DAYS BEFORE MATCHES

Waipa Post, Volume 41, Issue 3184, 5 August 1930, Page 7

DAYS BEFORE MATCHES

HOW OUR ANCESTORS LIGHTED THEIR FIRES.

(By Desmond Robinson.)

I Beyond all doubt the most frequently asked question of modern times is " Gotta match ? " A century ago it was unknown. There was a time, I suppose, when tinder boxes were borrowed, but that was before the possibilities of chemistry had begun to fascinate and somewhat alarm mankind. Between the tinder-box age i and the safety match age there arose a number of ingenious and highly unreliable contrivances for creating fire. About 1810 there was introduced an instantaneous light box, which was neat in appearance, fascinating to operate, and no more dangerous than the average bomb. The box was made of metal. It contained a bottle of sulphuric acid and a number of small splinters of wood tipped with a compound containing chlorate of potash. When the tip of one of the splinters was dipped into the bottle of sulphuric acid and withdrawn it was supposed to light, and occasionally it did. Some-

times, indeed, the experiment was a magnificent success, and the whole contents of the box burst into flame, quite freqeuntly with the result that someone had to be rolled in a carpet. Another ingenious contrivance of about the same gfcriod was the Promethean match. This worked, or failed to work, on the same principle as the instantaneous light box, but it was rather more expensive. Samuel Jones, .of the Strand, patented the match about 1828, but one gathers that he did not make a fortune out of it. The match consisted of a small quantity of sulphuric acid hermetically sealed in a tiny glass tube round which was pasted a small quantity of chlorate of potash compound. The whole contrivance was sealed inside a spill of paper about 3 inches in length. To obtain fire one broke the tube with a small pair of tongs provided for the purpose; or, if one were possessed of more than ordinary courage, with one's teeth. This liberated the acid, which, upon uniting with the chlorate of potash, created a flame and lighted the paper. What could have been simpler ? It was, indeed, so simple that Promethean matches in the pockets of men in crowds were sometimes broken by accident, with unpleasant results all round. The matches did not achieve a wide popularity. Such inventions served their turn, and they were certainly an improvement upon the exasperating tinder boxes which preceded them.

THE TINDER BOX. The principle of the tinder box was discovered when men acquired the art of smelting iron about 3000 years ago. There are still people who use tinder boxes. I have seen peasants in the Italian Alps light their pipes with the aid of them. When they were in common use they were made in a variety of forms and materials. There were modest domestic tinder boxes made of tin; elaborate tinder boxes decorated with ivory, gold, and silver; tinder boxes resembling pistols; and tinder boxes combined with ink-stands and candle-sticks. The common or domestic tinder box was to be found in every kitchen in Great Britain as reecntly as 1835. The operation of obtaining a light from one of them must have been enraging beyond words. Apparently it usually occupied from three to five minutes; but if the tinder happened to be damp, or the flint badly worn, it sometimes took half an hour. Probably even golf balls have been productive of less profanity than damp tinder. The tinder box contained a piece of flint or other suitable stone, a piece of steel with a sharp cutting edge, some tinder, and a sulphur-tipped match of inflammable wood. The method of obtaining fire was to strike the steel at an angle against the stone, so that a fragment of steel broke off arid fell, at white heat, among the tinder in the box. When, the tinder began to glow, the sulphur head of one of the matches was placed among it and a flame was produced. Among well-to-do people, particularly in France and Italy, tinder boxes were devised in which the flint and steel were struck together by mechanical means, exactly as in a flintlock pistol. They were often beautifully ornamented with filigree work in gold, silver, and mother-of-pearl. Surely these were the direct ancestors of the patent " lighters " of today ? In both inventions flint and steel produce the spark, and I find it difficult to believe that the tinder and crude sulphur matches of old ignited less readily than do the petrol-soaked wicks in the ornamental devices of today. But perhaps I am doing these modeim toys an injustice. I can only plead that I h, av e persevered with several kinds—all of them presents from friends who do no smoking—and have found them utterly demoralising.

INVENTOR OF THE MATCH. All smokers should revere the memory of the man who invented the match—that is, the match which may be ignited simply by rubbing its head against a rough substance. Possibly

other persons should revere his mem- . ory also, such as housewives and prop-erty-owners with designs upon the funds of insurance companies; but only smokers can really appreciate the value of a match. The credit appears to belong to John Walker, a chemist of Stockton-on-Tees, in Durham. It may be said quite seriously that he was one of the benefactoi-s of mankind. He began to sell his matches in 1826 for Is per 100, and 2d extra for the tin box in which they were contained. He called them "friction lights." In each box was a piece of sandpaper, which had to be folded over the head of the match and squeezed ' tightly. On being withdrawn with a jerk the match lighted, though not always at the first attempt.

Walker failed to cover his invention by patent, and very soon similar matches were being manufactured all over Great Britain and the Continent. This created a demand for matches which would light more easily, and led to the introduction of phosphorus matches. One objection was overcome, but another was created, for phosphorus matches would ignite upon the slightest provocation, and they were the cause of many serious fires and burning accidents. Moreover, the phosphorous was most dangerous to the health of those' engaged in the manufacture of the matches.

The giant strides in scientific knowledge which have been made during the last century have produced the safety match as we know it to-day. Probably it is as nearly perfect as anything of the kind can be expected to be, even if one does occasionally get hold of a bad box. It is a cheap little article, too —so cheap, indeed, that one can, if one is made that way, approach a complete stranger in the street and ask him to give one a match for nothing; and if he, too, is made that way, he complies if he can.