No doubt “familiarity breeds contempt,” and it is difficult to imagine
how man would fare, bereft of his box of matches. It might help the
world to realize how much it owes to the inventors of the Lucifer
Match, were it possible to cut off the supply of these magic fire
producers for only one brief day. It requires no very vivid imagination
to picture the consternation and confusion that such a step would
produce, and there is a grim humor in wondering how the primitive
methods of obtaining a light would serve the public convenience in
these days of strenuous hustle.
Seeing that fire has been employed by man since prehistoric days, one
would expect that easy means of obtaining it would have been devised
in the early ages. We find, however, that until the beginning of the
nineteenth century nothing in the nature of a match was available, and
the crudest methods were still in use. We know from Virgil that in the
reign of the Emperor Titus fire was obtained by rubbing decayed wood
with a roll of sulphur between two stones, but it is not till Saxon
times that we have evidence of the use of the tinder box with its flint
and steel. That this latter was still regarded as something remarkable,
as late as the fifteenth century, is proved by its representation in
the collar of the Order of the Golden Fleece, which was founded in
1429. Burning glasses had, of course, been employed from the most
primitive times, but one can imagine the despair of an early Briton who
had to wait for a sunny day before he could boil his kettle.
Incredible as it may seem, it was not a time well within the memory
of many people living to-day that matches in anything approaching
the form now familiar were offered to the public. The way for their
manufacture had been prepared by two discoveries; one by a German who
isolated phosphorus in 1669; the other by a Frenchman who produced
chlorate of potash in 1786. From this latter date the production of
fire was much facilitated, and a few years before Queen Victoria came
to the throne, John Walker--a chemist of Stockton-on-Tees--produced the
first friction matches of which there is any certain record. These,
called “Congreves,” were sold in boxes of fifty for 2/6, and their
success soon led others to experiment in match manufacture, so that
improvements were rapidly invented and factories sprang up in all parts
of the country.
It would be a difficult task to compute accurately the value to the
human race of the introduction to general use of this little article.
At the present writing, in America the consumption of matches amounts
to over a billion of matches a day.
How Matches Are Made.
To-day matches are in such demand that the ingenuity of man has devised
a machine which makes complete matches without the help of the human
hand.
At the very start of operations a man feeds blocks of wood into the
jaws of the machine, and thenceforth the mechanical monster does its
own work. Seizing the block from the man’s hand, the machine grips it
between rollers and forces it against rows of keen-edged cutters, which
are so arranged that there is little or no waste. Each of these cutters
(and there are usually forty-eight in a machine) severs a piece of wood
of exact size and shape. At the same moment a plate rises from beneath,
which thrusts these little pieces of wood into a moving flexible
cast-iron band, or rather into small holes in this band, from which the
embryo matches project like bristles. This traveling band is about 700
feet in length, and follows a serpentine course in its journey, which
occupies about an hour from start to finish, the speed being regulated
according to temperature so that the matches may be quite dry when they
reach the boxes.
When the band arrives at the finishing point, a steel bar punches out
the matches stuck in its surface and they fall into the inside boxes
placed ready to catch them. These boxes are kept continually shaking,
to that no spaces are left and the matches fill them completely. As the
inside boxes fill, a steel arm presses them forward into their covers,
and they are passed along a trough in dozens, quickly wrapped in paper
and sealed by a machine. Quick-fingered girls then wrap twelve of these
dozen packages and we have the gross packages of boxes so familiar in
the stores. It will be seen, that in spite of the marvellous machines
which do so much, there is still plenty of work for human hands.
How Match Boxes Are Made.
The machines for making the wooden box which contain the matches are
in themselves wonderful. First, a section of the trunk of an aspen
tree, about 30 inches in length, is made to revolve in what is known
as a peeling machine. After a few revolutions the rough outer surface
is removed, and thin rolls of smooth-surfaced wood are peeled off
or veneered. The machine at the same time scores the wood ready for
folding by the boxmaking machine. Cut into skillets, i. e., into pieces
of the size required for box covers or insides, the ends are next
dipped in pink dye to cover the edge of the wood which is not covered
by the label. The skillets then go to the box machines, which fold and
label them, and after half an hour in a cleverly devised drying chamber
they are ready for use. In one room alone sixty machines are labelling
and folding the skillets to the number of several thousand gross a day.
