Making firecrackers...

[Cap'n Morgan]

I stumbled over this youtube video the other day. The video shows how a factory in China is making firecrackers and fuse (and black powder)
Several ingenious contraptions are involved in the process which still, for a large part, rely on manual labor.

When watching the video, I tried to guess how old it was. I guessed somewhere in the sixties or seventies, but it was actually from 2003!
One has to wonder what The Department of Labor would think of a workplace, all gray from black powder and flash powder dust!

Anyway, enjoy the video. As an old fireworks addict, I found it fascinating.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwqL49R-PKk&ab_channel=Pyros4all

[stubshaft]

Very interesting. Some of the tooling looks like Bubba or Mcgyver designed it.

[Handloader109]

We think (hear all the time) how advanced China has become, and while in lots of cases that is correct, they are really slow to advance areas of manufacturing that work. Labor is still very cheap, why spend even a thousand dollars to eliminate a dozen workers when it would take years for a payback.

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[MaryB]

Now I know why I hear of a Chinese fireworks factory exploding almost every year... all that powder floating around ripe for a static discharge...

[ddeck22]

Reminds me of this Chemical Safety Board video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rktMzw2fd28

[farmbif]

chemical safety board makes some interesting videos after they do an investigation when things go wrong.
those Chinese sure do put some glossy packages on the crudely made fireworks.

[ddeck22]

chemical safety board makes some interesting videos after they do an investigation when things go wrong.
those Chinese sure do put some glossy packages on the crudely made fireworks.

Agree that they make great videos. Very fact based and the animation is great. They used to do a more news based style with interviews of the victims but they went to a more documentary style format, which I like better.

[Rapier]

Hum, I like the UL motors and UL electric switches in the fuse factory, with black powder. Maybe the open air aspect helps with dust, doubt it does much for a lightning strike. What is Chinese for; everybody run, when a thunder storm comes up.

I like the seals in the separator "fire" walls, a 3'-4' hole with rice paper over, sort of.

[GregLaROCHE]

We think (hear all the time) how advanced China has become, and while in lots of cases that is correct, they are really slow to advance areas of manufacturing that work. Labor is still very cheap, why spend even a thousand dollars to eliminate a dozen workers when it would take years for a payback.

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Labor is so cheap that they don’t need to modernize. Most modernization is to save on labor costs.

[tommag]

While blacpowder and flashpowder have a significant explosive potential on their own, l wonder about the potential in a dust dispersed into the air. Even flour dispersed into the air has a huge potential when the right concentration is ignighted.

[Winger Ed.]

I guess not having any of that OSHA and workman's comp. insurance action going on helps hold the prices down.

[deces]

Just think if those prisoners in the video realized they have everything at hand, needed to escape.

[David2011]

While blacpowder and flashpowder have a significant explosive potential on their own, l wonder about the potential in a dust dispersed into the air. Even flour dispersed into the air has a huge potential when the right concentration is ignighted.

Out of the “Improvised Munitions Handbook” one way to destroy everything in an aircraft hangar is to put a detonator in an empty tuna can half filled with aluminum powder, a common additive for painting fabric covered airplanes. Put a 25 pound bag of flour on the can. The flour is blown into the air and explodes, crushing the aircraft in the hangar. Not much different from a firework factory explosion.

[kevin c]

There are other videos with similar manufacturing setups, but based in India or Pakistan. Same deal: looser regulation or lax enforcement. No, not high tech, but effective and showing ingenuity.

Videos showing the manufacture of Japanese air burst mortar shell fireworks are impressive.

[Charlie Horse]

Where can I get some of those big'uns? I remember getting boxes of big, M-80 power-level firecrackers back in the late '60s, early '70s. Those firecrackers were rolled like the ones in the video, and the fuse came out the end. They weren't made into tubes with the fuse in the middle like your standard M-80.

Looks like they put on their Sunday Best for these videos.