Matches

By: Mike Visconti

In 1669, an alchemist, who mistakenly believed that he can change base metals into gold, mixed up something which was, surprisingly, not gold, but a substance he named phosphoros. Next was Robert Boyle. He coated a piece of paper with phosphorous with a splinter of sulfur-coated wood, bulled the wood through the paper, which burst into flames. Later, in 1826, John Walker came upon a chemical mixture that produced fire. After puting together a mixture of chemicals, which did not contain phosphorous, John removed the stick he used, only to find a dried lump at its end. When he scraped the stick against the floor to remove the lump, the stick ignited. His mixture of antimony sulfide, potassium chlorate, gum, and starch produced fire. He then told people, but didn’t patent the idea. The idea was patented by a man named Samuel Jones, he named them Lucifers. The sales were through the roof. The only problem was that there was a awful smell when they were lit. In the 1830s, Charles Sauria, a French chemist, decided to improve upon the existing formula by adding white phosphorous to get rid of the smell. But, now the problem was that white phosphorus would kill anyone that came in contact with it. It created an epidemic disease named “phossy jaw” this caused many skelatal problems in many people and even killed some people. In 1910, phosphorus matches were banned. The new match used sesquisulfide instead of phosphorus. John Pusey, in 1892, invented something he named the matchbook. But the problem now was that he put the matches in upside down, so if one struck, all other the others would to. A lot of money was made off of the idea, but he changed it so the matches were right side up. He named it the safety match.

http://linux.clare.cam.ac.uk/~dct25/photos/cooks-matches.jpg