The "Very" was a pre-war invention, patented in 1878; it was not adopted into the Service until about ten years later. It consists of a short-barrelled pistol of 1 inch calibre—or rather that was the original size, a 1-1/2 inch pattern was introduced during the war, and subsequently a 1-1/2 inch pattern with a longer barrel and shoulder piece.
The original cartridge was in effect a single star Roman candle, fired by percussion. A small propelling charge drove out a single coloured star, either red, white, green or blue. The star rose to a height of about 300 feet. These were used purely for signalling purposes.
The war suggested another use of the "Very" pistol, that is for illuminating purposes, and various illuminating stars were introduced, both to light up upon reaching their objective with a range of two to three hundred yards, and to hang suspended from a parachute, similar to the old parachute light ball, but with many times the brilliance, although considerably less in size.
The difficulty of identifying coloured stars in daylight suggested the use of coloured smokes. These were successfully evolved by Major Wicks and Captain Gray, an achievement of far greater difficulty than the casual observer might think.
Apart from these synthetically prepared colours, the yellow smoke natural to orpiment was much used in signal stars.
Later stars were suggested by Commander Brock, which ascended burning white and at their height broke into two, and in a subsequent pattern into three, stars of varying colours.
The rifle grenade, which was fired by a rod fixed to the base of the grenade and running down the barrel of a rifle, being blown out by a cartridge without a bullet, was also fitted up for signalling purposes. Upon opening, a series of lights, arranged to code, were suspended from a parachute.
