Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1892-07-08
How Matches Are Made.

Matchmaking Is one OF the prettl-
est and most interesting Of industries
imaginable. The following is birds
eye view Of it, as carried on in the
leading factory in London-which is
to say. in the world
To begin with wooden matches.
They are of two 'lucifers" and
"safeties;" but as the process OF man
ufacture is almost identical, we will
confins ourselves to the lucifers. The
wood, Canadian pine, comes 10 the
factory ready split up into little sticks
or splints, as they are called-of the
same size as Il match, but double the
length. The first process consists in
preparing these splints for dipping in
the PHOSPHORUS paste. Imagine a
very large, airy room, with several
rows Of stands or tables running from
end to end. On each stand is small
machine driven by steam say 250 ma
chimes in all-and to every two ma
chimes match girl. All she has TO do
is to feed the two machines alternate
", first one and then the other. She
takes handful of splints and puts
them into the feeder, exactly as you
put coffee into coffee mill. They
pass through and are bound together
in most ingenious way by a strap,
so as 10 form u sort Of wheel or drum
about the size and shape Of large
flat cheese. The splints, it must be
understood, lie across, SO that their
projecting ends represent the sides OF
the drum, and each one is separate.
1t takes only few minutes to put to-
gether 5, 900 or 5000 in this way, and
as soon as they are ready the machine
stops automatically. The whole bun
die is then removed and carried to the
dipping place. Here the PHOSPHORUS
composition is ladled out of a vessel
and spread on slab. By simply lay
ing the wheel down flat on the slab
every single splint of which it is made
up receives a dab of PHOSPHORUS at
one end, and by turning it over, the
other end is similarly treated. This
work is done entirely by men, and
takes place in shed with an open
roof, so as to allow very free ventila-
ton. Each splint has now been con
verted into a double match with a
head at both ends; we have, in fact,
got a bundle containing10, ,000matches.
For clearness' sake some details have
been omitted but it will be seen that
the preparation Of 10000 matches on
ly takes few minutes, all told.
After dipping, the bundle is dried in
a hot chamber and then unrolled,
which is done very prettily by anoth-
er machine. The end Of the strap
binding the lot together is caught
and drawn between two rollers, and
as it goes the wheel unwinds and the
matches come off in "a perfect show
er. 1t is all done in a moment. One
more operation remains, and it is the
most interesting of all. The matches,
as has been said, are so far double.
They have to be cut in half and packed
in boxes. This is done by the girls
with astounding rapidity. Each one
stands at a table on her left are
lot of empty boxes half open; on her
right a pile of double matches, and
between the two n lever knife like
those used for cutting tobacco. She
takes a handful of matches in her
right hand, and the extraordinary
thing is that she always picks up ex-
actly the right number to fill a box,
never varying by more than one or
two. She puts them under the knife,
cuts the bundle in two, and fills two
boxes with them in the twinkling OF
an eve the swiftness and accuracy OF
her motions are indescribable. The
whole performance does not take
more than five or six seconds. And it
is not one woman only. Here are
rows upon rows Of them throughout
vast building, all doing the same thing
with equal or almost equal proticien-
cy. In another department an in
stance of still greater dexterity may
be observed. Every one knows the
wrappers of transparent paper in
which the safety match boxes are
commonly enveloped, and look at
them will show that they are folded
several times in different directions.
This folding is done by women, like
flash of lightning or conjuror's card
trick. The eye fails to follow the
movement of their hands. There is
only one thing more nimble than a
woman's hand, and that is her tongue.