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Scientific American Dec. 22 1860
Friction Matches.
From Appleton’s American Cyclopeedia
Among rude nations fire was obtained by rubbing together two pieces of dried wood; and the practice among civilized people has been to procure it by the flint and steel, catching the particle of steel struck off and rendered red-hot by the friction in dry and highly inflammable tinder. To this succeeded the use of phosphorus, which is 1680 a few years after its first discovery, was introduced for this purpose in London by Godfrey Hanckwitz, who applied it by rubbing it between folds of brown paper till it took fire; it was then made to ignite a stick, one end of which had been dipped in sulphur, and which may be considered the earliest form of the common match. The cost of the phosphorus, however, prevented its general use either in this form or in several others contrived for the same purpose. One of the most successful of these was to partially burn a bit of phosphorus in the confined air of a small vial, the effect of which was to line it with the oxyd of phosphorus; the vial was then corked, and when required for use a sulphur match was dipped into it; the match was thus ignited by the chemical action thus produced, or by afterward rubbing it upon a piece of cork. Another form extensively used were called chemical matches, and were sold in little cases called phosphorus boxes, containing a few matches, at first as high as 15s. each box. They were small sticks of wood dipped first in sulphur, and then in a composition of chlorate of potash, flowers of sulphur, colophony, gum or sugar and cinnabar for coloring. Accompanying them in the box was a vial containing sulphuric acid, into which the match being dipped, it was instantly ignited by the chemical action induced between the acid and chlorate of potash. The other ingredients were added merely on account of their combustible qualities. To this succeeded, in 1829, the use of the Lucifer match, invented by Mr. John Walker, chemist, at Stockton-upon-Tees. In his experiments upon chlorate of potash, he found that this could be instantly ignited by friction, as in drawing a stick coated with it quickly through folded sand-paper. The salt was made to adhere to wood already coated with sulphur, by dipping this in an emulsion prepared with mucilage, of either phosphorus or sulphuret of antimony and chlorate of potash. The other inflammable ingredients served to retain the fire and communicate it to the wood. Mr. Walker manufactured but few of these matches for use in his neighborhood. Professor Faraday, learning of them, procured some, and brought them into public notice. Their useful properties were soon perceived, and their manufacture rapidly increased, till it became an important branch of industry in Europe and the United States, furnishing employment to large number of men, women and children. The chief objection to the preparation was the noise produce in igniting the match. This was afterward obviated by the substitution of niter of saltpeter for the chlorate of potash, and the disagreeable smell of the burning sulphur was diminished by replacing a part of this substance with stearine. The best wood for matches is clear white pine, which possesses the softness required for the manufacturing process, together with the necessary stiffness and inflammability; and the quantity of this consumed in their manufacture is enormous. The wood is first sawed into blocks of uniform size, and the length of two matches. By machines of ingenious construction, these are afterward slit without loss of material into splints, which being collected into bundles and tied are dipped into the composition, first one end then the other. Another string is then fastened round them, after which they are cut across between the two strings with a circular saw, which divides them in the middle. Round matches are formed by forcing the wood endwise through holes in plates, which in the English works are an inch thick, with steel face and bell-metal back. In American establishments tube are employed whether for round or square splints. The perforations are made as near together as possible, only leaving enough of the metal between to give the necessary strength for cutting. This invention was patented in England in 1842. The acid fumes thrown off form the phosphorus in the various processed of making matches frequently cause among the people employed a terrible disease which attacks the teeth and jaws; and to such an alarming extent did it prevail in Germany, that the attention of the government was called to it. The dippers are most liable to suffer in this way, in consequence of standing for hours over the heated slab upon which the phosphorus is spread. As those persons with decayed teeth are most susceptible of the disease, they are carefully excluded from some manufactories. No antidote has as yet been discovered to this terrible disease. Its natural course is to rot the entire jaw bone away. This generally occupies several years with a steady discharge of mater outside and into the mouth. The pain is not very acute, but is constant, and the sufferer seldom survives the natural course of this disease. Many operations have been performed, chiefly be Dr. Mott at the New York Hospital. In some cases the entire jaw bone, and in others only one half or one side of the jaw has been removed. By this process the disease is arrested, and the patients generally recover. Thorough ventilation and careful attention to cleanliness have been found the most effectual preventives. It is a fact worthy of notice that, insignificant as matches are, it is a matter of importance, on account of the immense numbers made, that the manufactories should be situated in districts where timber is cheap. One manufacturer in Herkimer County, N.Y., is said to have consumed within the last 18 years 2,225,000 feet of lumber, producing 6,500,000,000 matches. Probably the largest manufacturer in the United States is Mr. Charles Partridge, of New York. His works, for the sake of abundant supplies of material are in the wooded district of Lewis county, N. Y., near the Black River Canal. Beside the wood employed for the splints, large quantities are also consumed for the small cylindrical boxes in which the matches are transported. Some of the splints are exported to the West Indies and South America, where the manufacture of matches has been established within a few years past. The matches themselves are largely exported to the East Indies, Australia, China, Mexico, South America, and Pacific coast, &c. The total amount manufactured in the United States is estimated at 7,000 gross of boxes daily, containing 35,700,000 matches. And worth $3,000.<br><br>Post edited by: DGerow, at: 2006/09/07 02:26
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