Fire was a basis of modern humankind and a catalyst for the expansion of our ancestors beyond the borders of Africa. It gave us the power to survive in harsh environments, process food, an change the shape of the environment we live in.
However, that process was still slow, unreliable and dependent upon many conditions rain, wind, low portability. Because of those problems, many scientist, chemist and engineers of the early human civilizations Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, China, Greece and Rome tried to find some way to make fire easy to create, portable and reliable.
Because they lacked the knowledge of the chemistry and physics, their early efforts were unsuccessful. The only relatively successful example of the early control over fire came from 5th century AD China, where sulfur coated wooden sticks was used as a catalyst of creating fire. This idea—coupled with the discovery of less-reactive, nontoxic red phosphorus—led J.
Lundstrom of Sweden to introduce safety matches in Although safety matches posed less of a hazard, many people still preferred the convenience of strike-anywhere matches, and both types continue to be used today. The first matchbook matches were patented in the United States by Joshua Pussey in The Diamond Match Company purchased the rights to this patent in At first, these new matches were not well accepted, but when a brewing company bought 10 million matchbooks to advertise their product, sales soared.
Early match manufacturing was mainly a manual operation. Mechanization slowly took over portions of the operation until the first automatic match machine was patented by Ebenezer Beecher in Modern match manufacturing is a highly automated process using continuous-operation machines that can produce as many as 10 million matches in an eight-hour shift with only a few people to monitor the operation.
Woods used to make matchsticks must be porous enough to absorb various chemicals, and rigid enough to withstand the bending forces encountered when the match is struck.
They should also be straight-grained and easy to work, so that they may be readily cut into sticks. White pine and aspen are two common woods used for this purpose.
Once the matchsticks are formed, they are soaked in ammonium phosphate, which is a fire retardant. This prevents the stick from smoldering after the match has gone out. During manufacture, the striking ends of the matchsticks are dipped in hot paraffin wax. This provides a small amount of fuel to transfer the flame from the burning chemicals on the tip to the matchstick itself.
Once the paraffin burns off, the ammonium phosphate in the matchstick prevents any further combustion. The heads of strike-anywhere matches are composed of two parts, the tip and the base.
The tip contains a mixture of phosphorus sesquisulfide and potassium chlorate. Phosphorus sesquisulfide is a highly reactive, non-toxic chemical used in place of white phosphorus. It is easily ignited by the heat of friction against a rough surface. The potassium chlorate supplies the oxygen needed for combustion. The tip also contains powdered glass and other inert filler material to increase the friction and control the burning rate.
Animal glue is used to bind the chemicals together, and a small amount of zinc oxide may be added to the tip to give it a whitish color. The base contains many of the same materials as the tip, but has a smaller amount of phosphorus sesquisulfide. It also contains sulfur, rosin, and a small amount of paraffin wax to sustain combustion. A water-soluble dye may be added to give the base a color such as red or blue. I can find no evidence of any sort supporting this claim, only rumors on online forums.
Based on my research, I believe that so many brands of strike anywhere matches have been discontinued because of the high costs of shipping them. However, strike anywhere matches still appear to be legal to manufacture and sell. For this to happen, the price consumers would be willing to pay per box would have to increase to cover the shipping costs incurred by manufacturers. Once the matches become profitable to make and sell again, they might find there way back to store shelves.
About the Author: Alex Beale. Alex Beale is 99Boulders' founder and editor-in-chief. He was working on an experimental paste that might be used in guns. He had a breakthrough when he scraped the wooden instrument he was using to mix the substances in his paste, and it caught fire.
Experimentation with these new devices produced the first matches that included white phosphorus, an innovation that was quickly copied.
Advances in matches continued over the s and into the s, according to Encyclopedia Britannica. Match-making became a common trade across England.
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