The record-union., 1895-03-07
MAKING MATCHES.
Not Those Said to be Made in
Heaven.
The Old-Fashioned Locofocos'' o.
Our Grandfathers' Days aud the
Matches of Our Time.


thing which looked like wooden comb.
The man with the cigar glanced at the
piece of slivered wood, and said: .sAn-
other patent match. eh ?' and breaking
one Of the matches off, struck 1t on his
boot heel.
The head broke, and he detached an
other splinter. He handled this match
more tenderly, but he failed to get light.
Here" said his friend, 81 forgot to
give you the rest of it'; and he handed
him piece of folded, sandpaper. When
the third match was struck on the rough
surface OF the paper it went off with a
loud report, and the fumes OF the sulphur
choked the man with the cigar
BLAMED poor patent" he muttered.
throwing his cigar away in disgust, for
the first puff had filled the cigar with
suphurous fumes. His friend laughed
and replied: THAT'S locofoco, the first
OF the friction machines; the old-fash-
L have dozen combs left from the lot
which L found in our old attic down East
lsst SUMNER
81 thought locofocos were the early
Democrats" said the other man.
80 they were, and it was such matches
as those which gave them their name.
Back in 1885, | believe il was, the New
York Wings called meeting. The
Democrats wanted TO run the affair, so
they blew out the candles. The Wings
left, taking the candles with them, so the
Democrats lighted locofocos and went on
with the meeting, and Tor many years
after were called locofocos. That is the
story my granddaddy told Inc when
found the lucifers."
The locOtoco matches were brought over
from Europe to America between 1925 and
1880. The Yankees gave them that name,
for they were called ''congreaves'' on the
other side OF the water, after the inventor
OF the Congreave rocket. When they
were introduced people talked of them as
the greatest invention of the age, and
thought there could be no improvement
on them. With each comb of lucifers a
piece OF sandpaper was used, and the
Americans at once proceeded to show
that the lucfer could be improved by
putting them in a box and pasting sand
coated with sulphur and tipped with
mixture of suiphide OF antimony,
chloride OF potash and adhesive gum. 1t
was the offspring of the sulphur-tipped
splints, which were lighted from f1lnt,
steel and tinder- box, and the immediate
predecessor OF the present phosphorus
match.
The phosphorus friction match was in
troduced commercially in 1888 little more
thon sixty years ago, made from first to
last by hand, subJecting the workmen to
horrible bone diseases from the phos-
phOric vapors, and was considered too
expensive for the common people to use.
To-day machlners turns out matches SO
rapidly that one English factory produces
annually over $4,000, ,0O0.0O0 matches, OF
which over 5,UOO,OO0,O00 are safety
matches.
One of the most interesting exhibits
shown in Machinery Hall at the Worlds
Fair was model matchmaking factory,
in the German section, writes match ex-
pert In the Chicago Record. Here all the
machinery required TO make matches, ex-
cept the sawnIll for cutting ont the blocks
OF wood from which the spluters are
made, was shown, and one splint-cutting
machine bad a capacity OF $4,000, ,0OO
splints day. The Swedish, German,
English and American processes are alike
in the main features, but all vary more
or less in the character OF the labor-sav-
ing machinery, and, according to the
match makers, each factory has its own
private secret mixture for the tips. For
Instance, In one factory the spiints, the
wooden part OF the match, are cut by
rapidly revolving knives In another
factory the block of wood is pressed end
wise through steel plate perforated with
holes, and the wood, pressed against the
plate by steam or hydraulic power is
spllntered IN coming through the holes.
Yellow pine, white pine, aspen and
poplar are among the woods used for
making matches. In making matches a
block of wood, after being soaked with
water, is placed in a lathe-like tool. and
thin veneer or continuous shaving the
thickness of a match is peeled of by a
cutting tool. This veneer varies in width,
according to the way in which the
matches are made. In some factories the
veneer IS as wide as the length of seven
matches, in others the veneer is only the
width of two match lengths. Some ma
chimes slice up the veneer into the proper
length for match as it is cut from the
block, and others use the full width OF
the veneer for the splinting machine.
After the wooden band or veneer is made
it is fed into chopping machine, which
chops oil the match splints 200 to 800 at a
time.
The matches are placed in revolving
drums and dried, and then put through
sleeves, which clean the match splints of
sliyers, dirt and dust, and at the same
time arrange them evenly in parallel
order. When this is done the splints are
ready to be dipped.
In dipping the matches in the igniting
compounds 1t IS necessary that the splints
should be separated one from another for
otherwise the igniting mixture would
fasten all the splints together, making
one large head, with two thousand splints.
The matches are placed in frames be-
tween lathes, which are screwed together
so as to hold the splints. The splints are
hrst led into machine, which automat-
ically arraDges them between the lathes.
leaves small space between each splint,
Each dipping frame will hold from two
thousand to three thousand splints. and
one man can dip about one million
matches day. After the Gplints have been
fastened IN the dipping frames they are
heated so that they will readily absorb
the! parat1ine, for the splints are first
dipped in melted paraffine before receiv-
ing the heads. After being coated in the
paraffine bath, the matches are dipped in
the pan containing the igniting mixture.
Sometimes this mixture is placed on the
splints by flexible belt, which dips into
the mixture and then rubs up against the
matches.
The matches are dried until the igniting
composition hardens and are then packed
in boxes. The wooden boxes in which
some matches come are made OF the same
wood of which the matches are made A
veneer is shaved from a block of wood,
and this veneer is bent by machinery into
the boxes.
Phosphorus is the chief ingredient of
the igniting composition and chlorate OF
potash, red lead, nitrate of lead. bichro-
mate OF potash and peroxide of manpan-
ese are other materials which enter into
the making of matches. The safety
matches, which viii not light until
rubbed upon surface covered with a
special preparation, are made by various
secret processes, but bichromate of not
ash and sulphide of antimony enter into
be mixture of the tips and amphorus or