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• I n 1826, English chemist John Walker was attempting to create a new explosive. Stirring an antimony sulfide and potassium chlorate-based formula with a wood stick, he noticed a teardrop shaped glob had dried on the stick’s tip. He scraped the stick against the stone floor to remove it and, to his surprise, the stick caught on fire. • In 1827 Walker began selling “Friction Lights” but he never applied for a patent. They had tips coated with a potassium chloride-antimony sulfide paste, which ignited when scraped between a fold of sandpaper. They came in a tin, each with a piece of sandpaper. The user folded this over the match, held it tightly and pulled the splint hard. Walker made little money off the invention and copy-cats soon abounded. There were problems with the matches, however. They ignited with the force of a firework and they smelled terrible. • In 1830, French chemist Charles Sauria discovered how to make matches using white phosphorus instead. They didn’t smell as bad, they burned longer, and they were less explosive. However, it turned out to be a disastrous development due to the toxic nature of the phosphorus. Inhaling fumes from burnt matches had deadly consequences. When the fumes of white phosphorus are inhaled, or when fingers that have contacted phosphorus contact the mouth, or when a drinking glass is used that has been in the presence of phosphorus fumes, the toxin enters the body. A single pack of matches contained enough phosphorus to kill a person. • A French scientist named Georges Lemoine found that red phosphorus was not poisonous. A patent was filed on this method of matchmaking in 1898. • The Diamond Match Company purchased the patent and then, at the urging of President Taft, made the patent public domain so that all match manufacturers could use the formula without paying royalties. DIAMOND MATCH COMPANY • The increasing popularity of smoking coupled with the advent of gas for lighting and heat caused the demand for matches to skyrocket. Mechanized methods of matchmaking were needed. To solve this difficulty, the country’s largest manufacturers banded together in 1881 to form a single company, The Diamond Match Company. The best features of the machinery that each had developed individually were combined. MODERN MATCHMAKING • The machines that turn out Strike-Anywhere matches at the rate of more than 300 a second are about 60 feet long and two stories high. Wooden matches are made out of white pine or aspen wood. It takes an hour for a splint of wood to travel through the factory. • The matchbook became the “best read book in America” and the warning, “Close Cover Before Striking” became the most printed phrase in the history of the printed word. For 40 years, matchbooks were the most popular advertising medium in the nation. • Matchbooks are one of the most popular collectibles in the world. In the U.S. it’s the second most popular collecting hobby after stamps. People who collect them are called phillumenists, meaning ‘lovers of light.’ Today, more book matches are used than any other kind. • The market for matches has declined by some 80 percent since the introduction of the disposable lighter in 1972.
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