Instruments & Innovation

Fig. 34: Technique for choking rocket cases with a turning wooden sheave.
Fig. 35: Tool for choking large rocket cases.
Fig. 36: Tool to form a round cavity in the neck of a rocket case choked with the tool in figure…

Figs. 48-53 and 55-59: Rockets.
Fig. 54: Wooden cylinder filled with corned powder and light balls, inserted in the rocket in figure 50.

Kazimierz Siemienowicz's treatise was used for over a century as a basic manual on artillery, rocketry, and pyrotechnics. It was originally published in Latin (1650) and was translated into French (1651), German (1676),…

Fig. 22: Diagram to determine the dimensions of large rocket molds from smaller ones.
Fig. 23: Rocket mold.
Fig. 24: Mold for cracker fireworks.
Fig. 25: Wooden driver to make paper and canvas rocket cases.
Fig. 26:…

Spectators gather at night around a pyrotechnic fountain crowned with a statue of a child blowing bubbles—a symbol of vanity. A temple (decorated with geometric symbols, weights, measures, and various weapons and…

Fig. 60: Rocket mounted to a stick.
Figs. 61, 62, 64, 65, and 73-76: Rockets.
Fig. 63: Launching platform for rocket with wings, as in figure 61.
Figs. 66-72: Water rockets.

Fig. 17: Plan of a powder magazine by Eugenio Gentilini.
Fig. 18: A new instrument for measuring gunpowder.
Fig. 19: Sieve.
Figs. 20 and 21: Rocket molds.