Bengal fire

Bengals are flare candles mainly used to achieve indirect pyrotechnic lighting of surfaces or buildings e.g. castles. The unnatural illumination is made use of to evoke feelings of warmth etc. in the observer and to stage the lighted areas.

The items are expected to emit a brightly coloured light for a long period of time and for this purpose the composition must meet special requirements:

a) The compositions should produce maximum colour,

Bees

Small inserts that scatter in random directions from the shell burst. One version consists of a short tube about 2-3 inches long {4cm } filled with black powder type mixtures and plugged at both ends with clay. A side hole in the middle is punched with an awl and a small piece of black match inserted to light the piece held in place with tape. These being fired in bunches from mortars, mines or aerial shells.

Ball mill

A ball mill, a type of crusher, is a cylindrical device used to grind chemicals or mix compositions. Ball mills rotate around a horizontal axis, partially filled with the material to be ground plus the grinding medium, ideally non sparking milling media like lead balls. An internal cascading effect reduces the material to a fine powder. Industrial ball mills can operate continuously, fed at one end and discharged at the other.

Apogee

Apogee in fireworks describes a projectiles farthest or highest point. (Example) The time fuse was set to ignite the burst charge one half second before the shells apogee.

Airfloat

When a particle is very fine, it is sometimes called airfloat. This is a term used when a powder is comprised of such tiny particles, that when disturbed, the particles will form a cloud, and will 'float' in the air. Charcoal can commonly be found in this form, as can various other pyrotechnic substances. Airfloat powders can be quite dangerous, as they are easily inhaled and can also get in your soft tissues, like your eyes.

Aerial Firework

An aerial firework is an object containing a pyrotechnic substance that functions in the sky.

Some Examples Are:

  • Roman Candles
  • Rockets
  • Aerial Shells

ASFL

ASFL or American Fireworks Standards Laboratory is an industry funded testing organization for manufacturers of 1.4G consumer fireworks. AFSL was established in March 1989 to address concerns that an unacceptably high percentage of fireworks manufactured in China failed to comply with the U.S. performance and labeling requirements.

AFSL established a China Fireworks Quality Improvement Program that consists of the following elements:

5FA

5FA (sometimes written FFFFFA) is high performance black powder that has been corned and screened to show a particle size ranging between 20 and 40 mesh (GOEX standard). See Gunpowder Grades.

4FA

4FA (sometimes written FFFFA) is high performance black powder that has been corned and screened to show a particle size ranging between 12 and 20 mesh (GOEX standard). See Gunpowder Grades.

2FA

2FA (sometimes written FFA) is high performance black powder that has been corned and screened to show a particle size ranging between 4 and 10 mesh (GOEX standard). See Gunpowder Grades.

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