The history of the matches The creation of the matches and their history The rationale for making matches dates bac k to ancient times, when our ancestors grinded two pieces of wood to produce fire. The first wood, which they kept motionless, was called “στορεύς” or ” εσχάρα” and the second wood, which was rubbed on the first, was called “τρύπανον”. It is believed that the technical ability to create fire separates humans from other animals. In primitive times man created fire by rubbing stones and wood. The creation of fire contributed to the survival of the human species, but also to its dominance in the animal kingdom.

Absolutely explainable and justifiable, then, is why fire was worshipped as sacred. However, many thousands of years have passed for man to be able to create fire easily and at any time. The match is a consumable item that lights fire at will, under controlled conditions. It usually consists of a small stick (or hard cardboard) one end of which is covered with some material· the head of the match usually contains the element phosphorus, as wikipedia states.

The head will light up from the heat caused by friction to a suitable surface. Friction matches The first matches had various problems: the flame was not constant and the initial reaction was quite violent· in addition, the smell of the match was unpleasant. Despite these problems, the new matches have contributed significantly to the increase of the number of smokers.

In 1831 the French Charles Chauriat added white phosphorus to remove the odor. These new matches had to be stored in airtight boxes, but they were popular. Unfortunately, those involved in their construction were affected by serious bone diseases, and each pack contained enough white phosphorus to kill a human.

When the dangers of these matches became known, a great campaign was launched to ban them. Silent matches The silent match was made in 1836 by the Hungarian Janos Irini, who was a chemistry student. In 1836, an unsuccessful experiment by his professor, Meissner, gave Irini the idea of ​​replacing potassium chloride with lead dioxide on the match head.

• Istvan Romer became rich from Irini’s invention, while the inventor himself died poor and abandoned.
• Safety matches
• In 1844, the safety match was made by the Swede Gustaf Erik Pasch, which in 1854 was improved by John Edward Lundstram, who together with his brother set up a factory in Jonkoping, Sweden, where there is now a match museum.
• “The match museum in Jönköping, Sweden, exhibits many matchboxes and old machines used in the 1900s and automatic machines used in the mid-1900s by the match factory”.

Their safety lies in the separation of the components which can be burned, between the match head and a special friction surface, and in the replacement of white phosphorus from red phosphorus. During friction the heat converts part of the red phosphorus into white, which ignites and causes the head to burn.

1. For many years, the Swedes had a virtually global monopoly on matchmaking, with industry mainly in Jönköping.
2. They sold the French patent for safety matches to Coigent père & Fils in Lyon, but the Coigent challenged the payment in a French court, arguing that the invention was already known in Vienna before the Lundstram brothers patented it.
3. The British matchmakers Bryant and May visited Jönköping in 1858 in an attempt to import supplies of safety matches, but they failed.
4. In 1862 they opened their own factory and bought the rights for the British safety matches patent from Lundstram brothers.
5. Windproof matches
6. Before 1950, windproof matches began to circulate widely.
7. Typical example of a windproof (storm) match in Italy.
8. Waterproof matches
9. Matches in a waterproof case, windproof, whose box also has a compass.
10. It was built for the needs of the army in World War II.
11. Now there are waterproof and at the same time windproof matches that are easy to light, wind resistant, and when lit they stay lit for a long time even after immersion in water!

: The history of the matches

When was the first safety matches made?

In 1830 French chemist Charles Sauria reformulated the match to eliminate the foul odor and lengthen the burning time. He created phosphorous-based matches that began to be manufactured in large quantities. Match factories (often utilizing child labor) and home match factories (populated largely by women) began turning out matches at an unprecedented rate. phossy jaw The phosphorous scraped from a single pack of matches contained enough poison to commit suicide or murder, both of which were reported occurrences of the era. A non-poisonous match using red, rather than white phosphorous was invented in the mid-1800s, however it was more expensive to produce. Only gradually, after agitation and worker actions like the London Matchgirl’s Strike in 1888, did governments pass legislation against the use of white phosphorous, which forced match manufacturers to reform their dangerous product. the london match girls strike From 1835 to the mid 1840’s, a radical faction of the Democratic Party came to be called the Locofocos, which at the time was a popular name for the match in the U.S. Anti-slavery and Anti-Monopoly, the Locofocos were originally named “the Equal Rights Party,” until a group of mainstream Democrats tried to disrupt one of their political meetings by turning off the gas lights.

The group continued their meeting anyway, debating in semi-darkness mitigated only by the light of matches struck and held aloft, thus earning their new name. Led by editorial writer William Leggett, they were involved in the Flour Riot of 1837 and in general were for Free Trade, greater protection for Labor Unions, against paper money, financial speculation, and state banks.

Ralph Waldo Emerson said of the Locofocos: “The new race is stiff, heady, and rebellious; they are fanatics in freedom; they hate tolls, taxes, turnpikes, banks, hierarchies, governors, yea, almost laws.” The safety match was invented in 1844 in Sweden, by Gustaf Eric Pasch, improved on by Johan Edvard Lundström, and prevented unintentional combustion by separating the reactive ingredients between the match head and the striking surface. Pennsylvania attorney Joshua Pusey invented the matchbook, containing 50 matches and a striking surface on the inside of the cover.

1. The Diamond Match Company bought Pusey’s patent, and improved the safety of the design by placing the striking surface on the outside.
2. In 1896 a brewing company ordered more than fifty thousand matchbooks to advertise a new product, and the ubiquitous practice of matchbook advertising was born.
3. In the 1940’s the psychological warfare branch of the U.S.

government distributed thousands of matchbooks containing anti-nazi slogans to occupied countries, and the French Resistance produced matchbooks containing instructions on how to derail Nazi trains printed on the inside cover. Thirty thousand match heads will produce a 10-15 foot column of flame. A satchel of sixty thousand match heads has enough firepower to propel a 6 pound bowling ball 1500 feet. Today, Americans strike more than five hundred billion matches every year

Who made first safety matches?

The Jönköping safety match factory – Johan Edvard Lundström (1815–1888) further developed Swedish chemist Gustaf Erik Pasch’s idea and applied for the patent on the phosphor-free safety match. His younger brother, Carl Frans Lundström (1823–1917) was an entrepreneur and industrialist with bold ideas.

Between 1844-1845, the brothers opened a safety match factory in Jönköping, Sweden. Manufacturing of safety matches began in 1853 and was a major success at the World Expo in Paris 1855. They were awarded the silver medal for managing to manufacture matches without the workers developing phosphorus poisoning.

Safety matches were expensive to produce and it wasn’t until 1868 that they became known throughout the world. These matches are still referred to as Allumettes Suédoises in France, Schwedenhölzer in Germany and Swedish Matches in England.

Who invented the match in 1680?

Robert Boyle, a physicist from Ireland, used his concept that substances like phosphorus and sulfur, when rubbed together, produce fire to invent the match. However, the matches made by him were not the usable ones. Due to their combustible nature, the matches manufactured in those days were deemed unsafe.

Did they have matches in the 1700s?

Friction matches themselves weren’t invented until 1827, and weren’t widely used until the 1830s, but sulfur matches could be lit from smoldering tinder during the 18th century. These matches were simply thin sticks, pointed at both ends, and dipped in sulfur.

Were the first matches safe?

match, splinter of wood, strip of cardboard, or other suitable flammable material tipped with a substance ignitable by friction, A match consists of three basic parts: a head, which initiates combustion; a tinder substance to pick up and transmit the flame; and a handle.

There are two main types of modern friction matches: (1) strike-anywhere matches and (2) safety matches, The head of the strike-anywhere match contains all the chemicals necessary to obtain ignition from frictional heat, while the safety match has a head that ignites at a much higher temperature and must be struck on a specially prepared surface containing ingredients that pass ignition across to the head.

