Rocketry

“ HONORARY ROCKETS.
Take about a pound Rocket of our first description, such as is represented in fig. 23; then on the case, close to the top of the rod, tie on, in a transverse direction, a two-ounce case, which should be filled with a strong charge, and choaked quite close at both ends; then towards each end, and in the reverse sides, bore a hole of moderate size, and from each carry a leader into the top of the large Rocket. When the Rocket attains its greatest height, it communicates fire to the cross one at top ”

“ The only machine, independent of the atmosphere, we can conceive of, would be one on the principle of the rocket. The rocket rises in the air, not from the resistance offered by the atmosphere to its fiery stream, but from the internal reaction. The velocity would, indeed, be greater in a vacuum than in the atmosphere, and could we dispense with the comfort of breathing air, we might, with such a machine, transcend the boundaries of our globe, and visit other orbs. ”

“ With the first streaks of livid dawn, a Congreve rocket flashes skyward from Sir Edward's headquarters. The rocket is the English signal to advance. In a moment, General Gibbs, General Keane, and Colonel Dale with his “praying” Highlanders are in motion.
The signal rocket uncouples thousands upon thousands of fellow rockets; the air is on fire with them as they blaze aloft in mighty arcs, to fall and explode among the hunting-shirt men. ”

“ Rockets consist of strong paper cylinders, which being filled with the proper composition rammed hard, and fire being applied to their apertures they are caused to ascend into the air, or in any required directions; they have generally a head fixed to them [83] containing corn powder, sparks, and many other decorations, which, when the body of the Rocket is consumed, take fire, burst in the air, and produce a most beautiful appearance; these are called Sky-rockets. ”

“ What is a rocket? How is it formed? Is the case always made of paper? What is the war rocket? What is the composition for rockets, and how does it act? What particular care is required in charging a rocket? What is the cause of the ascension of rockets? What is the use of the conical cavity, made in a rocket at the time it is charged, or bored out after it is charged? How do cases charged with composition impart motion to wheels, and other pieces of fire-work? What is understood by the rocket principle? What is the rocket stick, and its use? ”

“ A rocket is a flying fusée, (Fusées Volantes of the French) , formed with paper, of a cylindrical shape, and filled with a composition of certain inflammable substances, being pierced in the diameter of its length. It is furnished with a stick, serving as a counter-weight, or balance, to guide it vertically in its ascension. It carries generally different garnishes, or furniture; as stars, serpents, fire-rains, marrons, meteors &c. which are thrown off, and produce an elegant appearance, when it terminates its flight. ”

“ They had a terrible time with their rockets because the heat of one set off the next. The result was a disastrous explosion—and they had a whole ocean of air to cool them! What would a rocket do in free space? Also remember the principle of a rocket is that you shoot particles out of the rear at a very high speed and thus impart the kick to the ship. The electronic rocket does the same thing—but instead of shooting molecules of hot gas, it shoots electrons, a giant cathode ray tube such as Coolidge had in 1927, but his was so small that the kick was immeasurable. ”

“ Brilliant rockets were fired off in thousands, and countless, coloured balloons of every shape and size were thrown from machines doing the most extraordinary gyrations in the air. They were able to act together in perfect unity just as trained armies do after several years of drill and practice. A hundred machines acting together represented a great wheel rolling slowly across the sky. Others would rush into the sky in a group, and then suddenly spread out like a bursting rocket. ”

“ To cause a Rocket to form an arc in rising. 11. TO CAUSE A ROCKET TO FORM AN ARC IN RISING.
Cut some circles, about three or four inches diameter, out of some tin, or other thin plate; then to the rod of each Rocket, and about twice the length of the case from its mouth, fix one of these pieces of tin, [124] nearly at right angles from the rod, and make it quite fast by a bracket underneath. The fire acting upon this, as it proceeds from the mouth of the Rocket, will divide the tail in such a manner, that it will cause it to proceed in a circular course, and form a very pleasing appearance. ”

