IMPROVEMENTS IN FUSEES, MATCHES, OR OTHER ANALOGOUS ARTICLES, AND IN THE HOLDERS FOR THE SAME
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Perkins, of Herne Hill, in the County
of Surrey, Chemist, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN FUSEES,
MATCHES, OR OTHER ANALOGOUS ARTICLES, AND IN THE HOLDERS FOR THE
SAME."
Sealed the 24th May 1870, and dated the 26th November 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Perkins at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
26th November 1869.
I, WILLIAM PERKINS, of Herne Hill, in the County of Surrey,
Chemist, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN FUSEES, MATCHES, OR OTHER ANALOGOUS ARTICLES, AND IN THE
HOLDERS FOR THE SAME," to be as follows:-
The igniting composition used in the manufacture of fusees, matches,
and other analagous articles has usually been placed on the end of
pieces of wood, taper, or some other substance which is capable of
burning with a flame or as a slow match, which may be used to ignite a
cigar, pipe, gas, a candle, or other article.

page_text: The first part of my Invention consists in combining the igniting com-
position with some elastic or flexible binding substance or compound,
such as collodion, gums, resins, glue, gelatine, caoutchouc, gutta percha,
treacle, bitumen, or other analagous substances which will admit of the
compound being rolled out and formed into thin sticks of any convenient
length, say, two or three inches. The igniting composition may be made
of any of the well-known materials, and with it may be combined any
suitable aromatic substances, such as cascarilla bark, gum benzoin,
benzoic acid. The composition may be ignited by friction in the usual
way, or by being rubbed upon some suitably prepared surface as is well
known. The sticks or rods so made will when ignited burn so long as
air can obtain access to the ignited part, but immediately that air is
prevented from obtaining access thereto the burning will stop, and the
match or fusce be extinguished.
The holder for these combustible sticks or rods is constructed on the
principle of the well-known everpointed pencil, that is, the stick is held
in a spring clip, which is capable of being pushed out from the end of a
tube or drawn in by means of a screw or by a slide as in common
pencil cases.
It will now be understood that when it is desired to ignite the
composition stick a certain portion of it must be projected out of the end
of the tubular holder, and then ignited by rubbing the end against any
rough substance or on a prepared surface as is now well known. That
part of the stick which extends beyond the end of the tubular holder
will burn like an ordinary fusee until it has burned down to the tube,
when as no more air can get to it the fusee will go out; but if a further
portion of the stick be pushed out of the tube it will continue to burn
for some short time longer. It will of course be understood that by
drawing back the stick into the tubular holder the composition will be
deprived of air, and will of course be extinguished.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Perkins in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 26th May 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
PERKINS, of Herne Hill, in the County of Surrey, Chemist, send
greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-
third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said William Perkins, Ier special licence that I,
the said William Perkins, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said William Perkins, my exccutors, administrators,
and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time
to time and at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make use, exercise, and vend, within the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle
of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN FUSEES, MATCHES, OR OTHER
ANALOGOUS ARTICLES, AND IN THE HOLDERS FOR THE SAME," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said William Perkins, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one
of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be
performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent
Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Perkins, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement (that is to say):-
The igniting composition used in the manufacture of fusces, matches,
and other analogous articles has usually been placed on the end of
pieces of wood or wax taper, or some other substance which is capable
of burning with a flame or as a slow match, which may be used to ignite
a cigar, pipe, gas, a candle, or other article.
The first part of my Invention consists in combining the igniting com-
position with some elastic or flexible binding substance or compound,
such as collodion, gums, resins, glue, gelatine, caoutchouc, gutta percha,
treacle, bitumen, or other analogous substances for the purpose of
forming a continuous match, that is, one which will burn from end to
end, and may be ignited at any part of its length. This may be done
cither by combining the several ingredients in such proportions as will
admit of them being cut or formed into thin sticks of any convenient
length, say, two or three inches, or the igniting composition and the

