Martha J. Coston's flares were metal cartridges packed with a proprietary chemical composition that burned with brilliant, distinct colors. The original standard set of Coston signals was made up of twelve pyrotechnic cartridges. Three would burn in a single color (red, white, or green), and six would burn in differing combinations of two of the colors; these flares represented numbers 1 through 9. The one flare including all three colors represented the number 0. Rounding out the set were a preparatory cartridge P (white-red-white) and an assent cartridge A(red-white-red). The cartridge cases were painted to indicate the color of the pyrotechnics.

To convey a message--for example, "cease fire"--the sender would set off the P flare, and the receiver would acknowledge readiness by responding with the A flare. Because the numeric code for "cease fire" was 3-1, the sender would then set off the cartridge corresponding to 3 (white then green) immediately followed by the cartridge representing 1 (white).

Users of the earliest Coston signals fitted the cartridge into a manual holder, ignited the flare by hand, and held it aloft until the flame was spent. By the early 1860's, a pistol-type holder had emerged (inventor unknown) that lit the cartridge by means of an exploding percussion cap.

Coston's 1871 patented improvement to the original flare included a redesigned holder and a self-igniting outer casing for the cartridge. Twisting the handle and cartridge casing in opposite directions caused a built-in match to be struck, lighting the flare. Other improvements included elder son Henry Coston's aerial signaling system (patented in 1877), in which a pistol-type igniter and holder launched the pyrotechnics high in the air.

Before Coston's flares, ships at sea could communicate at a distance with other vessels or onshore personnel using a variety of coded signals involving flags, colored lanterns, rockets, or flashes from a fired pistol. What set the Coston flares apart was their effectiveness at night and under rainy, foggy, and smoky conditions; the ease with which their messages could be understood; and the distance at which they were effective (when ignited, the flares could be seen from ten or more miles away, depending on visibility conditions and the size of the flare used). Their resistance to spontaneous combustion made them safer than other, more unstable signaling pyrotechnics.

The flares proved themselves time and time again during the Civil War. Countless nighttime efforts to slip past Union blockades were foiled thanks to ship-to-ship communication via Coston flares. Battles were coordinated using the flares, notably the Union's successful and strategically significant January, 1865, attack on the Confederate garrison at Fort Fisher, North Carolina.

During and after the war, the flares aided search and rescue efforts. In December, 1862, when the ironclad warship USS Monitor sank in a storm off Cape Hatteras, Coston flares brought rescuers to the scene. The flares saved lives in unexpected ways, too: Coston's autobiography tells how Arctic explorers used theirs to chase wolves from their camp.

Free term papers are not written to satisfy your specific instructions. You can use our professional writing services to buy a custom written research paper, term paper, or essay on Technology at affordable price. CustomTermPapers is the best solution for those who seek help in writing term papers, essays, and research papers related to Technology and other relevant topics.