The substance commonly used for obtaining combustion at the temperature of frictional heat is a compound of phosphorus, This substance is found in the head of strike-anywhere matches and in the striking surface of safety matches. In addition to the phosphoric igniting agent, three other main groups of chemicals are found in the match: (1) oxidizing agents, such as potassium chlorate, which supply oxygen to the igniting agent and the other combustible materials; (2) binders, such as animal glue, starches and gums, and synthetics, which bind the ingredients and are oxidized during combustion; post-combustion binders, such as ground glass, which fuse and hold the ash together, must also be used; and (3) inert materials, such as diatomaceous earth, which provide bulk and regulate the speed of reaction.

Before the invention of matches, it was common to use specially made splinters tipped with some combustible substance, such as sulfur, to transfer a flame from one combustible source to another. An increased interest in chemistry led to experiments to produce fire by direct means on this splinter. Jean Chancel discovered in Paris in 1805 that splints tipped with potassium chlorate, sugar, and gum could be ignited by dipping them into sulfuric acid,

Later workers refined this method, which culminated in the ” promethean match” patented in 1828 by Samuel Jones of London. This consisted of a glass bead containing acid, the outside of which was coated with igniting composition, When the glass was broken by means of a small pair of pliers, or even with the user’s teeth, the paper in which it was wrapped was set on fire.

Other early matches, which could be both inconvenient and unsafe, involved bottles containing phosphorus and other substances. An example was François Derosne’s briquet phosphorique (1816), which used a sulfur-tipped match to scrape inside a tube coated internally with phosphorus. These first matches were extremely difficult to ignite, and they frequently erupted in a shower of sparks.

In addition, the smell was particularly offensive, and the warning printed on Jones’s box (“Persons whose lungs are delicate should by no means use the Lucifers”) seems well founded. Economic conditions between 1825 and 1835 seem to have favoured the manufacture of matches as an industrial proposition, although the first suppliers fell back on nonphosphoric formulas—i.e., those based mostly on potassium-chlorate mixtures.

• The first friction matches were invented by John Walker, an English chemist and apothecary, whose ledger of April 7, 1827, records the first sale of such matches.
• Walker’s “Friction Lights” had tips coated with a potassium chloride–antimony sulfide paste, which ignited when scraped between a fold of sandpaper.

He never patented them. Nonphosphoric friction matches were being made by G.-E. Merkel of Paris and J. Siegal of Austria, among others, by 1832, by which time the manufacture of friction matches was well established in Europe, Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. Subscribe Now In 1831 Charles Sauria of France incorporated white, or yellow, phosphorus in his formula, an innovation quickly and widely copied. In 1835 Jànos Irinyi of Hungary replaced potassium chlorate with lead oxide and obtained matches that ignited quietly and smoothly.

The discovery by the Austrian chemist Anton von Schrötter in 1845 of red phosphorus, which is nontoxic and is not subject to spontaneous combustion, led to the safety match, with its separation of the combustion ingredients between the match head and the special striking surface.J.E. Lundström of Sweden patented this method in 1855.

Although safety matches became widely accepted, white phosphorus matches continued to be popular because of their keeping qualities and resistance to climatic conditions. However, at the end of the 19th century serious toxic effects of white phosphorus (“phossy jaw”) were discovered in the factory workers who made such matches.

Phosphorus sesquisulfide, much less toxic, was first prepared by the French chemist Georges Lemoine in 1864 but was not used in matches until E.-D. Cahen and H. Sevène of the French government match monopoly filed a patent in 1898; within a few years white phosphorus was outlawed nearly everywhere. Modern safety matches usually have antimony sulfide, oxidizing agents such as potassium chlorate, and sulfur or charcoal in the heads, and red phosphorus in the striking surface.

Nonsafety matches usually have phosphorus sesquisulfide in the heads. This article was most recently revised and updated by John M. Cunningham,

Why were matches white?

In the early 19th century, it was discovered that adding yellow (now called white) phosphorous to matchstick heads made them easier to ignite. The demand for the new ‘strike-anywhere’ matches was enormous, creating a profitable international industry.

1. It also led to a new industrial disease that lasted until roughly 1906, when the production of phosphorous matches was outlawed by the International Berne Convention.
2. By 1858, detailed medical reports of a disease involving the slow progression of exposed jaw bone started to appear.
3. Phosphorus necrosis of the jaw, commonly called ‘phossy jaw’, was a really horrible disease and overwhelmingly a disease of the poor.

Workers in match factories developed unbearable abscesses in their mouths, leading to facial disfigurement and sometimes fatal brain damage. In addition, the gums developed an eerie greenish white ‘glow’ in the dark. In 1857, James Rushmore Wood wrote an article about his experience of operating on a patient with ‘phossy jaw’, called ‘Removal of the entire lower jaw’ which included illustrations of the results.

The first half is a detailed case history of his patient, 16 year old Cornelia. She’d worked eight hours a day in the packing department of a New York match factory for two and half years. In May 1855, she was seized with toothache and swelling on the right side of her lower jaw. To relieve the pain, first her gums were lanced and later a tooth was extracted, but the swelling gradually increased until a spontaneous opening formed under her jaw which continuously discharged pus.

Despite this, she continued to work in the factory until a week before she was admitted to Bellevue Hospital on 17 th December 1855. When she was admitted, her general health and appetite were described as good but it was difficult and painful for her to chew. Her jaw hurt, her face was swollen and the bone of her lower jaw was damaged. After investigation, Wood decided to operate and remove the dead bone on the right side of Cornelia’s jaw on 19 th January 1856.

1. No anaesthetic was used.
2. As the operation progressed, Wood used a chain saw (a piece of equipment that looks more like a cheese wire) to divide the bone; unfortunately the chain broke and he had to use forceps to remove the entire right side of her lower jaw.
3. By the 26 th of January the wound had healed, but the left side of her jaw was diseased and discharging pus, so a second operation was carried out on 16 th February to remove the remaining part of Cornelia’s lower jaw.

She was given twenty drops of laudanum to produce sleep; a few days later four ounces of wine were ordered “to be given during the day along with a daily lead and opium wash”. On the 23 rd February the swelling had subsided and the contour of her face is described as perfect but importantly, the movement of her tongue and mouth had been retained.

The patient recovered well and Wood was particular proud of the appearance of this patient after the operation. He describes an operation that nowadays would be carried out by a specialist Maxillo-Facial Surgeon with considerably more equipment antibiotics than he had available, as well as more recent developments such as antibiotics.

The second half of the tract is an overview of the existing international knowledge about the disease, citing French, English and German writing. He outlines the general course of the disease and treatments before finishing with eight shorter case histories. These tables, taken from De la périostite et de la nécrose phosphorique by Haltenhoff in 1866, give the ages, duration of time worked in the factories and the duration of the illness of the victims. Haltenhoff had made a close study of Telat’s 1857 work, De la nécrose causée par le phosphore : thèse de concours pour l’agrégation, section de chirurgie, In England, Charles Dickens wrote about ‘phossy jaw’ in Household Words as early as 1852, while Annie Besant organised the London matchgirls’ strike in 1888, protesting against the use of phosphorus in the manufacturing process. The disease could be prevented by using the safer but more expensive red phosphorous and following good occupational hygiene.

William Booth, Salvation Army founder, opened a factory to sell boxes of matches advertised as “Lights in Darkest England”, applying moral pressure to his competitors. European countries started to ban the use of white phosphorous from 1872, but there wasn’t a total ban until 1910.21,496 items from the Library’s 19th Century Tracts and Pamphlets Collection were digitised between 2015-2016 as part of the UK Medical Heritage Library (UKMHL) project.