page_text: ingredients with which it is mixed may be made sufficiently liquid to
admit of it being laid on a wooden or other core in the form of layers by
dipping or otherwise. The igniting composition may be made of any
of the well-known materials, and with it may be combined any suitable
aromatic substances, such as cascarilla bark, gum benzoin, benzoic
acid.
The materials I employ in manufacturing my phosphoric or other
matches, sticks, or rods are as follows:-Phosphorus in the common and
in the amorphous form or in combination, also the following ingredients
or any combination of them, cascarilla bark, gum benzoin, benzoic
acid, or other aromatic substances, oxide of zinc, binoxide of lead,
vermilion, peroxide and protoxide of manganesc, nitrate of potash,
chlorate of potash, chrome yellow, sesquioxide of iron, sulphuret of
antimony, nitrate of lead, hyposulphite of lead, ground glass, ground
coke or coal, red lead, litharge, or any other materials capable of
forming a stick, rod, or pencil which will ignite by friction, and which
may be extinguished by drawing it back into the tube of the holder,
hereafter described.
I also manufacture such sticks or pencils in such a manner as that
they can only be ignited on prepared surfaces, as this I effect by
dividing the striking or igniting materials; one portion of the igniting
material being applied to the outer surface of the core of which the
continuous match is composed, and the rest is adpted to to what is termed
the prepared surface for striking or igniting the matches upon as in the
case of Bryant and May's and others. The proportions in which these
substances are mixed form the igniting or combustible compound are
well known, and form no part of my Invention.,
· In manufacturing my improved matches, fusees, or other analogous
articles I make use of any of the following plans:-The material may be
moulded into thin sticks in a plastic state by being pressed through dies;
or they may be rolled out into sticks or rods of the desired thickness;
or by using a thinner preparation and dipping prepared yarns or thin
rods of wood, glass, earthenware, magnesium wire, or other substance
to form a base or core upon which the material may be varnished,
spread, or laid by dipping.
:
The mode I prefer to employ in making up my improved matches is
as follows: I take small round sticks of wood or the natural fibre.
known as piacava, and I cut this into given lengths, say, three or four

page_text: inches, and these I insert into a perforated plate having perforations
placed at about half an inch apart. When the plate has thus had the
sticks inserted it is ready for receiving the primary deposit of com-
.bustible material. This is applied by dipping the sticks one, two, three,
or more times in the liquid composition. The striking or igniting
material may form intermediate layers between the combustible or core
material, or may form simply the outer layers; and in the case of safety
continuous matches the striking or igniting material is applied to the
outside alone; or it may be divided through the combustible core.
In cases where common or ordinary phosphorus is employed I find it
advantageous to apply it in the form of a saturated solution of phos-
phorus in bisulphide of carbon, and the principal object of thus applying
the phosphorus is, that when it comes in contact with the india-rubber,
which is sometimes employed as the binding material, it acts upon it
in a somewhat similar manner to sulphur at high temperature, that is
to say, it appears to vulcanize it.
I do not confine myself to the use of any of the materials bercin-
before mentioned for manufacturing the continuous matches, nor do I
intend to claim the use of such materials, except when employed and
applied in the manner herein set forth, as I am fully aware that my
continuous matches may be made of other materials, or of different
combinations of the foregoing materials.
The composition may be ignited by friction in the usual way, or by
being rubbed upon some suitably prepared surface as is well known.
The sticks, rods, or continuous matches, made as herein set forth will,
when ignited, burn so long as air can obtain access to the ignited part,
but immediately that air is prevented from obtaining access thereto the
burning will stop, and the match or fusee will be extinguished. The
continuous match can however be again ignited at any portion of its
length, and this may be repeated as often as may be required until all
the body of the match is consumed.
The holder for these combustible sticks or rods is constructed on the
principle of the well known everpointed pencil, such as those made and
sold by Messrs. Perry and Company. In this holder the continuous match
is held by one end in a spring clip, which is capable of being pushed out
from the end of a tube or drawn in by means of a screw as in the pencil
cases already alluded to. As the combustible substance when ignited
creates or leaves a liquid deposit at or near the point of the holder it

page_text: will be found convenient to cover this point up in order to prevent
the liquid from soiling the pocket when the holder is placed therein.
To this end I adapt to the inner end of the holder a screw whereby
it may be drawn back into an outer case; or the same object may
be effected by adapting a slide to the holder as is the case with
many pencil cases. It will now be understood that when it is desired to
ignite the continuous match a certain portion of it must be projected
out of the end of the tubular holder, and then ignited by rubbing the
end against any rough substance, or on a prepared surface as is now
well known in the case of safety matches. That part of the match or
stick which extends beyond the end of the tubular holder will burn like
an ordinary match or fuseo until it has burned down to the tube, when
(as no more air can get to it) the match or fusee will go out, but if a
further portion of the stick be pushed out of the tube it will continue to
burn. It will of course be understood that by drawing back the stick into
the tubular holder the composition will be deprived of air, and will of
course be extinguished at once; and when another light is required it
will be necessary to push out a fresh length of match, and ignite it again.
in the usual manner.
Having now described my Invention, and having explained the manner?
of carrying the same into effect, I claim as the Invention secured to me
by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent,―
The mode or modes herein set forth of making continuous matches,
fusces, or other analogous articles.
Second. I claim the improved construction of holder for holding 2
continuous matches, as hercin set forth..
In witness whereof, I, the said William Perkins, have hereunto
set my hand and scal, the Twenty-sixth day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.