr:Pétard ja:爆竹 sl:Petarda zh:鞭炮