“ To fire sky rockets, under water, you must have stands made as usual, only the rails must be placed flat, instead of edge ways, and have holes in them for the rocket sticks to go through; for if they were hung upon hooks, the motion of the water, would throw them off; the stands being made, if the pond is deep enough, sink them at the sides, so deep, that when the rockets are in, their heads, may just appear above the surface of the water; to the mouth of each rocket, fix a leader, which put through the hole with the stick ”

“ I. "Even in a vacuum, where an ordinary propeller could not act, the bullet may become a prime mover, and co-operate with the gun. A rocket can burn without an atmosphere, and the recoil of the rushing fumes will impel the car onwards."
G. "Do you think a rocket would have sufficient power to be of any service?"
I. "Ten or twelve large rockets, capable of exerting a united back pressure of one and a half tons during five or six minutes on a car of that weight at the earth's surface, would give it in free space a velocity of two miles a second, which, of course, would not be lost by friction." ”

“ It serves the double purpose of cutting a way through the air and of holding the garniture of stars, sparks, crackers, serpents, gold and silver rain, &c., which are scattered by bursting fire as soon as the rocket reaches the highest point of its path. A great variety of beautiful effects may be obtained by the exercise of ingenuity in the choice and construction of this garniture. Many of the best results have been obtained by unpublished methods which must be regarded as the secrets of the trade. The stick of the sky-rocket serves the purpose of guiding and balancing it in its flight ”

“ You may observe that the head is made to terminate in a point, which greatly facilitates its passage through the air. The whole is affixed to a straight stick, which, like the rudder of a ship, makes it turn to that side towards which it is inclined, and consequently causes the rocket to ascend in a straight line.”
“But, papa,” observed Louisa, “all the rockets have not straight rods; see, there is one, with a crooked stick.” ”

“ Burger wrung his hands nervously. "Only a half hour until take-off time, Mr. Whiteford. I think we've thought of everything. You realize that your position on the rocket, actually, is only the safety factor of the rocket itself. And, of course, an observer is preferable. First hand accounts of human reactions on board the rocket will be invaluable. You've been drilled for two weeks in your duties on board, the listing of meter readings in the log book, a careful diary of your own physiological reactions, etc. ”

“ Four are mounted on each side of an aeroplane. At the head of each rocket is a large dart, resembling a salmon-gaff. The tails of the rockets are wound into spiral springs, which are held in sockets. All eight rockets are fired at once. They are ignited as they leave their sockets, and travel with lightning speed.
Swinging lazily above the field was a captive balloon. At one end of Le Bourget was a line of waiting aeroplanes. "This is the second. They have already brought down one balloon," remarked the man at my elbow. The hum of a motor caused me to look up. ”

“ Nature of Movement.—Suppose the rocket in a state of rest, and the composition ignited; the flame immediately spreads over the surface of the bore, forming gas which issues from the vent. The escape is slow in the first moments, as the density of the gas is slight; but as the surface of inflammation is large compared to the size of the vent, the gas accumulates rapidly, and its density is increased until the velocity of the escape is sufficient to overcome the resistance which the rocket offers to motion. ”

“ The mouths of the rockets being rubbed with wet meal powder, lay them in the grooves, head to tail, and tie them fast; from the tail of the first rocket, carry a leader to the mouth of the second, and from the second to the third, and so on to as many as there are on the swivel, making every leader very secure, but in fixing these pipes take care, that the quick-match does not enter the bores of the rockets ”

“ Laughingly, passionately she flung an arm around the neck of the man in the long, drab laboratory coat, half strangling him as he bent over the two-foot model rocket, testing it with his soul in his finger-tips, from its cone-shaped 10 steel head to its steering compartment, thence to the supply chamber with all the little propelling rockets in it, down to its complicated nozzle, or tail. ”

