US634177A - Choke for fire-crackers. - Google Patents

Description

No. 634,|77. Patented Oct. 3, I899. G. LISPENARD. CHOKE FOB FIRE GRACKERS.

(Application filed May 27, 1898.)

"(No Model.)

INVENTOH @0076 tdj cizcorcz A TTORNEY GEORGE LiSPENAR-D, on NEW YORK,

N. Y., ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGN- MENTS, TO THE NORDLINGER-CHARLTON FIREWVORKS COMPANY, OF

SAME PLACE.

CHOKE FOR FlRE-CRACKERS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 634,177, dated October 3, 1899.

Application filed May 27, 189 8. Serial No. 681,915. (No model.)

To aZZ whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GEORGE LISPENARD, a citizen of the United States, residing at New York, (Brooklyn,) in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Chokes for Fire-Crackers and the Like, of which the following is a specification.

My invention has relation to the construction of fire-crackers and other like detonating devices.

The object of my invention is to provide an efficient choke for fire-cracker bodies, and especially those bodies which are made out of comparatively soft and pulpy paper known as Chinese paper. I

Chokes in fire-cracker bodies as known to me have been found by trial to be efficient in instances where comparatively hard and tough paper was employed; but it has not been found efficient where soft and pulpy paper, such as Chinese paper, has been used, the difficulty being that the paper is pulpy and thick and few convolutions arenecessarily employed in making the body. The body made of Chinese paper is incapable of resisting sufficient pressure directed in the direction of the length of the body to resist distortion and longitudinal compression or complete rupture in the formation of the choke.

My present invention therefore has for its object to form a choke to close the bore of a body made of Chinese or other soft pulpy paper, the choke being of such a nature that in its formation comparatively very little pressure is required to complete it while providing an efficient choke to bring about the proper rupture of the body of the cracker when exploded.

In the choke of certain fire-crackers the body is preferably made of comparatively thin and hard paper, necessarily involving a choke of great resisting capacity in order to allow of the proper rupturing of the body and accompanying resistance of the choke. In the present case the body of the cracker being more readily ruptured by the explosion it is not necessary that the choke be of such great resisting power.

In the fire-crackers second above mentioned the choke is formed in order to get the proper .pressed convolutions.

resistance to the explosion by compressing the convolutions of the body of the cracker in the direction of their length to a considerable degree, which involves the tearing away of several of the convolutions of paper and forcing them bodily down into the bore in the direction of their length and disposing them in concentric folds extending transversely of the bore, and in order to get the proper de gree of compression the upper edges of the inner convolutions are moved inwardly by the compression, which, of necessity, in order to get the best results, are moved to a point within the bore of the cracker lying near or at the openings made between the convolutions by the pins or other severing means described in the said application.

In the present case I do not avail myself of longitudinal compression of the interior convolutions of the body, although said convolutions are to a limited extent forced inwardly to form rudimentary convolutions, the choke in the present case being formed jointly by a deoremental compression of the inner convolutions in the direction of their length and a diagonal disposition of alternate portions of such partially disturbed and com- My invention will be further hereinafter pointed out, and specifically recited in the claims forming part of this application.

In the drawings forming part of this specification, Figure 1 is a plan view of the firecracker body having a choke formed in accordance with my present invention; and Fig. 2,a longitudinal sectional elevation thereof on the plane of the line 22, the body being shown with but one choke, which suffices to illustrate my invention.

The body 1 is composed of a series of convolutions 2 of a band of paper wound upon itself, leaving a bore 3, which may be filled with an explosive. The paper is by preference of the class previously described namely, soft and pulpy, and consequently of considerable thickness, requiring but a few convolutions to complete the body. This characteristic allows of the rupture of the paper forming the body when exploded with comparatively little effort.

In an application filed by me on the 27th day of May, 1808, Serial No. 081,914, I have described a machine whereby the choke herein described and claimed can be formed. This machine embodies a plurality of pins having a sharp entrant point and inwardly-converging angular compressing sides lying in an opposite angle to the vertical side of said pins. For the purpose of forming this choke it is not essential that the pins be operated by a machine, as they may be employed by hand.

In certain fire-cracker-forming machines pins also are used, but said pins do not have the inclined sides to such marked degree as in the present case. In those machines also a supplemental action is given to the machine in the shape of a plunger or ram, which, after the pins have separated a portion of the inner convolutions in the body, entirely separated said convolutions and forced them inwardly to a considerable extent, so as to compress the paper into eccentric folds or abutments. The compression of the convolutions is transverse thereof and practically in the same degree throughout the entire length of the choke.

In using my machine the body of the cracker is placed within a holder or retaining device, and the pins, which may eitherbe set stationary in a suitable body or fixed to a movable body, as will be seen from my said application, are brought to enter the convolutions, the action of the wedge-shaped portions of the pins,which converge inwardly toward the center of the body, being to separate alternated orintermitted portions of several of the interior convolutions, as at 4, and leaving undisturbed other portions of the convolutions, as at 5, these latter lying substantially in their original horizontal plane, the wedge action of the pins carrying the convolutions slightlyinwardly, but not to a marked extent, and separating the disturbed portions of the convolutions from the body. The fu1; ther action of the pins pinch the detached portions 4 of the convolutions together at the top to a greater degree of density than at the bottom or at the lowest point where the pins enter, and causing said detached portions of the convolutions to incline inwardly, the degree of compression of the detached convolutions being greater at the apex than at the base, they thus being decrementally compressed. This results in a bore composed of a series of partly-detached convolutions,some of which lie parallel to the undetached convolutions of the body, their inner surfaces being pinched together, as shown at U, and inwardly bent and compressed portions 4, and another portion still adhering to the outer convolutions, as at 5. Before proceeding to form the choke the exploding-stem 7 is placed in the cracker and the choke formed about the stem.

In the machine before mentioned the choke was formed about a pin which was subsequently Withdrawn, allowing the stem to be inserted subsequent to the formation of at least one of the chokes of the body.

WVith my present invention both chokes are formed about the stern. In the machine above mentioned the paper employed is harder than in the present instance, and the pressure necessary to form the choke would have compressed the paper about the stem to such a degree as to completely choke the stem if it was there when the choke was formed, at least in a great many instances, rendering the resultant cracker unfit for use.

In the present case the pressure necessary to the formation of the choke is comparatively of such a slight degree that the choke can be formed about the stem without any danger of the stem being choked.

Forming the choke in the above-described manner results in considerable saving of time of manipnlation,thereby conserving expense, and it makes possible the manufacture by machine of fire-crackers in which soft Chinese paper is employed and avoids the necessity of forming the choke of clay or other like means, which hitherto have been employed in connection with this class of paper.

Having described my invention, I claim-- 1. As an article of manufacture, a firecracker body comprising a band of paper wound on itself to form a series of convolutions and a central bore, several of the interior convolutions at their ends being alternately pressed inwardly to incline toward each other and extending from the lower bent portions outwardly in a plane substantially parallel with the outerconvolu tions, and decrementally compressed in the direction of their length, their density increasing toward their ends, as and for the purposes described.

2. As an article of manufacture, a firecracker body comp-rising a band of paper wound upon itself to form a series of convolutions and a central bore, alternate portions of the ends of several of the inner convolutions being inclined inwardly toward each other while the intervening portions occupy a plane substantially parallel to the exterior convolutions, the inclined portions of said inner convolutions being decrementally compressed from their ends inwardly, as and for the purposes described.

Signed at the city, county, and State of New York this 26th day of May, 1898.

GEORGE LISPENARD.

'Witnesses:

WM. J AGOBSEN, S. BEATRICE KUHN.

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