Noisemaking

After hearing all the horror stories about folks getting hit by firearm slugs fired into the air on New Year’s Eve, I can’t help but wonder why the perpetrators seem not to be aware of alternate means for noisemaking.

One is the use of blanks. They are available in .38, .39 special and 357-magnum calibers. But, even better, there is a “toy” from generations past that is loud, safe, and just plain fun. This is the “carbine cannon,” one of which I use regularly on New Year’s Eve, the Fourth of July, etc.

It is a relatively inexpensive model of early field artillery that uses water and a calcium carbide compound to produce a small amount of acetylene gas, which is ignited by a flint. The noise is loud , but you may hold your hand directly in the discharge in the front of the cannon, due to the low combustion temperature and pressure at firing.

GEORGE D. TOBEY

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