Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1882-11-17

G. Il. HEYDE
MATCHES AND THEIR INVENTORS
Some Heavy Information on Liz Int
subject.
[From the Fall Mall Gazette.l
Few people who use half box of matches
II day are disposed to think much on the SUI
jcct of their origin, and rest content with the
fact that they exist Fifty years have not
yet passed since the most elementary match
IN its present form was invented, and in
Vienna, the other day, they celebrated the
tifticth anniversary of their invention by
three Austrians, to whom, of course, that
honor is assigned. In England, in 1889
matches bad not reached their present shape
but had only reached the stage of "luoi-
fers" The modern generation has lost sight
of all these gradual evoutions, and they ate
only known to those who have the misfor-
tune to be survivors of those benighted and
unenlightencd days. In the time of Fox and
Burke, and up to the beginning of the pre-
sent century, the flint and steel and tindrr
stage had not been passed. though it is prob
able that DIR. johnson and Others were more
skilful than we moderns are at this intricate
operation. About the beginning of the cen
tury, however matters began to improve.
and long birthstone matches came into use t.
supply the place of the tinder. These were
pieces of wood about six inches long, tipped
with sulphur, and caught fire easily from
the spark of the flint. 1t would be diff
cult to obtain a specimen of them nowa
days. No museum seems to interest itself
in preserving these little social curosities
and it is only some fifty years hence thai
they will be looked upon as such, and sought
after in some technical exhibition OF
the match trade. 1t was not however, till
1895 that matters began to improve, when an
elaborate apparatus called the "Eupyfion'
came into use. This consisted of an open
bottle containing sulphuric acid, soaked in
librous asbestos, and the matches, which were
about two inches long and sold at one shill-
Ing box, were tipped with chemical com
binaton, of which chloratc of potash was
the principal ingredient. On putting the
match to the bottle and rapidly Withdrawing
it, flame was produced, but as the acid was
inconvcniert and The matches liable to be
spoiled by damp, the Eupyrion, being shown
not to be the littest, did not survive. Many
inventions more ingenious than useful were
succcssivcly tried-the ''pyrophorus," the
pneumatic Undertook ard the hydrogen lamp
of Doberemer-but it WAS not till 1882 that
the first sign of Il friction match was evolved,
and was called "a lucfcr' by that joking
generation. Lucisers were substantially the
present match pulled through piece of
sandpaper. The remembrance of such a con-
trivance is calculated to make us think less
than we do Of that dull time. But the coun-
try was waking up, and the congrevc, which
is The match of to-day, soon followed the
Reform Bill. Whether the congrcvc was
called after the rocket of that name is doubt
ful point. There is stcrv If ITS in
ventor which shows, if true, the value of al
tcnton on the part of schooboys and might
be put up in all board schools. The real in
ventor, it is said-a village scho1lmaser-
explained it TO his boys at school, and one
more intelligent talked of it to bis sill more
intelligent parent, who was II chemist, and
who turned it to material advantage. BE
that as it may this was the same rs the
match OF to-day and it has since undergone
few Improvements. except one changing it
from silent to a noisy match. The silent
match, which is so affected by burglars, and
is a necessary accompaniment TO list slippers,
consists in the omission of chlOratc of potash
in the composition which tips it, and which
is the cause of the cracking noise which is
liable to awaken the intended victim. The
last great invention was the safety match,
which was patented by Bryant and May in
1856.
1t would require, perhaps, the intellect of a
Babbage to wrcstle with the statistics Of
matches. That 60 900, 900 are burned every
day in Europe seems below the mark Some
firms, such MS Messrs. Dixon, ut Manchester,
turn out 8, 600 900 Il day. and many in Lon
don 1000, 900 or 100000. The consump.
ton of phosphorus for the purpose in Eng
land and France shows that about 250, ,00O,-
600, 900 year are turned out in these two coun-
trim ,l1A In, A rl,.rn in, mo-.
there is "a tax on matches, by winch great
grist is thus brought to the mill, the stamps
slow an outturn of about 400, 600, 900, 600, so
at present matchmaking is not the speciality
of America, though the tax yields about
200, COO year to the revenue. There Is n
great protest, however, against this tax In
the United States, which amounts to 15d.
per box, though not from the same absurdly
sentimental reasons that were here urged in
1870 Its opponents say that it has become
a government monopoly, AND that there Is as
much wire-pulling on the subject as there
was IN democracy" on the part Of Mr. Rad
ctfe for the Ocean steamship company.
The industry is open to all, no doubt but the
government, by allowing ten per cent rednc
lion on stamps bought in large quantities
and taking bonds Tor payment nnd six
months credit, enable the big man to trade
On SoNcinuicht cupi'a' tuis 'hcy a'itEc nus
driven all competition out of ihc field No
one, they say, eau stand against the Diamond
Match company, which is powerful in Con-
gress. In France. too, the monopoly inn
posed by the law of September 4, 1871, is al
present groancd at, and is the subject OF half
the jokes in the French comic papers but
no one doubts lis icasonabencss If the
matches were good. Four matches to II
cigarette is, MS every one knows, too often Il
necessity in France but there the manufac-
ture is also tn this hands of II private COM
pany, and the revenue is not collected ly
stamps