“ A man in a space suit could climb into the saddle of one of these creations, plug in the air-line of his suit to the crash-wagon's tanks, and travel in space by means of the space wagon's rockets. These weird vehicles had remarkably powerful magnetic grapples. They were equipped with steering rockets as powerful as those of a ship. They had banks of solid-fuel rockets of divers power and length of burning. And they even mounted rocket missiles, small guided rockets which could be used to destroy what could not be recovered. ”

“ The rocket apparatus consists of the rocket, the rocket line, the whip, the hawser, and sling life–buoy. The rocket has a line, a light one, fastened to it, which is shot over a wreck. Then the rest of the apparatus is used. We use the gun or mortar instead of the rocket. England’s rocket stations [243] are under the control of the Board of Trade. The men of the coastguard manage the rockets. For every life saved, the Board of Trade pays a sum of money. It gives medals also to those who may have shown unusual courage. ”

“ They fell silent, looking down at the reeling Earth. On the ground, two hundred miles below, at every tracking and control station around the world, men worked without pause, trying to make their tired minds outrace a speeding rocket. ”

“ The explosion of substances in the air, after having been carried to a considerable elevation by rockets, is a familiar performance. In 1873 the Board of Trade actually proposed a light-and-sound rocket as a signal of distress, which proposal was subsequently realized, but in a form too elaborate and expensive for practical use. The idea of the gun-cotton rocket with a view to signaling in fogs is, I believe, wholly due to the Deputy Master of the Trinity House. ”

“ TOWERING ROCKETS.
So called from their ascending to a greater height than any others; it is effected by fixing one Rocket on the top of another of superior dimensions:—thus, suppose the lower one to be a twelve-ounce, then the upper one should be a three-ounce Rocket; the larger one must have a small head formed round its own diameter, then place the mouth of the smaller one in it; the mouth should be rubbed with mealed powder wetted with spirits of wine ”

“ It is evident, therefore, that however extended the magnitude of Rockets may be, and I am now endeavouring to construct some, the falling mass of which will be considerably more than that of the 13-inch shell or carcass, and whose powers, therefore, either of explosion or conflagration, will rise even in a higher ratio, still, although the first cost may exceed that of any projectile at present thrown, on a comparison of effects, there will be a great saving in favour of the Rocket System. ”

“ The rocket lay huddled in the belly of the launching tower, her needle-like body quiet, waiting, her control panels flashing signals and instructions to her masters, her circuits buzzing with the tenseness of the seconds before blast off. ”

“ THE THRUST INTO SPACE
Rocket engineers rate rockets not in horsepower, but in thrust, Thrust is just another name for push, and it is expressed in pounds of force. The rocket gets its thrust or push by exhausting material backward. It is this thrust that lifts the rocket off the earth and accelerates it, making it move faster and faster. As everyone knows, it is more difficult to accelerate an automobile than a baby carriage. ”

“ Signal sky rockets without bounces, are nothing more than common sky rockets, closed and caped: rockets of this sort are very light, therefore do not require such heavy sticks as those with loaded heads, for which reason, you may cut one length of the rocket, off the stick, or else make them thinner. ”

“ More than one rope must be fixed between ship and shore, if the work of saving life is to be done efficiently. Accordingly, in the rocket apparatus there are four distinct portions of tackle. First the rocket-line; second, the whip; third, the hawser; and, fourth, the lifebuoy—sometimes called the sling-lifebuoy, and sometimes the breeches-buoy.
The rocket-line is that which is first thrown over the wreck by the rocket. It is small and light, and of considerable length—the extreme distance to which a rocket may carry it in the teeth of a gale being between three and four hundred yards. ”

“ We have already seen how vessels can be propelled by sail, oar, paddle, or screw. We have now to consider a mode of progress which requires none of these things, but which works by means of Direct Action.
Such, for example, is the progress of a Rocket through the air.
The heated gases rush out with tremendous violence, and, by their pressure, urge the heavy rocket into the air with the rush, roar, and bang so familiar to all who have witnessed a good display of fireworks.{463}
A rocket in the act of ascent is shown in the uppermost figure of the accompanying illustration. ”