The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1895-02-07

"striking a Light"--DiTerent Contriv-
ances That Preceded the Lucifer.
Few people waste thought about a
match Merely a little, commonplace,
everyday trine of q thing made of wood
or wax, tipped with latent flame, where
with they kindlc fires and light the sooth-
ing pipe or comforting cigar. 1t does its
humble work and is cuntcmptuously cast
aside. And yet the match is an evolution
representative OF much human patience,
ingenuity and skill and is one of the best
gifts sought out and elaborated by human
genius for the bencfaction of the race.
When promcthcus stole the sacred fire
from Olympus, it wasn't in the form Of a
luCifcr match that he did so, or his pun
ishmCnt from Jovo might have been even
more terrible than it was, because its use
fulnoss to upstart man would have been
so much more formidable. Long ages had
TO pass, and tho nineteenth century after
Christ be well on its way before the match
as we see it today was even thought of.
AS an industry the manufacture Of
matches has very imposing proportions.
There is something impressive about fig.
ures to the average mind and few sta
tistiCs will carry weight.
JuSl Jake Olb Ol lIc luIRCSJ i4llEllSll INC
tories for example. Ordinary wooden
matches are turned out of hat establish.
ment yearly at the rate of 2,5OO, 600 gross
boxes. Each box contains from 90 to 100
individuals. If any one has the curiosity
to figure out what this amounts TO, he
will find it means a great total of SO, OOO
O0O, 600 Of these wooden splinters, each
one of which is tiny magazine of fire
nd in1 Of ,fs,h TO y,,ya TOT
The same factory produces safety
matches to the amount of about one
seventh of the ordinary matches-i. e.,
about 1000, 900, 900 in the year 1t also
produces about 90, 600 gross boxes Of vesu-
vians, while wax vestas are poured out at
the rate of 80, OOO,OOO a day, or 10000,
900, 900 annually.
This is all very imposing and is cnlcu-
lated to inspire respect for the match.
For the vcstus produced by that one facto-
ry three tons of wax are used every work
ing day, meaning a total Of some $50 tons
in the year. Cotton to the amount of $50
tons is also annually required to produce
these little effects. The same factory s
annual consumption of vltreous phUs.
phorus is 80 tons or more, while the num-
Der Of persons employed is in the neigh
borhood of 5000. Now, in the neighbor.
hood Of London alone there are about a
dozen factories Of varying size, so that
from facts like these one can begin to
have faint conception of what the
matchmaking of the world means. The
total annual value of English match man
ufacture has been estimated at from E1,-
500, 900 to &2, 600, 0OO and England is not
the greatest producer Of matches.
The man who Rrumbles because be
must rise betimCs OF q cold, frosty morn
ing and light fire for the household
while II Is yet dark should thank his stars
that, unlike the ancient Roman similarly
situated, he docs not need to spend his
strength rubbing together two pieces Of
hard wood until the spark comes. He has
no such trouble in starting a fire as many
a better man than he among his forbcars
has had with flint and steel. For 400
years, from the time 1t made its appear
ance during the fourteenth century, the
clumsy and i'll smelling tinder box, with
its assortment Of steel, flint and sulphur
tipped "spunks," was the mainstay of thy
forefathers when they wanted TO start a
fire. II was the discovery of phosphorus
in 1878 by Brand Of Hamburg which first
set human ingenuity at work searching
for Improvement on the old order OF
things. The first efforts, though not crop
ing in the dark altogether, were far
enough from successful Phosphorus was
soon round to be both inconycnient and
dangerous. One of the earliest schemes
for its utilization was to rub piece Of 1t
between two folds Of coarse paper and al.
low the spark Of fire so produced to fall
upon a "spunk." Tho long and the last
of such clumsy methods was that phos-
phorus fell into disuse. 1t was another
chemical discovery about the beginning
of the present century that gave an i'm
petus to invention and finally led to the
match as 1t is today. Bcrthollet was the
chemist, and the discovery was known rs
"the principle of the oxidation of comous.
tible bodies by CELEBRATES in the presence
Of strong acids" Making practical appli.
cation Of this principle, Chancel in 1906
produced his so called "oxymariate match,
es, " in which strips Of wood tipped with
a mixture of chlorate of potash, sugar and
gum were ignited by contact with sui
phuric acid. About this time also there
were various nonphosphoric light produ
GERS more or less in vogue. One of these
was known as "pyrophorus, 1t was pre-
pared by roasting alum with -four anG
honey or sugar and inflated by exposure
TO the air.
As early as 1880 there were electro
pneumatic fire producers in use, in
which jet of hydrogen was in1amed by
an electric spark. The Dobereiner "plati
mum lamp" belonged to a later date, 1898
In this hydrogen gas was ignited by con
tact with spongy platinum. About this
time also there We're in use in parts o.
Prussia small glass tubes containing equa
parts of phosphorus and sulphur carefully
fused together. Into this splinters o.
| wood were thrust and then ignited by
friction.
1t was not until 1927 that the real pre-
cursor of our present clay match appeared
In April Of that year John Walker O
Stockton on Tees inv1nted lucfer match
es, or ConRTeves, as they were called, aftel
Sir William CongTeVe, inventor Of the
rocket. These congreves consisted o.
wooden splints or strips of cardboard tip
ped with mixture of sulphide of antimo
ny, chlorate OF potash, gum and starch
No phosphorus was used They were ig
nited by rubbing on glass or sandpaper.-
Pittsburg Dispatch
NUnrsa Than Ha II naW