, 1878-04-12
How Matches are Made.

match is a small thing. We seldom
e nause TO think, after it has performed l!s
(; mission, and we have careIe.s!y thrown !,
t nwav that it has history of its own, ana
, thnt like some more pretentious things,
g is Journey from the forest TO the match
safe is full Of changes.
Tb. match of to-day has a story far
, more interesting than that OF tne oid'
fashioned match. AS we have said, much
of rho timber used in the manufacture
comes from the immense tracts OF forests
in the Hudson Bay Territory. It's float
ed down the water-cOurses to the lakes,
through which it is towed in great log
RATS. These RATS are divided; some parts
are pulled through the canals, and some
by other means are taken TO market.
When well Though the seasoning pro-
cess, which occupies from one to two
years, the pine is cut up into blocks twice
as long as u match, and about eight inches
wide by two inches thick. These blocks
are passed through machine which cuts
them up into "splints," round or square,
of Just the thickness Of match, but twice
| its length. This machine is capable, as
we are told, Of making about 100000
splints in day. This number seems i'm.
mense when compared with the most that
could be made in the old way-by hand.
The spints are then taken to the "settiug"
machine, and this rolls them into bundles
about eighteen inches in diameter, every
splint separated from its neighbors by
little spaces, so that there may be no
sticking together after the "dipping."
In the operation of Setting" a ribbon of
coarse stuff about an inch and half
wide, and an eighth of an inch thick, is
rolled up, the splints being laid across the
ribbon between each two courses, leaving
about quarter of an inch between ad-
joining splints. From the setting
machine the bundles 60 to the "dipping''
room.
| After the ends Of the splints have been
| pounded down to make them even, the
bundles are dipped-both euds-into the
molten sulphur and then into the phos-
phorus solution, which is spread over a
large iron plate. Next they are hung in
a frame to dry. When dried they are
placed in a machine which, as it unrolls
the ribbon, cuts the sticks in two acros:
the middle, thus making two complete
matches of each splint.
The match is made. The towering pine
which listened to the whisper of the soutl
wind and swayed in the cold northern
blast, has been so divided that we car
take it bit by bit and lightly twirl it be-
tween two fingers. But what it has los,
in size it has gained in use. The little
flame it carries, and which looks so harm.
less, flashing into brief existence, has 8
latent power more terrible than the whirl
wind which perhaps sent the tall pine.
tree crashing to the ground.
But the story is not yet closed. From
J the machine which completed the matche
they are taken to the "boxers"-mostIy
girls and women-who place them in lit
tie boxes. The speed with which this i.
done is surprising. With one hand they
pick up an empty case and remove the
, cover, while with the other they sieze jus
a sufficient number of matches, and by
peculiar shutfling motion arrange them
evenly, then-'tis done
The little packages Of sleeping fire arc
taken to another room, where on each one
is placed stamp certifying the payment
to the government of one cent. revenue
tax. Equipped with these passes the
boxes are placed in larger ones, and these
again in wooden cases, which are to be
shipped to all parts of the country, and
over seas.
All this trouble over such little thing:
as matches. Yet on these iire.tippei bits
of wood millions of people depend fol
warmth, cooked food, and light. They
have become necessity, ana the day OF
flint, steel and tnder seem almost as ia,
away in the past as are the bow and fire.
stick of the Indian.
How apt to our subject is that almost
worn-out Latin phrase, "muItupn in parco
much in littlel Much labor, much
skill, and much usefulness, all in little
piece of wood scarcely one eighth of an
inch through, and about two iDches long
st. NicholOS.
l