Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1882-11-07
Matches and Their Inventors.

Few people who use half 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 anniversary of their
invention by three Austrians. to whom, of
course, that honor. is assigned In England i'm
1882, nlatcheshad notreached their present shape
but had only reached the stage of 'ucifers." The
modern generation has lost sight of all these grad
ual evolutions, andthey are only known to those
who have the misfortune to be survivors of those
benighted and unelightened days. In the time
| Of Fox and Burke. and up to the beginning of the
| present century, the flint and steel and finder
stage mad not been passed. though it is proba-
! BILE that DR.. johnson and others were more skill
full than we mOderns are at this intricate opera
| ton, About the beginning OF the century, how
ever, matters began to improve, and long brim-
| stone matches came into use to supply the
place, of the finder. These were, pieces of
wood about six inches long. tipped with sui
phur, and caught fire easily from the spark
of the flint. 1t would be difficult to obtain
specimen Of them nowadays, No museum
seems to interest itself In preserving these
little social cufiOsites: ana 1t is only some fifty
years hence that they will be looked upon as
such, and sought after in some technical exhibit
| ton 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 consisted of an open bottle
! containing sulphurc acid. soaked in f1brOus
| asbestos. and the matches, which were about
two inches long and sold at one shilling box,
were tipped with chemical combination Ofwhich
chlorate of potash was the principal ingre-
dent. On putting the match into the bottle
and rapidly withdrawing it, flame was pro-
duced. but as the acid was announcement and the
matches liable to be spoiled by damp. the Eupy-
rion, being shown not to be the fttest, did not
| survive. Many inventions more ingenious than
useful were successfully tried-the 'pyropho-
rus, the pneumatic Undertook. and the hydro
gen lamp of DOberemer-but it was not till
1882 that the first sign of friction match was
evolved. and was called "a lucifer' by that
joking generation. Lucifers were substantially
the present match pulled through a 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 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 in
ventor which shows if true, the value of at
tention on the part of schoOlboys, and might be
put up in all board schools The real inventor
1t is saba village schOOmaster-eXplained it
to his boys at school, and one more intelligent
talked Of it to his still more intelligent parent,
who was chemist, and who turned it to mate
rial advantage. Be that as it may. this was the
same as the match of to-day; and it has since
undergone few improvements. except one chang
IL
match. which is so affected by burglars, and is
necessary accompaniment to list slippers con-
ssts in the omission of chlorate of potash 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 statistics of matches.
That 60 600 600 are burned every day In Europe
| seems below the mark. Some firms, such as
MeSsrs. Dixon, at Manchester, turn out g. 600 900
day, and many in London 1900, 900 or 600 600.
The consumption of phosphorus for the purpose
| in England and France shows that about $50
O00, 0O0, 600 a year are turned out in these two
countries alone. In America, where, as In France,
there is tax on matches by which great grist is
thus brought to the mill, the stamps show an out
turn of about 400 600 co., SO at present match
making is not the specially of America, though
the tax yields about f7O0. 900 year to the reve-
nue.. There is great protest, however, against
this tax In the United States, which amounts to
11ad. per box. though not from the same absurdly
sentimental reasons that were here urged In
1870 It's opponents say that it has become q
Government monopoly. and that there is as
much wirepulling on the subject as there was in
Democracy" on the part of Mr.. Radcliffe for
the Ocean Steamship Company. The industry
is open to ALL no doubt, but the Government,
by allowing ten per cent. reduction on stamps
bought In large quantities and taking bonds for
payment and six months credit, enable the big
man to trade on Government capital; this they
allege has driven all competition out of the
field. No one, they say, can stand against the
Diamond Match Company, which is powerful in
Congress. In France. too, the monopoly i'm
posed by the law Of September 4, 1871, is at
present groaned at. and is the subject of half
the jokes in the French comic papers; but no
one doubts its reasonableness II the matches
i were good. Four matches to a cigarette Is, as
every one knows, too often q necessity In
France; but there the manufacture IL also in the
hands of private company. and the revenue Is