By Mary Davis
Creating a flame from nothing had long been a laborious task. Scientists, chemists, engineers, and inventors played around with chemicals for centuries to produce a way to make fire more instantaneous.
“If there occurs an emergency at night it may take some time to make a light to light a lamp. But an ingenious man devised the system of impregnating little sticks of pinewood with sulfur and storing them ready for use. At the slightest touch of fire, they burst into flame. . . . This marvelous thing was formerly called a “light-bringing slave”, but afterward when it became an article of commerce its name was changed to ‘fire inch-stick’.”
Records of the Unworldly and the Strange
by Chinese author Tao Gu in about 950 AD
Early matches were downright dangerous, from spontaneously igniting to causing a terrible bone disease.
Hennig Brandt, an alchemist from Hamburg, was attempting to turn an olio of base metals into gold in 1669. He failed but accidently produced phosphorus instead. Disappointed, he brushed the discovery aside.
However, British physicist Robert Boyle was very interested in it. Therefore in 1680, Boyle took a course square of paper and coated it with phosphorus. He tipped a splinter of wood with sulfur to go with it. When the splinter was pulled through the folded paper, it created a flame. This was the first example of a chemical match. Because phosphorus was scarce, the general public never knew this match existed.
Notice
the wooden matches still attached at the base.
In 1817, a French chemist developed his own version of a match by treating a strip of paper with a compound of phosphorus that would catch fire when exposed to air. This paper was sealed in an evacuated glass tube. How he got it in the tube without exposing it to air is more than this creative brain can fathom. A person need only smash the glass so that the paper ignites and then hasten to light their kindling before the fire burned out. He demonstrated his impractical “match” to his university colleagues. My question is, what about the shards of shattered glass?
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Then came apothecary owner John Walker in 1826. While in his backroom stirring chemicals (a non-phosphorus formula) to make a new explosive, he noticed a teardrop shape had formed on the end of the stick. To remove it, he rubbed it on the stone floor. Much to his surprise, it ignited, giving birth to the strike-anywhere friction match in a blaze of glory. Samuel Jones, who attended one of Walker’s demonstrations, saw the commercial potential and set up a match business, calling them Lucifers. In the aftermath of matches being invented, tobacco smoking of all kinds increased significantly.
“Early matches ignited with a fireworks of sparks and threw off an odor so offensive that boxes of them carried a printed warning: ‘If possible, avoid inhaling gas. Persons whose lungs are delicate should by no means use Lucifers.’ In those days, it was the match and not the cigarette that was believed to be hazardous to health.”
Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things, Charles Panati, p109
The repugnant odor of the Lucifers offended the French, so in 1830, Paris chemist Charles Sauria invented a compound with phosphorus that eliminated the offensive smell. However, matches made with it ignited a deadly disease known as phossy jaw—a poisoning of the bones, especially the jaw—that plagued hundreds of factory workers. In 1888, the London matchgirls went on strike because of it. There was enough phosphorus in a pack of matches to commit suicide or murder. Both of which were reported.
Anton von Schrötter, German chemistry professor, created the safety match in 1855. Other matches of the day, could easily be ignited by rodents gnawing on them and started many kitchen fires. The safety match separated the phosphorus head of the match (still poisonous) from the igniting sulfur that they put on the outside of the box.
In 1892, attorney Joshua Pusey invented the matchbook but ignored warnings, by putting the strike area inside with the matches. The Diamond Match Company bought the patent three years later and moved the strike area to the outside. Eventually, matchbooks were used to advertise everything from motels, political candidates, furniture, businesses, Christmas greetings, and anything else someone wanted to advertise. There were even some that were a bit risqué.
The Diamond Match Company introduced the first nonpoisonous match in 1911. It used sesquisulfide of phosphorus, and the company forfeited the patent right as a humanitarian gesture.
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Look
how short these were. Watch out for your fingers.
I always thought the strike strip on the outside of a box or book of matches was nothing more than very fine sandpaper. I wondered why striking a match on any ol’ rough surface wouldn’t light them. Now, I know why.
THE QUILTING CIRCLE SERIES Box Set
Historical Romance Series
By Mary Davis
THE WIDOW’S PLIGHT (Book1) – Will a secret clouding a single mother’s past cost Lily her loved ones?
THE DAUGHTER’S PREDICAMENT (Book2) *SELAH & WRMA Finalist* – As Isabelle’s romance prospects turn in her favor, a family scandal derails her dreams.
THE DAMSEL’S INTENT (Book3) *SELAH Winner* – Nicole heads down the mountain to fetch herself a husband. Can she learn to be enough of a lady to snag the handsome rancher?
THE DÉBUTANTE’S SECRET (Book4) – Complications arise when a fancy French lady steps off the train and into Deputy Montana’s arms.
Mary lives in Colorado with Carolina Dog named Shelby. She has three adult children and three incredibly adorable grandchildren. Find her online at: Books2Read Newsletter Blog FB FB Readers Group Amazon GoodReads BookBub
Resources
Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things, Charles Panati, p108-111
https://www.historyofmatches.com/matches-history/history-of-matches/
https://www.britannica.com/science/match-tinder
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Match
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