Quick-match

is a match made of threads of cotton, or cotton-wick, steeped in gummed brandy or whisky, then soaked in a paste of meal powder and gummed spirits, and afterwards strewed over with meal powder; one yard of it burns in the open air 13 seconds. The quick-match is used to fire mortars, and sometimes in proving pieces. It is extensively used in priming all kinds of fireworks, such as fire and light balls, carca es, rockets, priming-tubes, etc., and in conveying fire very rapidly from one portion of a piece of firework to another. When used for discharging cannon, the quick-match is set fire to by a slow-match, port-fire, or any other convenient material. When used to prime carca es, etc., it is set on fire by the flame from the piece. The Valenciennes composition is a compound of 50 parts of nitre, 28 of sulphur, 18 of antimony, and 6 of rosin; it is used as an incendiary composition, in charging shells for the purpose of increasing their destructive property, by setting fire to buildings, shipping, etc. For manufacture of ammunition for small-arms, see “U. S. Ordnance Memorandum,” No. 21, 1878.