A hand-mixed (e.g. screened) composite of potassium nitrate, charcoal and sulphur in black powder ratios is referred to as Green mix. The name is said to come from the fact that this poorly integrated mix is actually greenish-grey in color.
Go-getters are best described as self-propelled stars. They are used in an aerial shell as inserts or the head of a rocket. Each Go-getter is capable flying through the air like a rocket without a stick. The flight of a Go-Getter may be a slow lazy curve, a straight line up to several hundred feet, a zig zag or they may spin wildly in place, overall they travel in wild unpredictable paths.
Girandola
gi·ran·do·la [ji-ran-dl-uh] [Origin: 1625–35; < F < It girandola, derivative of girare to turn in a circle. The English word of Italian origin Girandole is sometimes used to describe the same device.
Italian: slang for "dead head".
A large (large i.e., one to forty pounds) sack of flash powder typically suspended from a gallows-type frame at head height. Exploded to create a deafening blast and concussion. Rarely seen in the US outside of pyrotechnic conventions such as the PGI convention. More common in Italy, Mexico and Spain's Mascaletta's(countries typically a little more liberal with firework laws), they are typically fired after the finale.
In an explosive device, a fuse (or fuze) is the part of the device that causes it to function. In common usage, the word fuse is used indiscriminately, but when being specific (and in particular in a military context), fuse is used to mean a simple pyrotechnic detonating device, like the cord on a firecracker, while fuze is used to mean a more complicated device, such as a proximity fuze.
A fountain (also referred to as a gerb) is a thick walled cardboard tube that is filled with pressed pyrotechnic composition. It has a solid clay plug at the base and a nozzle or choke at the exhaust end. At effect time the composition burns and the choke generates intense pressure inside the tube. As the composition escapes it sprays sparks, flame and gasses high into the air.
Flying fish fuse is most commonly used for various coloured effects fireworks even though it can be used in place for regular visco fuse. It is a cord with a pyrotechnic composition core that burns gold, green, red, silver or purple. There are three layers that make up the fuse.
Flower pot is a slang term for an aerial shell exploding in it's mortar. When this happens, the effect will be like a mine. Since a flowerpot is not a desired effect, the aerial shell is sometimes powerful enough to break the mortar. Most commonly this is caused because;
Flash powder is a mixture of oxidizer and metallic fuel which burns extremely quickly and if confined will produce a loud report. It is widely used in fireworks and theatrical pyrotechnics, and was once used for flashes in photography.
Of all of the available effects to the pyrotechnist, flash powder is probably the most primitively attractive, and certainly the deadliest effect we have. Perhaps this is due to the awesome energy potentials, the blinding flashes and the heart stopping blasts furnished by it. I bet that more people in the pyro trade have made flash before they have made stars or aerial shells.
