A good tough paper for these is 24 mill, 19-lb. double-small hand.

The strip 30 by 4 may be used for squibs, or any odd purpose. For penny crackers cut the 30 by 16 into 8 strips, each 3³/₄ by 16. For halfpenny crackers divide the sheet into 2 pieces, each 10 by 30. Cut each of these into 10, each 10 by 3. For a former have a straight piece of iron, or steel, wire, ³/₂₀ of an inch diameter, and 24 inches long. This will not require a basil. Have, also, another wire, of half the thickness, for an opening wire. Lay the strips on blotting-paper, as before; and place the wire parallel with the edge of the strip, as there is now no basil. When a number of pipes are rolled and dry, hold one flat on a table; and, with the handle of a knife, or tooth-brush, rub the pipe flat along, all except the first half-inch, held in the left hand, to form a little cup. Now push the opening wire through it, to partially open it. Bend the bottom, over a knife, into a little hook, as before directed, for pinwheels. Take up a quantity; wind a strip of paper round them, as in banging squibs, and pour in a quantity of FFF, or canister powder. Unless the powder is very fine it will not run down. Pipes may be filled with F grain powder, one at a time, by putting a funnel into the cup part, and tapping the pipe with a wire. You can hear the powder run down, and easily judge when the pipe is full. The powder is now to be crushed into meal, by rolling the pipes through a plait mill, fig. 71. This is furnished with a wooden screw, at top; the screw presses upon a cross-bit, which bears upon two movable collars: these rest on the axis of the top cylinder, by which means the pressure can be adjusted as desired. The cylinders of plait mills are of beech, or boxwood; the latter are, of course, the best; but for making great numbers of crackers, it is necessary to have the frames of iron, and the cylinders of steel. If a mill cannot be procured, the pipes may be rolled with a brass tube, or rolling-pin, or passed through an American mangle; but a very good, and far less expensive plan, is to lay them on an anvil, or flat-iron turned upside down, and beat them with a smooth-faced hammer; this is a tedious process, but it makes good crackers. The cup end, having served its purpose, is to be flattened, and bent into a hook. Now lay the pipes in a damp towel, like the pinwheels. Take two pieces of deal, each about 6 inches long and 1¹/₂ inch broad: let the one for the halfpenny crackers be ³/₄ of an inch thick; the other, for the penny, 1 inch thick. Saw and chisel a piece out of each, about 4 inches long and ¹/₂ an inch broad, as drawn, fig. 67, so that it looks like the first and third fingers of the hand held straight up, with the second finger, between them, shut. Next procure 20 pieces of wire, each 2 inches long, and about ¹/₁₆ of an inch thick. Support the cracker-frame in a vice: lay the cracker across the opening; place a wire upon it, as at a, fig. 68; bend the pipe over it; lay on it another wire, on the other side, as b; bend back, and lay on it the wire c; and so on, alternately, till the cracker is bent up. Lift it out of the frame, and let the wires drop. The distance between the wires, in the halfpenny crackers, will be ³/₄ of an inch; in the penny, 1 inch; if made according to the directions given. The outside of the frame should be very slightly tapered, or it will be difficult to lift the cracker up out of it. The penny size will probably take 14 wires; the halfpenny 10 wires. Cut the end flush, to expose the crushed powder; wind round it a piece of touch-paper, about 1³/₄ inch long, 1¹/₄ broad; it need not be pasted; fold up the cracker; pass a piece of flax or thread twice round it; twist the thread in and out, backwards and forwards, among the folds; and the cracker is complete. If the paper does not appear sufficiently thick to make a good report, cut the strips broader, and fewer to the sheet; but always cut them up the short way of the paper, or they will not bend properly. The paper for pinwheels and crackers is 30 inches by 20; the longest pipe that can be cut is 20 inches: as an experiment, try a pinwheel and cracker the other way of the paper. If the cracker is intended to be put into a jack-in-the-box, shell, or rocket head, push a bradawl up the mouth, insert a bit of quickmatch, to project a quarter of an inch, and secure it with a little wetted meal, pressed in with a knife. The way of bending it is shown at fig. 69. It is not necessary that a cracker should contain very much powder; the loudness of the bang depends more upon the thickness of the paper than upon the quantity of the powder. So with maroons; more string and less powder, are better than more powder and less string. A very good paper for crackers is 30-lb. royal cartridge; cut the strips 3 inches broad; 16-lb. double-crown may also be used, the strips 5 inches broad. Crackers for mines may be made with brown paper.

To make a cracker with 30 or 40 bangs, it is necessary to join 3 or 4 pipes together, before putting in the grain powder: the mode of making a joining will be understood by attending to the following directions. Cut a piece of paper 3 inches square, and lay it straight before you. At one inch from the right top corner, make a mark; at one inch from the left bottom corner, make a mark; draw an oblique straight line from one to the other, and cut along it with a pair of scissors. Without disturbing the relative position of the two pieces, draw the right piece a few inches towards the right; paste the farther edges, as usual; lay the wire close along the near edge of the right piece, and roll it up; it will have an external spiral; roll up the left piece in the same manner; it will have an internal spiral; when both are dry, paste the external spiral, and screw it, as it were, into the other piece. If managed carefully, and brought up till the edge of the paper forms a straight line, the joining will be as firm as if the paper had not been cut, presenting only a spiral edge, going once round the pipe.

Leader Pipes.

These are for piping quickmatch; they are rolled exactly like pinwheel pipes, on wires of different thickness, to suit the size of the match. They must be large enough to admit the match easily, without much pushing, which would break it; otherwise, the more nearly they fit the match, the more rapidly it blows through. The fire is conveyed from the tail of one case to the mouth of another, by a short piece of pipe, d, fig. 80, with the match projecting at both ends; when the fire has to be conveyed to two other cases at once, a fresh bit of piping is slipped on, and the match left exposed, as at a; or a piece is cut out of the side, as at b; each end should be bent into a hook, as at c, to prevent its slipping back. Wheel cases are to be enveloped by rolling a piece of double-crown twice or thrice round them, two inches longer than the case, as fig. 82, shown by the dotted lines. Suppose you have six wheel cases ready charged; lay six pieces of double-crown flat before you, and work them back with the thumbnail, as before described; paste the 6 edges; lay the 6 wheel cases in a row, side by side, and draw the paste brush across the middle, as if pasting your knuckles; then roll one in each envelope, so that it projects an inch at each end. Put the leader pipe in, and tie it with a piece of carpet thread, thin twine, or waxed yellow flax or hemp, as at fig. 83. To join one pipe to another, to lengthen it; suppose you have a piece of match 40 inches, long, and two pipes of 20 inches each. Slip both the pipes on the match, so that they touch in the middle; take the end of one, so touching, gather it round the match; pinch the end of the pipe tapering, push it into the other, and bind a piece of pasted paper round, to secure the joint. In cutting a matched pipe straight across, of course the match inside gets cut flush; do not leave it so, but, with a pair of pointed scissors, cut away a quarter of an inch of the pipe all round, and bend the exposed match, as at c, fig. 80, before putting it into the envelope of the case. Besides a strong pair of pointed scissors, a small pair, 3 inches long, with rounded ends, to carry constantly in the waistcoat pocket, will be found convenient for many purposes.