Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1882-11-17
English Matches.


Few people who use half a box Of
matches day are disposed TO think much
on the subject 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 fiftieth an-
niversary of their invention by three
Austrians to whom, of course, that honor
is assigned. In England, in 1882,
matches had not reached their present
shape. but had only reached the stage Of
"lucifcrs." The modern generation has
lost sight OF all the gradual evolutions,
and they are only known TO those who
have the misfortune to be survivors Of
those benighted and unenlightened days.
In the time of Fox and Burke, and up to
the beginning Of the present century, the
flint and steel and tinder stage had not
been passed, though it is probable that
DIR. johnson and others were more skill
full than we moderns are at this intricate
operation. About the beginning of the
century, however, matters began to i'm
prove, and long birthstone matches came
into use to 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 difficult to obtain a
specimen of them nowadays. No museum
seems to interest itself in preserving
these little social curiosities; and it Is
only some fifty years hence that they
will be looked upon as such, and sought
after in some technical exhibition of the
match trade. 1t was not, however, till
1925 that matters began to improve,
when an elaborate apparatus called the
Eupyrion" came into use. This con-
sisted of an open bottle containing sui
phuric acid, soaked in fibrous asbestos,
and the matches, which were about two
inches long and sold at one shilling a
box, were tipped with chemical COM
bination, of which chlorate of potash was
the principal Ingredient. On putting
the match into the bottle and rapidly
withdrawing it flame was produced,
but as the acid was inconvenient and the
matches liable to be spoiled by damp, the
Eupyrion being shown not to be the
fittest did not survive.
Many inventions more ingenious than
useful were successfully tried; the
''pyrophorous," the pneumatic tinder-
box, and the hydrogen lamp of Dober-
elmer; but it was not till 1882 that the
first sign of q friction match was evolved
and was called "alucifer" by the joking
generation. Lucifers were substantially
the present match pulled through piece
of sand-paper. The remembrance of
such contrivance is calculated to make
us think less than we do of that dull time.
But the country was waking up, and the
congreve, which is the match of to-day,
soon followed the reform bill. Whether
the congreve was called after the rocket
| of that name is doubtful point. There
| is story of its inventor which shows, if
| true, the value of attention on the part
of schoolboys, and might be put up in
all b ,ard schools. The real inventor, it
is said-a village choolmaster-ex-
plailed it to his boys at school. and one
more intelligent talked of it to his still
! more intelligent parent, who was a
chemist, and who turned it to material
advantage. Be that as it may, this was
the same as the match of to-day; and it
has since undergone few Improvements.
a noisy match. The silent match, which
is SO affected by burglars, and is neces-
sary accompaniment to list slippers, con-
blSlS III tuc VI vi pOtdoh
in the composition which tips it, and
which is the cause of the cracking noise
which is liable to awake 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 Babbage to wrestle with the statis-
tics of matches. That 60,000,000 are
burned every day in Europe seems below
the mark. Some firms turn out 5000, COO
day, and many in London 100000 or
100000. The consumption of phos-
phorus for the purpose in England and
France shows that about 25o,0O0 million
year are turned out in these two coun-
tries alone. In America, where, as in
France, there is tax on matches, by
which grist is thus brought to the mill,
the stamps show an outturn of about
10000 million, so at present match
making is not the specially of America,
though the tax yields about 100000 a
year to the revenue.-PaH Mall Gazette
|