The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1879-06-18
How Matches are Made.

"A A4otOA ~ n Suldll COluG. we S6lOOm
pause to think, after it has performed it's
MISSION and we have carelessly thrown it
away, that it has history of its own, and
that, like some more pretentious things. its
journey from the forest to the match safe
is full of changes. This little bit of white
pine lying before me came from the North,
in the Hudson bay territory, or perhaps
from the great silent forests about Lake
Superior, and has been rushed and jammed
and tossed IN its long course through rivers,
over cataracts and rapids, and across great
lakes. q,
We read that near the middle of the sew
enteenth century it was discovered that
phosphorus would ignite splint of wood
dipped in sulphur, but this means of obtain
ing tire was not in common use until nearly
$50 years later. This then appears to have
been the beginning of match making. Not
that kind which some old gossips are said
to indulge in, for that must have had its
origin much farther back, but the business
of making those little fstrike- fires" found
in every store, in their familiar boxes, with
red and blue and yellow labels. The matches
of fifty years ago were very clumsy affairs
compared with the "parlor'' and "safety''
matches of to-day; but they were great
improvements upon the first in use. Those
small sticks dipped in melted sulphur and
sold in tin box with small bottle of
oxide OF phosphorus, were regarded by our
forefathers as signs of ''ten-leagued pro-
gress." Later compound made of ch]or-
ate of potash and sulphur was used on the
splints. This ignited upon being dipped
IN sulphuric acid. In 1929 an English
chemist discovered that matches on which
had been placed chlorate of potash could be
ignited by friction. Afterward, at the sup-
gestion of Prof. Faraday, saltpetre was SUBJ
stituted for the chlorate, and then the era
of friction matches lighted by rubbing was
fairly begun.
But the match of to-day has story more
interesting than that of the old-fashioned
match. AS we have said, much of the tim
Der used in the manufacture comes from the
immense tracts of forests in the Hudson
bay territory. It il floated down the water
courses to the lakes, through which it is
lowed in great long RATS. These RATS are
divided; some parts are pulled through the
canals, and some by other means are taken
to the market. 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 were passed through machine which
cuts them into "splints," round or square, of
just the thickness of a match, but twice its
length. The machine is capable, as we are
told, of making about 100000 splints a
day. This number seems immense when
compared with the most that could be made
in the old way-by hand. These splints are
then taken to the Setting machine. and
this rolls them into bundles about
! oSohfaor Srohoo in, ~
separated from its neighbor by little
spaces, 80 that there may be no sticking to-
gether after the t'dipping.'' In the opera
ton of setting ribbon of coarse stuff,
about an inch and half wide and an eighth
of an inch thick, is rolled up, the splints be-
ing laid across the ribbon between each two
courses, leaving about . quarter of an
inch between adjoining splints. From the
setting machine the bundles 60 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 in
to the phosphorus solution, which is spread
over large iron plate. Next they are hung
in frame to dry. When dried thew 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 60 divided that
We can take it bit BY bit and lightly
twirl it between two fingers. But what it
has lost in aize it has gained in use. The
little fame it carries, and which looks 90
harmless, flashing into brief existence. has
latent power more terrible than the whirl