This made the majority of the collection freely accessible online to everyone. The entire collection will soon be available on SurgiCat+, the Library catalogue, to make them even easier to find. Susan Isaac, Information Services Manager

Why are matches called safety?

What Are Safety Matches? What Are Strike Anywhere Matches? – The strike anywhere match (top) has a white splotch of phosphorous on its head while the safety match does not. To start, let’s define what safety matches and strike anywhere matches are. Safety matches are matches that will only ignite when struck against a specially prepared striking surface like those found on the sides of matchbooks and matchboxes.

For this reason, they are also known as “strike on box matches.” They are the most common type of match available today. They are the type you probably have in your kitchen or camping gear stash right now. Safety matches also have a couple derivations beyond simple kitchen matches. Safety matches is a sort of umbrella term, underneath which you find waterproof matches and stormproof matches,

Strike anywhere matches are matches that will light from friction against any suitable striking surface. In this case, “suitable” means hard, rough, and dry. For example, in our tests to determine the best strike anywhere matches available today, we struck matches against rock, wood, brick, and even other matches with success.

Why are matches red?

What are safety matches? – We’ve already established that what constitutes safety matches is the fact that the combustible elements are kept separate from each other. But what are the purposes behind the ingredients? The match head contains an oxidising agent, usually potassium chlorate, and sulphur.

These chemicals do not ignite on their own, meaning that the match will not light from normal friction. This is because the striking surface contains the chemical needed for the potassium chlorate and sulphur to ignite: red phosphorus. The match head also contains glue, which not only binds materials together but also serves as extra fuel.

The wooden stick is covered in a layer of paraffin wax. This ensures that the flame will burn down the stick. The wood is also soaked in ammonium phosphate which stifles any afterglow. The striking surface and match head share one major ingredient: powdered glass. Red phosphorus replaced white phosphorus in matches because it was much more stable. It is contained in the striking surface of safety matches, not in the match head.

Which country invented matchstick?

Female match workers in the 1870s. Wikimedia Commons Friction matches gave people the unprecedented ability to light fires quickly and efficiently, changing domestic arrangements and reducing the hours spent trying to light fires using more primitive means.

1. But they also created unprecedented suffering for match-makers: One of the substances used in some of the first friction matches was white phosphorus.
2. Prolonged exposure to it gave many workers the dread “phossy jaw.” A British pharmacist named John Walker invented the match by accident on this day in 1826, according to Today in Science History,

He was working on an experimental paste that might be used in guns. He had a breakthrough when he scraped the wooden instrument he was using to mix the substances in his paste, and it caught fire. With a little work, writes Andrew Haynes for The Pharmaceutical Journal, Walker produced “a flammable paste made with antimony sulfide, potassium chlorate and gum arabic, into which he dipped cardboard strips coated with sulfur.” He started selling his “friction lights” to locals in April 1827 and they quickly took off.

Walker never patented his invention, writes Haynes, in part because “the burning sulfur coating would sometimes drop from the stick, with a risk of damage to flooring or the user’s clothing.” Despite the dangers, he was advised to patent the matches, according to the BBC, so it’s a bit unclear why he didn’t.

His invention was quickly copied by Samuel Jones of London, who started selling “Lucifers” in 1829. Experimentation with these new devices produced the first matches that included white phosphorus, an innovation that was quickly copied. Advances in matches continued over the 1830s and into the 1840s, according to Encyclopedia Britannica.

Match-making became a common trade across England. There were “hundreds of factories spread across the country,” writes Kristina Killgrove for Mental Floss, “For 12 to 16 hours a day, workers dipped treated wood into a phosphorus concoction, then dried and cut the sticks into matches.” Like many other poorly paid and tedious factory jobs in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, match makers were predominantly women and children, writes Killgrove.

“Half the employees in this industry were kids who hadn’t even reached their teens. While working long hours indoors in a cramped, dark factory put these children at risk of contracting tuberculosis and getting rickets, matchstick making held a specific risk: phossy jaw.” This gruesome and debilitating condition was caused by inhaling white phosphorus fumes during those long hours at the factory.

Approximately 11 percent of those exposed to phosphorus fumes developed ‘phossy jaw’ about five years after initial exposure, on average,” Killgrove writes. The condition causes the bone in the jaw to die and teeth to decay, resulting in extreme suffering and sometimes the loss of the jaw. Although phossy jaw was far from the only side-effect of prolonged white phosphorus exposure, it became a visible symbol of the suffering caused by industrial chemicals in match plants.

By 1892, writes Lowell J. Satre for the journal Victorian Studies, newspapers were investigating the plight of match workers. A London reporter from The Star visited a victim of phossy jaw who had worked at a Salvation Army match factory. The woman, named Mrs.

1. Fleet, “revealed that she had gotten the disease after working five years at the company,” Satre writes.
2. After complaining of tooth and jaw ache, she had been sent home, had four teeth extracted, lost part of her jaw bone, and suffered the excruciating pain of the disease.” The smell of the dying bone, which eventually literally came out through her cheek, was so bad that her family couldn’t bear it.

After this, she was let go from the match company, which paid her for a few months. After that, she couldn’t get another job–no other match company would hire her, Satre writes, because it would make them look bad to be associated with phossy jaw. “Historical records often compare sufferers of phossy jaw to people with leprosy because of their obvious physical disfigurement and the condition’s social stigma,” Killgrove writes.

Did matches exist in the 1600s?

Click to Enlarge After fielding questions from students about what chemicals are in matches this week, it seemed like a good topic for a post looking at the question in more detail. When using matches on a day-to-day basis, you probably don’t think much of the chemical composition, or the reactions that are being set off; this graphic takes a look at some of the chemicals you can find in your average safety match, and the role they play.

1. Matches, as it turns out, have been around for a long time.
2. Sulfur-based matches are mentioned as far back as the 1200s in texts of the time, and in the 1600s a process involving drawing sulfur matches through dried phosphorus-soaked paper was devised.
3. However, the friction matches we’re used to have their origins in the 1800s; the first were developed by the English chemist, John Walker, in 1826.

His matches involved a mixture of potassium chlorate, antimony (III) sulfide, gum and starch, which ignited when struck on sandpaper. These matches were somewhat unreliable in whether or not they would successfully strike, however. In 1830, Charles Sauria, a French chemist, invented the first phosphorus-based match, by replacing the antimony sulfide in Walker’s matches with white phosphorus.

1. Whilst much easier to ignite, these matches, too, had issues.
2. Although they were manufactured over a number of decades, the toxicity of white phosphorus slowly became apparent.
3. The long term exposure to white phosphorus of those making the matches led to ‘phossy jaw’ – an affliction which caused toothaches, major swelling of the gums, disfigurement, and eventual brain damage.

The only treatment was the removal of the jaw bone. As more about the toxicity of white phosphorus became known, it was eventually banned in 1906. Prior to the banning, alternatives had already been sought for use in matches. In 1845, Anton Schrötter von Kristelli discovered that heating white phosphorus, or exposing it to sunlight, turned it into another form of the element: red phosphorus.

This form of the element is non-toxic; technically, it is not an allotrope, but rather an intermediate form between white phosphorus and another allotrope, violet phosphorus. Safety matches were subsequently introduced using red phosphorus in the place of white phosphorus. So how do the safety matches of today function? The red phosphorus is, in fact, no longer found in the head of the match – rather, it’s located on the striking surface on the side of the box, mixed with an abrasive substance such as powdered glass.

The match head contains an oxidising agent, commonly potassium chlorate, and glue to bind it to further abrasive materials and other additive compounds. These can include antimony (III) sulfide and/or sulfur, added as fuel to help the match head burn.

