Table-rockets Table-rockets Are Designed Merely To Show The Truth
of driving, and the judgment of a fire-worker; they having no other
effect, when fired, than spinning round in the same place where they
began, till they are burnt out, and showing nothing more than a
horizontal circle of fire.
The method of making these rockets is thus:--Have a cone turned out of
hard wood two inches and a half in diameter, and as much high; round
the base of it drive a line; on this lin
fix four spokes, each two
inches long, so as to stand one opposite the other; then fill four
nine-inch one-pound cases with any strong composition, within two
inches of the top: these cases are made like tourbillons, and must be
rammed with the greatest exactness.
The rockets being filled, fix their open ends on the short spokes;
then in the side of each case bore a hole near the clay; all these
holes, or vents, must be so made that the fire of each case may act
the same way; from these vents carry leaders to the top of the cone,
and tie them together. When the rockets are to be fired, set them on a
smooth table, and light the leaders in the middle, and all the cases
will fire together and spin on the point of the cone.
These rockets may be made to rise like tourbillons, by making the
cases shorter, and boring four holes in the under side of each at
equal distances; this being done they are called double tourbillons.