The 4th of July Picnic at Horan Avenue
I spent my youngest days from 1947 to 1959 in Veterans Housing on Horan Avenue in Stamford, CT. My parents hosted a large family picnic on the 4th of July. My dad would dig steamers for the cookout and there were plenty of fireworks which were legal in Connecticut in the early 1950s.
My dad always had a few gross of “silver tube salutes” a serious firecracker which contained the same amount of flash powder as a cherry bomb. These had waterproof green visco fuses and were fun to throw in the water as mini depth charges.
My Uncle Henry would entertain us by twirling a baton affixed with sparklers.
My Dad’s cousin Joey Kowaleski would bring the bulk of the fireworks. Joey, my Uncle Ed and Joey were all in combat in WWII and didn’t seem to mind blowing stuff up in the front yard. I now wonder a bit about that.
I got the opportunity to ignite something called the atom bomb. It was a tube that launched a really loud explosive charge into the air. No color just noise. We spent most the time running around with sparklers. We also had snakes, a unique novelty firework that would produce a curling black ash and nasty smelling smoke that looked like a snake crawling out of the ground. It left an ugly black stain on the ground.
A lot of these fireworks were made in the USA, however all the firecrackers with animal names came from Macau or China. My favorite brand name was “Black Cat”.
The Black Cat firecrackers were packaged in a string of 16. We spent time unraveling them for various uses. If had duds, you would break them in half and light the powder to get a little fountain of sparks. They also came in rolls of hundreds.
My would make a Christmas tree of fireworks tied to a sparkler which he suspended on a line. As the sparkler burned it ignited the fireworks. The silver tube salutes provided the final blasts.
We Fought the Law and the Law Won
I remember when the police arrived in the middle of our firework display in the late 1950s. The law had changed in Connecticut and all personal fireworks were banned. That law is still in effect, with an exception for sparklers. As a safety note, a sparkler burns at 1200 degrees F. They can give a child a nasty burn. I always provided a bucket of water for the red hot wire. But all the fireworks that we had were purchased before the ban.
The cruiser couldn’t proceed too far down the street because it was the middle of the grand finale. My Dad and Uncles walked over to speak with the police as we watched on. We wondered if they were going to be arrested.
A few years later I lobbied for a change of the law.
Carbide Cannon
In the back pages of comic books one could find advertisements for novelty items from the Johnson Smith Company. Among the treasure I order a BIG BANG cannon which I still have.
It came with a tube of BANGSITE which is simply Calcium Carbide. When combined with water it produces acetylene gas which is explosive. The breech of the cannon has a scoop for the carbide and a flint igniter. By twisting the breech a small amount of carbide is dropped into a bit of water inside the cannon to form the gas. A push to the igniter and you get a pop akin to the sound of a .22 caliber report.
I learned that adding more “Bangsite” did not result in a louder bang, since the gas/air mixture needed to be just right. However I learned that if I used an eight foot long cardboard mailing tube with one end sealed in a plastic bottle of water I could produce an amazingly loud explosion.I would throw a teaspoon of the Bangsite in the tube an listen for it to fizz in the water. I had drilled a touch hole in the tube and ignited it with a propane torch. Timing was important to make sure the gas had time to form an mix with the air. When done properly the explosion could rattle the windows.
I Become a Chemist
In the 1960s I found that I could buy Saltpeter (Potassium Nitrate) and Sulfur at the Rexall Pharmacy. I had two of the three ingredients to make gunpowder. I ground up charcoal briquettes for the carbon. It was lousy gunpowder. It would sputter and fizz but burned to slowly to explode in a cardboard tube.
Because I was a teenager and not very wise I came upon the idea of using an aluminum tube for my powder. I crimped one end in the vise and filled the tube with my powder. Then being incredibly stupid I would crimp the other end producing an burrito of destruction. I think I may have hit the crimp with a hammer to ensure a tight fit.
To test my infernal device I built a fire in the back yard in our fire pit. It was a three sided pile of rocks. open away from the house. When I had a nice bed of coals I placed my burrito on top and retreated to a safe distance and waited.. and waited…
At an intermittent time it would explode and I could hear the pipe careening off the trees behind our house. All of this because Connecticut wanted to keep me safe. I often involved my cousins with this risky behavior. They didn’t mind and I’m grateful that I didn’t kill or maim them.
I found some pyrotechnic formulas in this handbook which claimed that pyrotechnics was safer than baseball because you couldn’t break any bones.
However when I placed an order they refused some of my chemicals because they determined I was up to no good. I circumvented this restriction by dividing up my order between companies. I still have a bit of thermite and potassium chlorate from those days.
I didn’t have any serious mishaps. One time something I was stirring burst into flames. Another time I struck a large pile of sulfur and an oxidizer with a hammer. It was louder than I expected and my ears rang for a bit. It was not very clever of me.
A Better Cap Bomb
If you are an early boomer you might remember cap bombs. These were weighted winged devices that had a place for a cap like you would see in cap guns. You tossed them into the air and when they hit the pavement the cap would explode. We always double loaded them for a louder bang.
I invented my own version as a teen using black powder shotgun shells. These shell are used in the cannons they use for yacht races. I fashioned a dart with a piece of wooden dowel attached to the firing pin side of the shell. I had a nail run through the dowel to hit the firing pin. I had streamers attached to give it flight stability. You would toss these in a nice arc so they would hit the street with a nice explosion. The shells are blanks so there is no shrapnel danger. Safety first was my motto.
A Better Bottle Rocket
Surprisingly I never got involved with amateur rocketry. However I did buy the rocket engines for my own purposes. The engines contain a small charge at the top to deploy a parachute when they reach the apogee of their flight path. I found it useful to stuff with black powder to end with a bang. It was a super size bottle rocket. I now realize that I would not have lasted long in a a supervised group.
Wyoming 1972
I finished my Navy Service in California in 1972. I traveled with my girlfriend (and present wife) across country to Connecticut. When we came to Wyoming, I saw the firework stands.
For me it was my Connecticut childhood. It didn’t matter that they were illegal in all the states that we would pass through, I stocked up our little Datsun with fireworks. Every Fourth of July I would fire off a few. I was frugal. I still have some.
New Hampshire (Present Day)
Live Free or Die. I live in New Hampshire where fireworks are now legal. I’ve lost interest in risking life and limb.
I can buy them but I choose not to waste my money. My nephew puts on a great display at Christmas and that is enough for me. New Ipswich sounds like a war zone on July 4th. It is music to my ears. Be safe, be sane and be respectful of your neighbors. Please provide a bucket of water for those sparklers, be responsible for your kids safety. And if you was swinging around some burning steel wool watch out for the flying sparks. My pants caught on fire, a story for another day.