• When the match is struck, a small amount of the red phosphorus on the striking surface is converted into white phosphorus, which then ignites.
• The heat from this ignites the potassium chlorate, and the match head bursts into flame.
• During manufacture, the match stick itself is soaked in ammonium phosphate, which prevents ‘afterglow’ once the flame has gone out, and paraffin, which ensures that it burns easily.

Unlike safety matches, ‘strike anywhere’ matches don’t require the red phosphorus striking surface in order to ignite. This is because they contain phosphorus in the match head, in the form of phosphorus sesquisulfide. Other than this difference, however, they still function in much the same way. The graphic in this article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, See the site’s content usage guidelines, References & Further Reading

Phosphorus – J B Calvert How do safety matches work? – The Chemical Blog Match Head Reaction – University of Washington Department of Chemistry

Did China invent matches?

Answers – 1. The Horse Collar: China. Third Century BCE. About the fourth century BC the Chinese devised a harness with a breast strap known as the trace harness, modified approximately one hundred later into the collar harness. Unlike the throat-and-girth harness used in the West, which choked a horse and reduced its efficiency (it took two horses to haul a half a ton), the collar harness allowed a single horse to haul a ton and a half.

• The trace harness arrived in Europe in the sixth century and made its way across Europe by the eighth century.2.
• The Wheelbarrow: China, First Century BCE.
• Wheelbarrows did not exist in Europe before the eleventh or twelfth century (the earliest known Western depiction is in a window at Chartres Cathedral, dated around 1220 CE).

Descriptions of the wheelbarrow in China refer to first century BCE, and the oldest surviving picture, a frieze relief from a tomb-shrine in Szechuan province, dates from about 118 CE.3. The Moldboard Plow: China, Third Centrury BCE. Called kuan, these ploughshares were made of malleable cast iron.

1. They had an advanced design, with a central ridge ending in a sharp point to cut the soil and wings which sloped gently up towards the center to throw the soil off the plow and reduce friction.
2. When brought to Holland in the 17th Century, these plows began the Agricultural Revolution.4.
3. Paper Money: China, Ninth Century CE.

Its original name was ‘flying money’ because it was so light it could blow out of one’s hand. As ‘exchange certificates’ used by merchants, paper money was quickly adopted by the government for forwarding tax payments. Real paper money, used as a medium of exchange and backed by deposited cash (a Chinese term for metal coins), apparently came into use in the tenth century.

The first Western money was issued in Sweden in 1661. America followed in 1690, France in 1720, England in 1797, and Germany not until 1806.5. Cast Iron: China, Forth Century BCE. By having good refractory clays for the construction of blast furnace walls, and the discovery of how to reduce the temperature at which iron melts by using phosphorus, the Chinese were able cast iron into ornamental and functional shapes.

Coal, used as a fuel, was placed around elongated crucibles containing iron ore. This expertise allowed the production of pots and pans with thin walls. With the development of annealing in the third century, ploughshares, longer swords, and even buildings were eventually made of iron.

In the West, blast furnaces are known to have existed in Scandinavia by the late eighth century CE, but cast iron was not widely available in Europe before 1380.6. The Helicopter Rotor and the Propeller: China, Forth Century CE. By fourth century CE a common toy in China was the helicopter top, called the ‘bamboo dragonfly’.

The top was an axis with a cord wound round it, and with blades sticking out from the axis and set at an angle. One pulled the cord, and the top went climbing in the air. Sir George Cayley, the father of modern aeronautics, studied the Chinese helicopter top in 1809.

The helicopter top in China led to nothing but amusement and pleasure, but fourteen hundred years later it was to be one of the key elements in the birth of modern aeronautics in the West.7. The Decimal System: China, Fourteenth Century BCE. An example of how the Chinese used the decimal system may be seen in an inscription from the thirteenth century BC, in which ‘547 days’ is written ‘Five hundred plus four decades plus seven of days’.

The Chinese wrote with characters instead of an alphabet. When writing with a Western alphabet of more than nine letters, there is a temptation to go on with words like eleven. With Chinese characters, ten is ten-blank and eleven is ten-one (zero was left as a blank space: 405 is ‘four blank five’), This was much easier than inventing a new character for each number (imagine having to memorize an enormous number of characters just to read the date!).

• Having a decimal system from the beginning was a big advantage in making mathematical advances.
• The first evidence of decimals in Europe is in a Spanish manuscript of 976 CE.8.
• The Seismograph: China, Second Century CE.
• China has always been plagued with earthquakes and the government wanted to know where the economy would be interrupted.

A seismograph was developed by the brilliant scientist, mathematician, and inventor Chang Heng (whose works also show he envisaged the earth as a sphere with nine continents and introduced the crisscrossing grid of latitude and longitude). His invention was noted in court records of the later Han Dynasty in 132 CE (the fascinating description is too long to reproduce here.

1. It can be found on pgs.162-166 of Temple’s book).
2. Modern seismographs only began development in 1848.9.
3. Matches: China, Sixth Century CE.
4. The first version of the match was invented in 577 CE by impoverished court ladies during a military siege.
5. Hard pressed for tinder during the siege, they could otherwise not start fires for cooking, heating, etc.

The matches consisted of little sticks of pinewood impregnated with sulfur. There is no evidence of matches in Europe before 1530.10. Circulation of the Blood: China, Second Century BCE. Most people believe blood circulation was discovered by William Harvey in 1628, but there are other recorded notations dating back to the writings of an Arab of Damascus, al-Nafis (died 1288).

• However, circulation appears discussed in full and complex form in The Yellow Emperor’s Manual of Corporeal Medicine in China by the second century BC.11.
• Paper: China, Second Century BCE.
• Papyrus, the inner bark of the papyrus plant, is not true paper.
• Paper is a sheet of sediment which results from the settling of a layer of disintegrated fibers from a watery solution onto a flat mold.

Once the water is drained away, the deposited layer is removed and dried. The oldest surviving piece of paper in the world is made of hemp fibers, discovered in 1957 in a tomb near Xian, China, and dates from between the years 140 and 87 BCE. The oldest paper with writing on it, also from China, is dated to 110 CE and contains about two dozen characters.

1. Paper reached India in the seventh century and West Asia in the eighth.
2. The Arabs sold paper to Europeans until manufacture in the West in the twelfth century.12.
3. Brandy and Whiskey: China, Seventh Century CE.
4. The tribal people of Central Asia discovered ‘frozen-out wine’ in their frigid climate in the third century CE.

In wine that had frozen was a remaining liquid (pure alcohol). Freezing became a test for alcohol content. Distilled wine was known in China by the seventh century. The distillation of alcohol in the West was discovered in Italy in the twelfth century.13.

The Kite: China, Fifth/Fourth Century BCE. Two kitemakers, Kungshu P’an who made kites shaped like birds which could fly for up to three days, and Mo Ti (who is said to have spent three years building a special kite) were famous in Chinese traditional stories from as early as the fifth century BCE. Kites were used in wartime as early as 1232 when kites with messages were flown over Mongol lines by the Chinese.

The strings were cut and the kites landed among the Chinese prisoners, inciting them to revolt and escape. Kites fitted with hooks and bait were used for fishing, and kites were fitted with strings and whistles to make musical sounds while flying. The kite was first mentioned in Europe in a popular book of marvels and tricks in 1589.14.

The rocket and multistaged rockets: China, Eleventh and Twelfth CE Centuries, Around 1150 it crossed someone’s mind to attach a comet-like fireworks to a four foot bamboo stick with an arrowhead and a balancing weight behind the feathers. To make the rockets multi-staged, a secondary set of rockets was attached to the shaft, their fuses lighted as the first rockets burned out.

Rockets are first mentioned in the West in connection with a battle in Italy in 1380, arriving in the wake of Marco Polo. Not all Chinese scientific and technological achievements lie in the remote past. Contemporary scientists include Chen Ning Yang and Tsung Dao Lee (Nobel Physics Prize, 1957), and Choh Hao Li (biochemist, world’s foremost authority on the pituitary gland).

