The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1878-03-13
How Matches are Made,

A match ID q small thing. We seldom
pause to think, after it has performed
its mission, and we have carelessly
thrown it away, that it has a history OF
its own, and that, like. some more pre-
tentio1ls things, its journey from the
forest to the match-safe is full of
changes.
The match of to-day has a story far
more interesting than that of the old
fashioned match. AS we have said,
much of the timber used in the manu-.
facture comes from the immense tracts
of forest in the Hudson Bay territory,
It is foated down the water-courses to
the lakes, through which it is towed in
great log.rafts. These RATS are divided =;
some parts are pulled through the
canals, and some by other means are
taken to market. When well through
fhe seasoning process, which occupies
from one to two years, the pine is cut
up into blocks twice as long as a match,
and about eight inches wide by two
inches thick. These blocks are passed
through a machine which cuts them up
into "splints," round or square, of just
the thickness of e match, but twice it's
length. This machine is capable, as We
are told, of making about 1000, 600
splints in a 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 setting" 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" o 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 be-
tween each two courses, leaving about a
quarter of an inch between adjoining
splints. From the I" setting machine
the bundles go to the clipping 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 q large iron plate. Next they are
hung in q frame to dry. When dried
they are placed in a 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
twirI it between two fingers. But what
it has lost in size it has gained in use.
The little fame it carries, and which
looks so harmless, flashing into brief ex-
istence, has {. latent power more terri
BILE than the whirlwind which perhaps
sent the tall pine-tree crushing to the
ground.
But the story is not yet closed. From
the machine which completed the
matches they are taken to the "boxer"
mostly girls and women-who 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 with the
other they seize just q sufficient num-
Der of matches, and by q peculiar shum-
ing motion arrange them evenly, then
it's done!
The little packages of sleeping fire
are taken to another room, where on
each one is placed a stamp certifying
the payment to the government Of a one
cent 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 things
as matches Yet on these ire-tipped bits
of wood millions Of people depend for
warmth, cooked food and light. They
have become a necessity, and the day Of
flint, steel and finder seems almost as
far away in the past as are the bow and
fre-stick of the Indian.
How apt to our subject is that almost
WORKOUT Latin phrase. multum IN
parvo,"-much in little! Much labor,
much skill, and much usefulness, all in
a little piece of wood scarcely one
eighth of an inch through and about
two inches long !"-&. Nicholas Maga-
zine.