The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1878-03-21
How Matches are Made.

How Matches are Made.
A match is a small thing. We sell
dom pause to think, after it has per-
formed its mission, and we have care
lessly thrown it away, that it has his
tory of its own, and that, like some 9TH
er pretentious things, its journey from
the forest to the match-safe is full of
changes.
The match of to-day has story far
more interesting than the old-fashioned
match. AS we have said, much of the
timber used in the manufacture comes
from the immense tracts of forest in the
Hudson Bay Territory. 1t is floated
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 mar
ket. When we'll through the seasoning
process, which occupies from one to
two years, the pine is cut up into blocks
twice as long as match, and about
eight inches wide by two inches thick.
These blocks are passed through ma
| chine which cuts them up into "splints, !"
roun1 or square, of just the thickness of
match, but twice its length. This ma
chine is capable, we are told, of max
ing about 100000 splints
in day. This number seems
immense when compared with the most
that could be made in the old way--by
hand The splints are then taken to
the sc setting" machine, and this rolls
them in buadles about Is inches in di-
ameter, every splint separated from its
neighbors by little spaces, so that there
may be no sticking together after the
dipping" In the operation of "set-
ting" a ribbon of coarse stuff about an
inch and a 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 quar-
ter Of an inch between adjoining splints.
From the "setting" machine the bun
dies go to the " dipping'' room
After the ends of the splints have been
pounded down to make them even, the
bundles are dipped-both ends-into
the molten sulphur and then into the
phosphorus solution, which is spread
over large iron plate. Next they are
hung in a frame to dry. When dried
they are placed in machine which, as
it unrolls the ribbon, cuts the sticks in
two across the middle, thus making two
complete matches of each splint.
| The match is made. The towering
pine which listened to the whisper Of
the south wind and swayed in the cold
northern blast, has been so divided that
we can take it bit by bit and lightly
twirl it between two fingers. But what
it has lost in size it has gained in use
The little flame it carries, and which
looks so harmless, flashing into briei
existence, has latent power more ter.
rible than the whirlwind which perhaps
sent the tall pine tree crashing to the
ground
But the story is not yet closed. From
the machine which completed the
matches they were taken to the :" box
efs"-mostly girls and women-whc
place them in little boxes. The speed
with which this is done is surprising
with one hand they pick up an empty
case and remove the cover, while will
the other they seize just a sufficient
number Of matches, and by peculiar
shuffiing motion arrange them evenly
then-'tis done.
The little packages of sleeping fire are
taken to another room, where on eacl
one is placed stamp certifying the pay
ment 10 the Government of one cen
revenue tax. Equipped with thes,
passes the boxes are placed in largel
ones, and these again in wooden eases
which are to be shipped to all parts o
the country, and over seas.
All this trouble over such little THING
as matches! Yet on these fire-tippet
bits of wood millions of people depen,
Tor warmth, cooked food and light
They have become necessity, and tn,
day OF flint, steel and finder seems al
most as far away in the past as are tn,
bow and fire-stick of the Indian.
How apt to our subject is that almos
worn-out Latin phrase, ''multup i,
parro"-much in little! Much labor
much skill, and much usefulness. all il
little piece of wood scarcely one eight
OF an inch through and about two niche
long!-H. Nicholas for March.
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