Why is a match called a match?

Etymology – Historically, the term match referred to lengths of cord (later cambric ) impregnated with chemicals, and allowed to burn continuously. These were used to light fires and fire guns (see matchlock ) and cannons (see linstock ) and to detonate explosive devices such as dynamite sticks.

• Such matches were characterised by their burning speed i.e.
• Quick match and slow match,
• Depending on its formulation, a slow match burns at a rate of around 30 cm (1 ft) per hour and a quick match at 4 to 60 centimetres (2 to 24 in) per minute.
• The modern equivalent of a match (in the sense of a burnable cord) is the simple fuse such as a visco fuse, still used in pyrotechnics to obtain a controlled time delay before ignition.

The original meaning of the word still persists in some pyrotechnics terms, such as black match (a black-powder -impregnated fuse) and Bengal match (a firework akin to sparklers producing a relatively long-burning, colored flame). However, when friction matches became commonplace, the term match came to refer mainly to these.

What are the oldest matches?

Early and Modern Matches The need to control fire enabled out ancestors to distinguish themselves from animals, and evolve into beings that could survive in hostile environments, shape the nature around them, prepare food from inedible natural sources and create a basis for modern human civilization that sparked its first light in ancient Mesopotamia.

With almost two million years of fire present in our life, this source of power played key role in our evolution and survival. Around 1.9 million years ago evidence of first cooked found was found by archeologist, who theories that our ancestors gain control over fire somewhere around 1 million years ago.

Evidence of widespread control of fire came from 50-100 thousand years ago, especially during Neolithic Revolution when wide expansion of grain-based agriculture forced humans to use fire as a tool in landscape management. However, creation of fire was never a fast and efficient, and because of that many inventors, chemists, scientists and engineers for ancient times tried to create a way to create fire at moment’s notice.

• Some of the earliest examples of matches came from China, where chemist tried to use the energy potential of sulfur for easier creation of fire.
• They did not have the knowledge of interaction between friction and phosphorus compounds, and because of that, their matched cold not create fire by themselves.

Instead of that, their sulfur coated wooden sticks of pinewood were used to catch the smallest amount of flame and expand it fast all around them. The first recorded mention of Chinese fire sticks comes from 577 AD, when they were used by Northern Qi court ladies to start fires during the military siege of Northern Zhou and Chen. The first European experiments with phosphorus of sulfur matches started in second half of 17th century with the exploits of alchemist Hennig Brandt (discovered flammable nature of phosphorus), Robert Boyle and his assistant and Godfrey Haukweicz. The first modern self-igniting match was introduced to the public in 1805 by Jean Chancel who worked as an assistant of famous French chemist Louis Jacques Thénard.

Head of this match was made from mixture of potassium chlorate, sulfur, sugar, rubber, and the user ignited the match by dipping it into small asbestos bottle filled with dangerous sulfuric acid. This dangerous and expensive mix of ingredients caused this match to never become successful. More than 40 years later in 1848, English cigar shop owner Hurtner introduced several brands of matches that were used for lighting cigars.

The most famous matches in 19th century England were “Euperion” (sometimes “Empyrion”), Fizzes for lighting cigars and pipes, “Hugh Perry” which was widely used in kitchens all around England, and outdoor matches called “Vesuvian” and “Prometheans”. Both of them were equipped with enough chemicals to produce strong and long lasting fire that can start a wood fire even in windy or wet environment.

• Friction matches were first introduced to the public in 1826 by John Walker, English chemist and druggist from Stockton-on-Tees.
• It was made by combining paste of sulfur with gum, potassium chlorate, sugar, antimony trisulfide, and ignited by drawing the match between the fold of sandpaper.
• Between 1827 and 1829, Walker managed to popularize his invention and sell 168 matches to public, but it soon found himself without a job because many though that his solution is too dangerous.

Flaming ball of material often separated from the rest of the match, falling to the floor and destroying carpets and dresses. Because of that, his matches were quickly banned in France and Germany. Matches evolved quickly from that point on. Sir Isaac Holden and Samuel Jones developed their own friction matches that were very explosive and smelly, but 1830s discovery of white phosphorus match by Frenchman Charles Sauria changed the landscape of matches and introduced many benefits and disadvantages – most notably ability to self-ignite and cause serious diseases. Replacements for white phosphorus matches were safety matches that were devised Swede Gustaf Erik Pasch (1788–1862) and Johan Edvard Lundström (1815–1888). By utilizing red phosphorus only on the igniting surface, the matches itself were made perfectly safe for environment and health. : Early and Modern Matches

Were matches originally white?

of the match – Most people may know that matches we see today are ‘safety’ matches and that they are safe because of something to do with the red tip. But the story behind the name ‘safety match’ is one of industrialists, striking workers, unlikely saviours and one of the first mass media campaigns focussing on a terrible industrial injury.

• In the 19 century, something remarkable was happening in England— for the first time people were able to have controllable light and heat on demand.
• And not just the aristocracy either, ordinary people could have light in their homes, encouraged by the demand for reading materials as the masses became more educated and literate.

At the same time, the industrial revolution was clunking into the mainstream and workers flooded into the major cities from the countryside and the provinces. Mines and pits proliferated, the railways rapidly expanded and great furnices were alight day and night to satisfy the demand from the British Empire for the products of British labour.

1. There was something these all had in common. Ignition.
2. Fires were lit in every fireplace in every living room in the land.
3. Fires were lit in the great iron and steelworks.
4. Inside the great engines which replaced the slow clunking water and wind turbines, fire was providing power for locomotion and for mass production.

Out of the flames came knives and guns. The great steam engines powered cotton mills and the roaring expresses which took thousands to seaside holidays for the first time. With all that flame, it is not surprising that there was also demand for a simple ignition system: the match. BRYMAY by flickr user Matt Brown CC-BY 2.0 Two Quaker merchants, Francis May and William Bryant set up their partnership in 1843, first to import matches and then they began manufacturing them. Originally the matches they made were of a kind called the ‘lucifer’, a dubious invention claimed by Sir Isaac Holden MP.

1. According to the Pall Mall Gazette of 1893, Isaac Holden was getting tired of using flint-and-steel to light his lamps and was interested in the explosive properties of new chemical inventions which he thought might offer an alternative.
2. The young son of a chemist overheard him droning on about this and told his father about it.

Soon after the lucifer match was born. Others claim it was John Walker (or possibly Samuel Jones) who first sold ‘lucifer’ matches in the 1830s. Whether the truth, by the mid 19 century there was an enormous demand for lucifer matches. image by flickr user Jim Chambers CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 The matches were cheap and easy to produce and worked by a chemical reaction when the tip was struck. The tip contained white — sometimes called yellow — phosphorus, That is important because it is highly toxic and as a result the young women working in the match factories were permanently disfigured and died of something which became known as phossy jaw. from Punch in 1844 — assumed to be in the public domain Of course, this was an era when there was a hyper-availability of workers and so if one person refused to do a job there was always someone else more desperate. Workers in factories regularly had jobs we would today regard as ridiculously dangerous and many died.

• Even that said, though, the working lives of the women who worked in the match factories were some of the worst found anywhere.
• Sadly the working classes of 19 century England were typically considered disposable to be used until they could no longer provide a useful service to the great industrialists, and then thrown away.

By 1888, the low pay and conditions got to a crisis point and the women workers of Byrant and Mays walked out in one of the most famous early forms of industrial action — the great Match Girls Strike. image deemed to be in the public domain The great Match Girls Strike of 1888 is inextricably linked to the campaigning journalist Annie Besant and became a tussle of strength between the Bryant and May company on the one hand and the Trades Union movement on the other.

