IMPROVEMENTS IN LUCIFER MATCHES, FUSEES, AND OTHER SIMILAR LIGHTS, AND IN THE BOXES OR HOLDERS FOR CONTAINING THE SAME
Year: 1863

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Squire Bruce at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 7th
January 1868. A communication from abroad by Thomas Jordery, of
Paris, in the Empire of France.
I, WILLIAM SQUIRE BRUCE, of Great Saint Helens, Bishopsgate Street,
in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN LUCIFER MATCHES, FUSEES, AND OTHER SIMILAR LIGHTS, AND
IN THE BOXES OR HOLDERS FOR CONTAINING THE SAME," to be as follows:-
These improved matches are made by a prolonged immersion in a solution
of nitrate of potash of the ordinary kind while in a boiling state, the material.
of which they are composed being wood or any other substance suitable for the.
purpose.
This immersion, however, ought only to be partial, so that only one half or
thereabouts of the length of the match may be thus prepared while the other
half remains in its natural state, so that the match when lighted may burn
with a flame at one end and with sparks only at the other, being thus adapted
for the various uses of the common match, and at the same time also adapted to
the purpose of a cigar or pipe light. The match may be prepared to light at
either or both ends. The improved boxes or holders may be made in various
ways and of different materials, chiefly however of reeds, or other hollow
ligneous substances, veneer wood, natural cork, or any other suitable material,
tinted, painted, varnished, or stamped or otherwise ornamented according to

page_text: fancy with different colors and designs, and may also be covered with
colored or other paper so as to present when finished a neat and compact
appearance.
One of the objects of the improvements in these boxes or holders is so to
increase their strength that the matches or lights contained therein may be
protected from the accidents to which they are constantly liable in the boxes
or cases hitherto used, from their fragile nature, from a broken drawer, and
their liability to be crushed either by the weight of the body or by a number
of articles in the pocket, by which the lights are often ignited and injury or
accident ensues.
Another improvement which it is proposed to introduce in these boxes
consists in so forming them as to increase the facility with which a single match
can be taken out; for this purpose the lid is furnished with a suitable aperture,
or made with a portion thereof to open, and these apertures or lids may be
made to open at the sides or ends. The general form which I have adopted
is that of a semi-cylinder, the curved portion being formed from reeds, canes,
or other similar naturally hollow or solid ligneous substances split down the
centre; the two halves are then subjected to a mechanical operation by which
the core or pith is separated from the skin or outer portion, the latter forming
the base of the box. A flat piece is used as a lid, two pieces of cork or other
suitable substance being glued in at either end. The lids may be formed in
various ways, and may either open sideways similar to the lid of a common
snuff box, or may open endways, the lid being glued partially along the top of
the box and then split about midway. The lid may be thus divided lengthways
or crossways; in the latter case it will be found advantageous to fix the cork
end to that portion of the lid which opens, thus forming a larger aperture for
taking out the match. These boxes may be formed so as to open only at the
end. In order to increase the pliability and durability of these hinges the flat
pieces of wood (in which the slit is cut) are subjected to a prolonged immersion
in boiling water which totally deprives them of all resinous particles, leaving
them in a limp state so that they easily bend.
Another mode of forming these semi-cylindrical boxes is to make the flat
side or lid entire, and to slide in or upon the semi-cylindrical portion, when
the sliding lid is placed outside. The two longitudinal edges are turned slightly
up and are joined in the centre by a band passing round the curved portion;
the lids in all the above cases are fitted with a strip or strips of india-rubber
for holding the folding and sliding lids in their proper position when closed and
rendering the said boxes self-closing. I also propose to form a box of the latter
class with two drawers inverted, the outer being half the length of the inner,

page_text: also closed with a spring as before described. I also propose to form a drawer
box, the outer case of which is open at both ends, but the drawer moveable at
one end only, the outer case being cut away in the shape of a lyre in which
the thumb or finger can traverse in pushing out the drawer, which is also made
self-closing by an india-rubber spring. The boxes above described are for
the pocket or for ordinary use. Those for large establishments or for public
smoking rooms I propose to make of a large size, but in such a manner that
only one match at a time can be taken therefrom; for this purpose I divide a
box of suitable shape into two parts, in one of which the matches are placed
and in the other the delivering apparatus. The bottom of the compartment
which contains the matches dips each way to the centre from the sides, and
at each end of the box at the bottom & in a line with the bottom of the
channel are two apertures. In the compartment which contains the delivery
apparatus there is a rod held back by a spring; this rod is placed in a line with
the two apertures before mentioned & when pushed forward enters the com-
partment containing the matches through one aperture & pushes out a match
at the other where it can be taken hold of. The piston when released recovers
its former position by the action of the spring, another match falls into the
place of the ejected one, which can be delivered in like manner.
Another box for similar establishments, made to contain two rollers, one at
the top and the other at the bottom of a compartment containing the matches.
Round these rollers a band is stretched upon which a number of small shelf-
like projections are formed; the axis of one of these rollers passes through the
sides of the box where it is fitted with a knob or handle for turning it, this
operation puts the band in motion, each shelf thereon carrying up a match
over and round the top roller, when it falls through an aperture into a concave
receptacle formed outside the box where it can be taken as before. Along
one edge of these receptacles, and upon the boxes before described, there is a
suitably prepared surface upon which the match, being subjected to friction by
the consumer, is ignited or otherwise ready for use. The india-rubber springs
of the boxes before described with folding lids are so fitted that while they
operate for holding such lids in a closed position they also hold them back
when open.