River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1879-06-19
How Matches are Made.

A match is a small thing We seldom
pause to think, after it has performed its
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 while
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 damned
and tossed IN its long course through rivers,
over cataracts and rapids, and across great
lakes.
We read that near the middle of the sew
enteenth century it was discovered that
phosphorus would ignite a spint of wood
dipped in sulphur, but this means of obtain
ing fire 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 go0sips are said
to indulge in, for that mist have had its
origin much farther back, but the business
of making those little sstrike-fires'' found
III 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 a small bottle Of
oxide of phosphorus, were regarded by our
forefathers as signs of ''ten-leagued pro-
gress-" Later a compound made of chIor
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
l.. 80 I.
gestion of Prof. Faraday, saltpetre was sub
stituted for the chlorate, and then the era
of friction matches lighted by rubbing was
fairly begun.
But the match of to-day has a story more
interesting than that of the old-fashioned
biatch. 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. II is foated down the water
courses to the lakes, through which it is
towed 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 well through the
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 were passed through a 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 o
day. This number seems immense when
compared with the most that could be made
in the old way--by hand. These splnts are
then taken to the setting machine, and
this rolls them into bundles about
eighteen inches in diameter, every spllnt
aeY tod from ta nv
spaces, so that there may bs no sticking to-
gether after the dipping" In the opera
ton of setting ribbon of coarse stuff,
about an inch ard half wide and an eighth
of an inch thick, is rolled up, the spiints be-
ing laid across the ribbon between each two
courses, leaving about a quarter of an
inch between adjoining splints. From the
''setting" machine the bundles 90 TO the
dipping foo.n. After the ends of TIE
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 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 il 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 brief existence has
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. Prom the machine which |
completed the matches they are taken TO the /
boxers mostly girls and women, who |
place them III 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 sufficient number of matches aud by 4
a peculiar sohuffiing motion arrange them |
evenly; then lis done The little pacsages /
of sleeping fire are taken to another room |
where on each ono is placed q stamp certify /
ing the payment 10 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 sill parts of i
the country and over ssas. all this trouble
over such little things as matches. Yet on
these fire tipped bits of wood millions of
people depend for warmth, cooked i3od and
light. They have become q necessity, and /
the day of flint and steel and finder see B4s
almost as far away in the past as are Il
bow and firo-stick of the Indian.
Some idea of the number OF matches used
in North America during year may be +
gained from the fact that ii is estimated by I
judges that on an average SIX
matches are used every day by each inhab I
liant: this gives grand total Of 81. 100000, 1
IL
ported. Now, this would make a single line
were the matches end to end, more thai |
? $50, eco uailes in length II would take !