Initially the protest began when Bresant published an article in her own publication called ‘The Link’ about conditions in the factory, which led on to workers being fired and eventually the whole workforce of 1400 women walking out. The arguments raged back and forth in the pages of the London press.

In an interview in the Times of 9 July 1888, Mr Bryant claimed that he had always “wanted to see his workpeople well paid” and that the girls earned between 5 and 18 shillings a week. In the same article it was reported that Mrs Bresent thundered from a stage that the women actually earned between 4 and 13 shillings and that this was scandalous when shareholders in the company paid themselves a dividend of 34% and Mr Bryant had recently bought himself a park worth £170,000.

• The Times of 10 July 1888, reported that the economic cost of striking was getting too much for the workers and some were wanting to return.
• On 11 July it was reported that a strike fund had begun collecting money to support the women and on the 12 July a letter appeared from supporters, laying out the reasons for the protest, but by Friday 13 July 1888 the Times was reporting that the strikers were dejected and felt that they would not get their jobs back, never mind their demands met.

By the 18 July, the Times was reporting that the strike was over with the women having substantially had their demands met after the intervention of representatives from trade unions. But Louise Raw in her book challenges the idea that this was a protest led by a middle class woman from the comfortable pages of the press and instead points to a strike committee of women workers who have been totally forgotten by subsequent history. Annie Bresant in 1897 — image in the public domain For all that, the issue of white phosphorus and phossy jaw seemed to have been overlooked altogether even though it had been well known for decades. Charles Dickens, the uber-fashionable author of his day, wrote in detail about it in 1852 in this Household Words publication.

Annie Brown is twenty years of age, of pale and scrofulous aspect. She went to work at the lucifer-factory, when she was nine years old, and after she had worked for about four years, the complaint began, like a toothache. She was occupied in putting the lids on the boxes. She could smell the phosphorus at first, but soon grew used to it.

On uncovering her face, we perceived that her lower jaw is almost entirely wanting; at the side of her mouth are two or three large holes. The jaw was removed at the Infirmary seven years ago. Safety matches had been invented since at least 1862 when Bryant and May exhibited them at the International Exhibition.

• They used red phosophorus and were considered to be much safer because they could only be lit by striking the match on the side of the box.
• Unfortunately for the match workers, the demand was almost entirely for the white lucifer matches which could be struck anywhere.
• According to Barbara Harrison, a factory inspector called Rose Squire recorded in her autobiography in 1927 I have a vivid picture in my mind of the awkward scramble of arms and hands of a crowd of girls working at feeverish speed to cram the handfuls of matches into boxes which, when overfull flared up and were cast upon the floor, the fumes and smoke rising into one’s nostrils.

By 1890, 60 tonnes of yellow phosphorus was being used in the industry, 50% of which was being used by Bryant and May, despite being linked to the problem. In comparison, only 3 tonnes of a harmless red phosphorus was being used. Investigations proved that sickness and death was being caused by the match industry and following government investigations, Bryant and May was finally prosecuted for causing harm to workers in their London factory in 1898 and belated questions began to be asked of the government about it.

The silly thing was that there was no need for this to be a problem. Into the breech stepped a new participant — the Salvation Army. Set up as a religious movement by and for the poorest of the working poor, the Sally Ann took on the match industrialists at their own game and set up a match factory using only red phosphorus.

With a focus on fairness for the workers, it also offered good pay and reasonable hours for the women. Image from here thought to be in the public domain The Salvation Army campaigned for the use of red phosphorus matches and better conditions in the match factories. In 1892 a reporter from the Star went to visit the Salvation Army match factory in Lamprill Road, London and interviewed the manager Mr Nunn who said to “Tell them that every match they strike which is not a ‘safety’ has been produced by endangering the health and lives of the workers engaged.

• Tell them of the horrible character of the disease, and ask them not to use another phosphor (sic) match.
• Tell them we pay nearly double the wages of other firms, and that they can be sure if they help us and use our matches they are helping the women who make them lead decent, happy lives” Unfortunately this early effort at ethical trading struggled to overcome the public’s dependence on cheap dangerous lucifer matches and the factory closed for good in 1901.

In the end it was the combination of press coverage, public campaigning and legislative change which brought an end to the manufacturing of lucifer matches in 1910, more than 50 years after the problem had first been identified. Advert from Australian Women’s Weekly 10 November 1934 Additional sources: Barbara Harrison (1995) The Politics of occupational ill-health in the late nineteenth century: the case of the match-making industry Sociology of Health and Illness Vol 17 Louise Raw (2011) Striking a Light: The Bryant and May Matchwomen and their Place in History Bloomsbury Dr Bruce Rosen Victorian History Blog

Why are matches called Lucifers?

Walker called his matches ‘Friction Lights.’ They also were called ‘Lucifers,’ a play on two meanings of the word. Lucifer is Latin for ‘light bringing’ and was one name for the Lord of the sulfurous fires of Hell. Unfortunately, Friction Lights also produced an annoying shower of popping sparks.

When were matches called Lucifers?

Walker did not patent his invention. Samuel Jones from London copied his idea and marketed his matches as “Lucifer’s”! In 1826, John Walker, a chemist in Stockton on Tees, discovered through lucky accident that a stick coated with chemicals burst into flame when scraped across his hearth at home.

1. He went on to invent the first friction match.
2. Until the first half of the nineteenth century, the process by which fire was created was slow and laborious.
3. Walker’s friction match revolutionised the production, application and the portability of fire.
4. Walker sold his first “Friction Light” on the 12th April 1827 from his pharmacy in Stockton on Tees.

Walker’s first friction matches were made of cardboard but he soon began to use wooden splints cut by hand. Later he packaged the matches in a cardboard box equipped with a piece of sandpaper for striking. He was advised to patent his matches but chose not to and, as a result, Samuel Jones of London copied his idea and launched his own “Lucifers” in 1829, an exact copy of Walkers “Friction Lights”.

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Why did match girls get typhus?

Enola Holmes 2 true story: What was the Matchgirls’ Strike? – In the movie, it’s revealed that after the match factory switched from using red phosphorus to the cheaper white phosphorus, factory workers started dying and it was being covered up as a typhus outbreak.

This was all because the nefarious factory owner was profiting from the use of cheaper phosphorus. The corruption looks set to be exposed after match girls Sarah and Mae find the evidence, but Lord McIntyre (who also benefits from it) manages to burn the evidence, while Mae is killed earlier by Superintendent Grail in an attempt to cover it up.

But when Sarah returns to work at the match factory, she decides that enough is enough and leads the rest of the workers out on strike. While the majority of the elements of the story are fictional, such as the corruption and murders, there was a strike in 1888 at the Bryant & May match factory.

How did people light fires before matches?

History – Before the invention of matches, percussion was often used to start fires. Before the advent of steel, a variety of or was used with and other stones to produce a high-temperature spark that could be used to create fire. There are indications that the Iceman, also known as, may have used iron pyrite to,

From the forward, until the invention of the friction in the early 1800s by John Walker, the use of flint and was a common method of fire lighting. Percussion fire-starting was prevalent in Europe during ancient times, the and the, When flint and steel were used, the fire steel was often kept in a metal together with flint and,

In and, they were instead carried in a leather pouch called a, In Japan, percussion fire making was performed using agate or even quartz. It was also used as a ritual to bring good luck or ward off evil.

What did match girls suffer from?

Still worse, their working conditions were dangerous. The fumes from the phosphorous used to make matches were poisonous. Workers could get necrosis or ‘phossy jaw’, a form of bone cancer. It began with pain and swelling in the teeth and jaw, then foul-smelling pus formed.

What is a matchgirl?

