The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1874-03-26
The Matches We Use.
How, and of What They are Made


The sticks of which matches are
made are brought from Canada, where
the making of them is separate busi-
ness. They are made by machinery
which drives block of wood upon a
steel die that has numerous small holes
in it. The wood is forced through these
holes in.the rounded form of the match
sticks. They are twice the length of
an ordinary match, and come packed in
boxes. The first thing to be done with
the sticks is to arrange them SO that
large numbers can be handled at once
in dipping the ends in the mixtures
that cause them to light readily. If the
sticks were simply tied together in bun
dies, they would be too close together,
and the composition would be all in one
mass upon their ends, SO machine had
to be invented which should make them
into rolls and still keep the sticks lit
tie distance apart. This machine did
its work with wonderful rapidity and
accuracy the sticks were applied to
the machine which made them into
large rolls, and with belt of cloth be-
tween the layers of sticks this cloth
keeps the sticks just little distance
apart. When the bundle is large
enough, some two feet across, it is
bound securely and then taken to anoth-
er room. The composition upon the ends
of matches does not burn long enough
to set fire to the stick, and before that
is applied it is necessary to prepare the
wood with something that will take fire
readily and burn long enough to set fire
to it. For the cheaper matches sulphur
Ic h,,f 20 uhot nI nr1n
matches they use paraffine, which burns
without any unpleasant odor. The ma
terial is melted in q large vessel, and
the roll of sticks so suspended that'the
ends can be evenly and slightly dipped
in the melted sulphur. Both ends are
dipped, and they are then ready to re-
ceive the composition that takes fire
when the match is rubbed. The prin-
cipal thing in the composition is phos-
phorous. The PHOSPHORUS is mixed
with dissolved glue, and whiting or
some other powder to make a paste,
and coloring stuff is added. The whole,
after being stirred over fire is put
into machine where it is more thor
oughly mixed. 1t is very important
that the composition be we'll mixed. as
otherwise some matches will get more,
and some less phosphorus than they
ought to have, and will go off too easily,
or with more difficulty than they should.
After it is well mixed the sticks that
have had their ends covered with sui
phur or paraffine are dipped in it in
the same manner as at the first dipping,
only care is required to have but a
small quantity of the mixture just at
the very tips. The next step is to dry
the matches, and they are taken to a
room where they are placed upon racks;
here there is fan rapidly revolving, SO
as to constantly change the air and
gradually dry the composition upon the
ends of the matches. They are not al
lowed to become so dry that they will
readily take fire, as they have still to go
through another machine, and if they
were perfectly dry, disagreeable acci-
dents might happen. Thus far the
matches are in pairs, or "double-head-
ers'-twice the length of one-and they
have to be cut apart. For this they are
put into a cutting machine, which un-
rolls the bundle and carries the sticks
over knife which rapidly cuts them in
equal parts, and the now complete
matches slide into boxes on each side
of the machine. All that remains to be
done is to pack them in the proper
boxes