Connecticut Supreme Court bans Piccolo Petes! [Updated]
A five inch flame! Oh noes!!! The fact that fountains are legal and this isn't is just retarded. Apparently a strong jet of sparks is ok, but if there is a visible flame, it isn't. This makes no sense, but that is too much to expect from people trying to ban fireworks. More likely (but I'm surprised it wasn't mentioned) is that the impetus to ban them is a result of people turning them into salutes. Piccolo Petes contain whistle mix (70/30% potassium perchlorate and sodium benzoate), which is quite explosive when not packed (just like blackpowder). As most of us learned as young boys playing with fireworks, you can smash Piccolo Petes a bit with a hammer, tape it up, and bang, you have a (fairly weak) salute.Connecticut law prohibits the sale of fireworks except for sparklers and fountains that emit a shower of sparks or smoke, contain fewer than 100 grams of pyrotechnic mixture and don't shoot into the air or explode.
"In view of the fact that fireworks are widely banned and otherwise intensely regulated under our statutory scheme, it would be contrary to that scheme to construe it as permitting a dangerous and otherwise prohibited pyrotechnic effect _ in the present case a four- to five-inch exposed flame that lasts up to six seconds _ merely because that pyrotechnic effect is produced by a firework that emits a shower of colored sparks or smoke," Justice Richard N. Palmer wrote for the court.
As with many other things, there are quite a few videos of these, and how to make them, on YouTube. My favorite is the source for the picture above... First of all this kid shows his face and gives his name (Hi Kyle!), then he seems to be making it right next to what I assume is his middle school. As a bonus, we see him take one in the face at the end of his video. Next up is a two part 10 minute epic of a video, full of rambling idiocy, that doesn't even show them going off. For that you need his third video. In our final how to video, this guy doesn't sound like as much of a moron and keeps his face out, at least until the end. One interesting thing is that each one uses a different method, some which work better than others.
Anyway, a couple other fun bits. This page has photos and a video from the 2004 PGI convention where a few people set off 237 Piccolo Petes at the same time. Talk about annoying! At least they don't last very long. Googling for Piccolo Petes I also came across a court ruling on the arrest of a kid who made a Piccolo Pete bomb (yes, they are illegal) and brought it to school. The court found that they were illegal, no surprise. The amusing part of this that led me to post it is this bit of pyrotechnic genius by the state:
Sorry, but that is exactly opposite, you morons. Just like a rocket our fountain, the powder is packed, increasing the density and reducing surface area, slowing the burn rate. Hammering it breaks up the packed powder, increasing the surface area, reducing the density, and increasing the burn rate so it explodes. And these are the people that make and enforce laws...At trial, the state put on evidence that, by pounding the Piccolo Pete, youth had increased the density of the explosive powder that it contained, which would change the "burn rate" and allow the resulting gases to escape at a much higher velocity. The state's witness also explained that the duct tape wrapping could contain those gases until the pressure built up to a point that the device could explode. The state's witness explained that the result was a bomb and that the bomb, if ignited, would have dangerous destructive capacity.
This issue is being discussed on PyroU here, with some speculating this was basically a tactic by the Fire Marshall etc to go after TNT.
Speaking of stupid things and fountains, here is another one. The Fire Marshall doesn't now the difference between fountains and sparklers and is afraid that they come in...BIG BOXES!!
Update: Another story on the Piccolo Pete ban can be found here.