Noun – matchgirl ( plural matchgirls )

( historical ) A girl who sold matches on the streets.

What illness did matches cause?

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Phossy jaw, formally known as phosphorus necrosis of the jaw, was an occupational disease affecting those who worked with white phosphorus (also known as yellow phosphorus ) without proper safeguards. It was most commonly seen in workers in the matchstick industry in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

What was the first matches ever made?

However, the friction matches we’re used to have their origins in the 1800s; the first were developed by the English chemist, John Walker, in 1826. His matches involved a mixture of potassium chlorate, antimony (III) sulfide, gum and starch, which ignited when struck on sandpaper.

When were waterproof matches invented?

US1961920A – Waterproof match – Google Patents Jur/1e 5, 1934.J. la.` ARPIN WATERPROOF MATCH Filed Jan.28, 19,32 Patented June 5, 1934 1,961,920* WATERPROOF MATCH John B. Arpin, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., assigner of one-half to Floyd B. Fla.

• Application January 28,
• 1 claim.
• This invention relates to water proof matches and includes the process of manufacturing them.

As is known in the manufacture of matches soft woods and other combinations of materials 5 are cut by machine to form the sticks. The cut sticks are then xecl into a frame or carrier belt of the match machine so that each stick stands protruding from the belt like a bristle or a brush in the manufacture of certain wood matches.

The end of each stick is dipped in melted parafne and after drying, the paraffine dipped end of each stick is dipped into an igniting mixture to form the head of the match. The igniting mixture generally contains phosphorus together with oxidizing materials such as potassium chlorate, po- tassium dichromate and `the like.

An adhesive substance such as glue or dextrin is also generally present in the mixture to cause the igniting chemicals to adhere to the sticks. The detrimental effects of water or moisture on matches is well known and since the chemicals in the head absorb moisture it has heretofore been proposed to protect the matches from moisture by coating the heads with a varnish or thin shellac or other solutions.

It has also been proposed to use various non-absorptive compositions such as Bakelite (phenol-aldehyde condensation products) as agglutinants in the head preparation to protect the igniting chemicals from moisture. These proposed methods of protecting the matches from moisture have not been satisfactory due to the fact that the stick itself has not been treated to prevent absorption of moisture.

I have now found that if the sticks are completely immersed in a water proof composition which is also combustible and a coating of the waterproof combustible material allowed to substantially cover the entire match stick it is pos- 40 sible to produce a match which is practically totally waterproof.

1. Since, however, the carrier belt or supporting frame of the match machine contacts a portion of the stick it will be impossible, of course, to coat this portion with the water proof composition.
2. I have found however that if the sticks are immersed up to the belt only a very small portion of the stick remains uncoated, which portion is insuicient to have deleterious eiiects.

In the heretofore proposed practice of manufacturing matches the match sticks were uniformly dipped into parafne to only an extent of one-fourth to one-half the length of the match stick. This, of course, permitted the exposure of an untreated stick to moisture.

1. The untreat- Fitch, Fort Lauderdale, 1932, Serial No.589,335 ed portion of the stick however absorbs the moisture and, because of the capillary properties of the cellular structure of wood, the moisture permeates throughout the entire length of the stick.
2. As a result when the head of the match, even though treated for resisting moisture, is ignited it would be the only portion of the match to burn.

The match consequently would merely sputter and go out. By treating the entire match stick however this evil is overcome and a water proof match can be produced under very economic optimum conditions.

1. It is therefore an object of this invention to produce a water proof match in which both the match stick and the head of the match are sealed from moisture.
2. It is a further object of this invention to produce a match which is unaffected by moisture even after hours of soaking in water.
3. It is a further object of this invention to prepare a water proof match containing a stick coated substantially over its entire surface with a combustible water proof composition and containing an igniting head portion also coated with a combustible water proof composition.
4. It is a further object of this invention to prepare a Water proof match containing a stick treated with a penetrating ller of waterproof combustible material making any desired portionV of the stick waterproof, containing an igniting head also coated with combustible waterproof composition or solutions.
5. Other and further objects of this invention will become apparent as the description proceeds.
6. On the drawing:
7. ` Figure l is an elevational view of an ordinary match stick.
8. Figure 2 is a vertical cross sectional view of a match stick coated substantially throughout its entire surface with a combustible water proof coating.
9. Figure 3 is a vertical cross sectional view of a water proof coated match stick after the igniting head has been added.
10. Figure 4 is a vertical cross sectional view of a completed water proof match containing a water proof combustible coating throughout substantially the entire surface of the match stick and having the igniting mixture on the head of the match covered by a water proof combustible composition.
11. Figure 5 is a vertical cross sectional view of an alternative form of a completed match in which the stick of the match is entirely coated with a water proof combustible composition.

As shown on the drawing: In Figures 1 to 4 inclusive the reference numeral,10 indicates the match stick. A portion 11 of the match stick 10 is inserted in the carrier belt or frame of the match making machine (not shown). This portion 11 is therefore not coated with combustible water proof composition such as varnish or shellac 12 which covers the entire surface of the match stick extruding from the carrier belt.

The coating 12 may be applied in any manner such as by dipping, spraying, vapor penetration or the like. The most simple’ manner of applying the coating consists in merely immersing the sticks on the carrier belt of the match machine into a bath of the combustible water proofing composition. The coating is then preferably allowed to set or dry.

The igniting mixture or head 13 is next applied to the sticks 10 by dipping the coated end thereof into a paste of the lgniting mixture. A water proof coating 14 is then applied to the surface of the igniting mixture 13. This coating may be of shellac or other-suitable water proof composition.

Figure 5 illustrates an alternative form of water proof match in which the combustible water proof coating 12 completely covers the entire surface of the stick 10. This type of water proof match is preferable because moisture or water can in no Way penetrate into the stick or head of the match. By coating the portion 11 shown in Figures 2, 3 and 4 the only unexposed or water vulnerable portion of the match is protected.

It has been found, however, that for most purposes the relatively small unexposed portion 11 is not injurious since the only way moisture can affect the burning of most of the match is for the water to travel by capillary action throughout the length of the stick toward the head end.

This is highly improbable since the capillary action is not ordinarily suficient to draw moisture from such a small exposed portion to saturate the entire stick. If, for example, only half of the stick is saturated with water, that is the portion from the end 11 to about the mid portion of the stick, it has been found that such a degree of water saturation is not harmful due to the fact that the kindling temperature of the wood or stick material is sumciently high to dry out the rest of the wood after the flame has reached the size and proportion necessary to carry it down to the mlddle of the match stick.

Furthermore a match is almost universally never burned for more than one-half of the length of its stick. While any water insoluble water proofing agent that is combustible can be used as a coating material, shellac and water proof varnishes have been found to be particularly effective.

However it should be understood that my invention is not limited to either of these materials. It is furthermore found that the waterproof composition strengthens the head of the match and is an added bond which prevents chipping off and ying of portion of the head when lighted on rough surface. The description has been confined to the preparation of wooden matches for convenience only.

It should. be understood however that my invention is applicable to matches of the paper variety (book matches) as well. ‘Ihe material used for the stick is immaterial.

• I am aware that many changes may be made and numerous details of construction may be varied through a wide range without departing from the principles of this invention, and I therefore do not purpose limiting the patent granted hereon otherwise than necessitated by the prior art.
• I claim as my invention:
• A waterproof match consisting of a stick portion having all of its surfaces coated with a combustible Waterproof composition and having an igniting head coated with a combustible Waterproof composition positioned upon and around one end of the coated stick.

JOHN B. ARPIN. : US1961920A – Waterproof match – Google Patents

How were matches made in the 1800s?

Early and Modern Matches The need to control fire enabled out ancestors to distinguish themselves from animals, and evolve into beings that could survive in hostile environments, shape the nature around them, prepare food from inedible natural sources and create a basis for modern human civilization that sparked its first light in ancient Mesopotamia.

