“That Most Marvelous Invention, the Match©”

 

 

Have you ever stopped to consider what a technological marvel the common match is?  Probably not, matches are taken for granted, you just use it, throw it away, never think about it again! 

 

Anthropologists consider humans to be obligatory fire-users, meaning we can’t survive for long without it, and “individuals who do not use fire will quickly suffer adverse effects or even die” ¹.  Humans evolved in the tropics, and we need the heat that fires provide to keep us from freezing to death.  Also, humans need fire to make our food more digestible and easier to chew, scholars believe that the controlled use of fire by Homo Erectus began at least one million years ago, and just like modern humans, the jaws of H. erectus had evolved (or devolved, depending on your point of view) to become smaller with fewer molars².

 

For most of the human existence, fire was made using mechanical means, such as friction from rubbing or spinning a straight stick into a wooden base, to create embers, or by percussion, striking a piece of flint against steel or pyrite, to create sparks.  These methods of creating fire were used until comparatively modern times, particularly flint and steel, which is still used as means of ignition with modern pocket lighters.  Both methods are very efficient and are worthy of study and practice by modern people.  

 

The !Kung San of the Kalahari Desert can create a fire by spinning a straight stick into a wooden base (Figure 22 above) in about 90 seconds, they can also create a fire with flint and steel in about 20 seconds³, and the Samoans of Polynesia could use a fire plow (Figure 21 above) to create a fire in 40 seconds⁴.  However, once the ember or spark is created it must be transferred to the tinder and carefully blown into a full flame.

 

Friction matches ignite from the frictional heat of being drawn across a striker or rough, dry surface, and the entire operation of selecting a match, closing the container, striking it into a full flame, and lighting the tinder, takes just seconds.  And since matches, if they are about 1-¾ (4.5 cm) long and just over ¹/₁₆ inch (2 mm) square, will burn after being struck for about 30 seconds, you can see what a marvelous invention the match is, and why it was such a boon to human civilization.

 

Matches are a relatively recent invention.  And everyone knows that there are two general types, book and “strike-on-box” safety matches, and “strike-anywhere”, or “bird’s-eye” matches.  The difference between the types of matches is where the ignition material is, on the tip of the match or on the striking surface.

 

The history of the match

 

The effort to produce fire by other than mechanical means began in 1669, with the discovery of phosphorus, by Brandt.  However, strangely enough, the first friction matches to be manufactured and sold commercially did not contain any phosphorus.  John Walker, a scientist invented the first commercially sold matches on May 26, 1826, which he called “Friction Lights”, which were wooden sticks coated with sulfur and tipped with a paste mixture of antimony sulfide, potassium chlorate, and glue.  The sulfur, which is easily ignited, provided the heat to ignite the wood.  Walker discovered by accident that once the chemicals were dry, he could start a fire by striking the stick anywhere, although the matches were commonly ignited by drawing the match through tightly folded sandpaper.  This formula is similar to the formula used today to make safety and book matches, but not “strike-anywhere” matches, which use a type of phosphorus, as a means of ignition.

 

In 1831 Charles Sauria replaced the antimony sulfide in John Walkers formula, with white (then called yellow) phosphorus to

create the “Lucifer” formula.  Lucifers were both a boon and a bane.  They were a huge boon to householders and anyone attempting to light a fire, however since white phosphorus is poisonous, they were a bane, a deadly health hazard, to matchmakers.  White phosphorus vapors cause necrosis of the jaw, commonly called “Matchmaker’s leprosy”, or “Phossy Jaw”.  Phossy jaw was a terrible disease that caused abscesses to develop in the mouth and jaws, and as the suffers jawbone rotted away, it led to facial disfigurement, blood poisoning, malnutrition, and even sometimes fatal brain damage.  Additionally, the gums of sufferers developed an eerie greenish white glow-in the dark condition.

 

On November 15, 1898, Henri Sévene and Emile David Cahen were granted a United States patent, No. 614,350, for the use of phosphorus sesquisulfide in the place of the white phosphorus that was a necessary part of the manufacturing of strike-anywhere matches.  White phosphorus matches were gradually banned in most countries and in 1913 white phosphorus was banned as a component of strike-anywhere matches in the United States.

 

In 1844, Gustav Pasch of Sweden discovered that amorphous or red phosphorus, which does not produce disease causing vapors, would ignite matches.  Red phosphorus is still used in the manufacture of safety, or “strike-on-box”, and book matches today.

 

So, now we know a little more about that most marvelous invention, the match!  And hopefully someday, it will no longer be taken for granted, but instead take its rightful place next to other civilization altering inventions, inventions like Tesla’s electric generator.

 

I hope that you continue to enjoy The Woodsman’s Journal Online and look for me on YouTube at BandanaMan Productions for other related videos, HERE.  Don’t forget to follow me on both The Woodsman’s Journal Online, HERE, and subscribe to BandanaMan Productions on YouTube.  If you have questions, as always, feel free to leave a comment on either site.  I announce new articles on Facebook at Eric Reynolds, on Instagram at bandanamanaproductions, and on VK at Eric Reynolds, so watch for me.

 

That is all for now, and as always, until next time, Happy Trails!

 

 

Notes

 

¹ “A technology – in this case pyrotechnology – becomes obligatory when it facilitates activities that are otherwise difficult or impossible to accomplish, and when it has considerable and immediate fitness consequences.  This means that human individuals who do not use fire will quickly suffer adverse effects or even die”.

 

From “Minds on Fire: Cognitive Aspects of Early Firemaking and the Possible Inventors of Firemaking Kits”, by Marlize Lombard and Peter Gärdenfors

 

² “Homo erectus, our ancient ancestor”, by Lisa Hendry

 

³ The !Kung San: Men, Women and Work in a Foraging Society, Richard Borshay Lee

 

⁴ Fire-Making Apparatus in the United States National Museum, by Walter Hough, 1890, page 571.

 

Sources

 

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Snyder, William H., Sc. D.; General Science, [Allyn and Bacon, New York, 1925], page 83 to 88, https://books.google.com/books?id=cttEAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA88&dq=%22strike+anywhere+match%22&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjH5sXigID9AhWFF1kFHdWZD8A4HhDoAXoECAQQAg#v=onepage&q=%22strike%20anywhere%20match%22&f=false, accessed July ‎18, ‎2023

  

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