Old Glory Powder Company                724-677-2389                                                  

A Firework Display Company, American Manufacturer of High Quality Firework Display Shells, & Special Effect Displays.

Firework Pictures & Videos

Photos of Our Manufacturing Process

Photos of Manufacturing Fireworks for our Firework Displays

Photos of our Manufactured Fireworks in the Night Sky

Videos of our Manufactured Fireworks  

The beginning of our manufacturing process is making all of the material needed.  Pictured here are the stars that make the color in the firework.

There are also many other materials that our company mixes before moving on to another process.  Some other powders are: "polverone" which translates to "not very good powder", canister shell burst powder, bottom shot powders, round shell burst powders, and black match powder.

Pictured above on the left: Artillery Insert Components,          On the right: Whistle Insert Components.

Our company manufactures all of our bottom shots for the double and triple break canister shell fireworks. 

Black Match is an essential part of the manufacturing process.  Black match is used to make the "fuse" for the artillery, whistles, hummers, serpents, and tourbillions insert components.  It is also used for the bottom shots, the leaders, and in our manufactured, hand tied finale chains. 

Once the Black match is completed, then the Insert components for the fireworks can be matched with the black match.  The bottom shots can then be finished as well, as pictured on the right.

After all the material is made, our company uses case formers to make the paper cans that make up the outside of the firework casing.  We use case formers from 2 1/2 inches to 10 inches. 

Once the paper cans are completed, there is a chipboard liner that is inserted into the paper can to give the casing more strength.  It also acts as a fill line for the material in the shell, and gives a level place for the top disc to set on.

The paper cans are then filled with inserts, burst, stars, and polvorone.  As you can see, these shells still need to be filled for them to be completed. 

Pictured above are the 4 Inch Two Break canister shells after the time fuse top disc and the finish top disc have been glued in place.

Our company then "spikes" all of the fireworks using cotton string, tightly wrapping the string around the shell.  This stringing process is very important to the performance of the firework.  The string must be very tight to insure that the firework will stay intact when it is propelled from the mortar, and also the proper pressure builds up in the shell, to insure a symmetrical and hard break.

These are 4 Inch Two Break shells after the paste paper has been applied.  Our company uses wheat paste in hot water applied to the paper, then the paper is wrapped around the firework.  The fireworks are then put into the drying box in the colder months, or outside on drying racks in the warmer months.  It is important that the fireworks dry quickly and evenly to make certain that the paper sticks tightly to the shell to make a good seal, and also so that no paste soaks into the time fuse.

Multi-Break fireworks manufactured by our company on drying racks.

Pictured above on left: Fireworks after the paste paper has dried completely and leaders added to the shells.  On the right: Fireworks after the black powder lift charges & lift wraps have been tied onto the shells.

After the lift wrap is tied on, there are only a few more steps until the fireworks are completed.  The fireworks are finished with either a visco fuse tip, black match tip, or no tip.  If there is no tip added, the shells will be fired electrically, and therefore do not need the tip for hand lighting the fireworks.

The above photos illustrate how our company manufactures our cylinder shells.  Below are more photos on our manufacturing process, dealing with the larger diameter firework shells.

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Pictured on the left: 6 Inch Three Break Canister Shells.  The type of effects this firework produces are Multi-color stars, silver tailed whistles, and a bottom shot (boom!).  On the right: 6 Inch Three Break Canister Shell being tightly stung with cotton string.  The first step to stringing or "spiking" a shell is the vertical strings.  This particular shell will have 32 vertical strings.

Pictured on the left: The second step to spiking this type of firework is the horizontal strings.  These type of strings have no particular count per shell, it depends upon the type of effects the firework produces. 

Pictured on the right: The third step to spiking the firework is using the correct spiking patterns for the effects contained inside the firework itself.  In this case, The bottom shot is on the bottom, so there will be a space of about 4 inches between strings.  Then, the silver tailed whistles are the next effect up, so there will be about 3 inches between strings.

Pictured on the left: Next, the top of the firework contains the stars (multi-color), so there will be about a 1/2 inch to 1 inch spacing between strings.  On the right: The fourth and final step in spiking is tying a half hitch knot in the string to keep the string tight and hold it in place until the shell is pasted.

Pictured above are the photos after the 6 Inch Three break fireworks are strung, ready to be pasted.

After the fireworks are pasted with about six layers of paste paper, they become almost rock hard.  Even though canister shells get their strength from the inner contents of the shell, the paste paper is still very important in making a fire tight seal and to make the firework strong enough to take the force of being expelled from the mortar.

Pictured on the left: After the pasting is complete, the leaders, lift, and lift wrap are added to the firework.

On the right: The finished 6 Inch Three Break Color, Silver Whistles, and Report Firework Display Shell.

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