1. With almost two million years of fire present in our life, this source of power played key role in our evolution and survival.
2. Around 1.9 million years ago evidence of first cooked found was found by archeologist, who theories that our ancestors gain control over fire somewhere around 1 million years ago.

Evidence of widespread control of fire came from 50-100 thousand years ago, especially during Neolithic Revolution when wide expansion of grain-based agriculture forced humans to use fire as a tool in landscape management. However, creation of fire was never a fast and efficient, and because of that many inventors, chemists, scientists and engineers for ancient times tried to create a way to create fire at moment’s notice.

• Some of the earliest examples of matches came from China, where chemist tried to use the energy potential of sulfur for easier creation of fire.
• They did not have the knowledge of interaction between friction and phosphorus compounds, and because of that, their matched cold not create fire by themselves.

Instead of that, their sulfur coated wooden sticks of pinewood were used to catch the smallest amount of flame and expand it fast all around them. The first recorded mention of Chinese fire sticks comes from 577 AD, when they were used by Northern Qi court ladies to start fires during the military siege of Northern Zhou and Chen. The first European experiments with phosphorus of sulfur matches started in second half of 17th century with the exploits of alchemist Hennig Brandt (discovered flammable nature of phosphorus), Robert Boyle and his assistant and Godfrey Haukweicz. The first modern self-igniting match was introduced to the public in 1805 by Jean Chancel who worked as an assistant of famous French chemist Louis Jacques Thénard.

• Head of this match was made from mixture of potassium chlorate, sulfur, sugar, rubber, and the user ignited the match by dipping it into small asbestos bottle filled with dangerous sulfuric acid.
• This dangerous and expensive mix of ingredients caused this match to never become successful.
• More than 40 years later in 1848, English cigar shop owner Hurtner introduced several brands of matches that were used for lighting cigars.

The most famous matches in 19th century England were “Euperion” (sometimes “Empyrion”), Fizzes for lighting cigars and pipes, “Hugh Perry” which was widely used in kitchens all around England, and outdoor matches called “Vesuvian” and “Prometheans”. Both of them were equipped with enough chemicals to produce strong and long lasting fire that can start a wood fire even in windy or wet environment.

• Friction matches were first introduced to the public in 1826 by John Walker, English chemist and druggist from Stockton-on-Tees.
• It was made by combining paste of sulfur with gum, potassium chlorate, sugar, antimony trisulfide, and ignited by drawing the match between the fold of sandpaper.
• Between 1827 and 1829, Walker managed to popularize his invention and sell 168 matches to public, but it soon found himself without a job because many though that his solution is too dangerous.

Flaming ball of material often separated from the rest of the match, falling to the floor and destroying carpets and dresses. Because of that, his matches were quickly banned in France and Germany. Matches evolved quickly from that point on. Sir Isaac Holden and Samuel Jones developed their own friction matches that were very explosive and smelly, but 1830s discovery of white phosphorus match by Frenchman Charles Sauria changed the landscape of matches and introduced many benefits and disadvantages – most notably ability to self-ignite and cause serious diseases. Replacements for white phosphorus matches were safety matches that were devised Swede Gustaf Erik Pasch (1788–1862) and Johan Edvard Lundström (1815–1888). By utilizing red phosphorus only on the igniting surface, the matches itself were made perfectly safe for environment and health. : Early and Modern Matches

When were box matches invented?

The Notorious History Of The Humble Match When you look at a box of matchboxes, you are not likely to think much of it, and you wouldn’t expect such a small box to carry so much history. From matches killing people and causing deformities to matchboxes being used as stocking fillers, you can say that a lot has changed over the years.

1. The First Matchboxes Matches have been used within society since 1827, and matchboxes were later created in the 1840s.
2. Previously you could light a match on any rough surface, which unsurprisingly became a safety hazard and this is when the matchbox design became necessary.
3. The safety match was created so that people would have to use the side of a matchbox to actually light the match.

Who Created The Match? Before the matchbox/match was created there were a variety of inventions that tried to create an item that could produce fire, many were much more complicated than the matches we know now. This included the rubbing together of sticks and one known as Samuel Jone’s ‘Promethean Match.’ This was created in the 1820s and consisted of a small bead of glass containing a drop of vitriol, that was placed into paper with chlorate of potash, gum and sugar and then rolled up into a paper spill.

Once the glass was broken it would light up the paper with a flame but like many other inventions, this was dangerous and you could never predict what was to happen. The invention of the match is usually associated with John Walker, who created the starting point for the match, which people then took further and further to get to the point we are at today.

The creation happened while John was experimenting with explosives when he accidentally scraped his mixing stick coated with potassium chlorate and antimony sulphide on the hearth when the stick set alight. This then led to him creating the first matches, which were lit by being scraped across a piece of glass paper. The Bryant And May Factory And The Deadly Lucifer Matches The Bryant and May factory was one of the biggest in Britain started by Francis May and William Bryant, and what started as a way to import matches during 1843, soon led to the manufacturing of them too.

They started by making the matches called the ‘Lucifer’, which is rumoured to have been created by either John Walker or Samuel Jones. This led to a huge demand for Lucifer matches. These matches were cheap, due to how easy they were to produce as they worked by a chemical reaction when the tip of the match was struck.

The tip included a white or yellow toxic chemical known as phosphorus. This chemical was extremely dangerous because the phosphorus would permanently disfigure the worker’s jaws and lead to a death known as phossy jaw. The only way that your death could be prevented was through the removal of your whole jaw bone, and if you did not go through with this you would die of organ failure. However, during the year 1888, the factory workers had had enough of the awful working conditions and the female workers walked out during a famous workout known as the great Match Girls Strike. The strike occurred not only due to bad working conditions but because workers were fired due to an article publication of the horrible conditions, which therefore led to all 1400 women striking.

Bryant insisted that the work people were paid well and the girls were paid between 5 to 18 shillings a week, but the reality was that it was far less. It turns out the company shareholders took 34% of profits themselves and had thousands to spend on themselves. Luckily, on the 18th of July, the strike was over and the women had their demands met.

It was not until 1910 that through press coverage and public campaigns that Lucifer matches were brought to an end and the company was shut down. The Salvation Army You may be wondering how the Lucifer matches were allowed to stay around for so long and why nobody did anything to prevent the growing problem.

Well, that’s actually not the case, the Salvation Army made the plans for a Salvation Army match factory a big priority after learning of the horrible conditions of the Lucifer matchbox makers. Victor Bailey made it known that the aim of the matchbox factory was to undermine the larger match firms that were using dangerous materials to create their matches.

The matches the Salvation Army factory used trade union-approved conditions and chemicals that were not dangerous. To get out their message and promote the matches the Salvation Army would argue that no salvationist could keep buying the matches of big companies knowing the terrible conditions the female workers worked under and how they were in some ways contributing to the deaths of many. Sadly, although the matches had a message that many people agreed with, the matches were more costly than those of the bigger companies due to its red phosphorus (that is still used in today’s matches) and therefore even Salvationists were buying the cheaper products.

Over time, this led to the factory shutting down during 1901, but the Salvation Army’s message played a huge part in matches being safely made as we see them today. Matches In Today’s Society Matches are still a huge part of society but nowadays they are less commonly used to create heat and sources of light.

The matches we use now are made of oxidizing agents such as potassium chlorate mixed with sulfur, fillers and glass powder. The box also consists of red phosphorus, binder and powdered glass, all of which is safe to use and make. There are now many safety match brands dominating the matchbox industry that include Diamond and Ship safety that you can rely on to not be dangerous. : The Notorious History Of The Humble Match

Jack Gloop