To see these machines take a strip of wood, push it forward to receive
the pasted label, fold it, fasten the joint, wipe off the superfluous
paste, and, finally, toss the finished “outside” into a receiving
basket, is as fascinating an example of mechanical ingenuity as the
industrial world can afford.
Are Matches Poisonous?
A non-poisonous “strike anywhere” safety match, made from selected,
clear, strong cork pine is now made in this country, and is the first
satisfactory non-poisonous match. It is also the first match to be
endorsed by the country’s recognized leaders and authorities in fire
prevention and the conservation of human life and property.
The Hughes-Esch Anti-White Phosphorus Match Bill, which became a
law during the administration of President Taft, was drafted by the
attorneys of the American Association of Labor Legislation, and is
the most drastic that our National Constitution will permit. It would
be unconstitutional to absolutely prohibit the manufacture of white
phosphorus matches, but the Hughes-Esch bill obtains the same result,
viz.: absolute prohibition by means of excessive taxation. No match
manufacturer in these days of keen competition can afford to pay a tax
of ten cents on each box of white phosphorus matches made, and place
his factory under government surveillance, for this tax of ten cents is
over three times as much as his present selling price to the wholesale
trade.
As soon as man learned to make fire and light, he began to appreciate
how much more comfortable he could be if he could keep his lights
burning and to have his light independent of his fire, because it was
at times very uncomfortable to sit by a fire on a hot night simply
because he wished to use the light which it made. The first schemes
devised for lighting purposes merely were the camp-fire torch and the
rushlight. With these as a basis, man was enabled to fashion more
convenient forms of lighting. He invented the candle and the lamp, and
grown “enlightened,” boxed his light in iron and in other metals.
Did Candles Come Before Lamps?
The candle is in appearance a primitive affair, yet there is little
doubt that its predecessor was the lamp. Those old Egyptian tombs,
which have unlocked many mysteries, held lamps, and through them
evidence of ancient burial customs. Lamps played a part in the solemn
feasts of the Egyptians, who on such occasions placed them before their
houses, burning them throughout the night. Herodotus, in one of his
numerous references to Xerxes, alludes to the hour of lamp-lighting,
and evidences abound regarding the use of lamps among the ancient
Greeks. Lamps, indeed, are pictured upon some of their oldest vases,
indicating the symbolic significance which attached to them.
[Illustration: A French watch tower of the fifteenth century in time
of siege. The tower is lighted by means of beacons and is protected by
dogs. Ruins of such a tower can still be seen at Godesberger on the
Rhine.]
What Were the Earliest Lamps?
It is probable that the earliest lamps were nothing more than
convenient vessels, filled with oil and fired by means of rushes. Among
the Romans pine splinters, the torch and the flambeau, supplied light
until the fifth century before Christ, and even when the Roman began to
use the lamp, it was by no means common, finding a place only in the
homes of the rich, or on special festival days.
The custom of burning funeral lights beside the dead before interment
is a very old one. Gregory, interpreting its significance for the
Christian, says that departed souls, having walked here as the children
of light, now walk with God in the light of the living. The Roman,
Pliny, refers to the use of the pith of brittle rushes in making
funeral lights and watch-candles, which were probably the ancient
prototype of the old rushlight of England. Again, in speaking of flax,
Pliny states that the part of the reed that is nearest to the outer
skin is called tow, and is good for nothing but to make lamp-matches or
candlewicks.
What Were the Lamps of the Wise and Foolish Maidens Made Of?
When lamps had come into general favor, better attention was given
to their form and construction. The first seem to have been made of
baked clay, moulded by hand into elongated vessels to contain the oil,
and provided at one end with a lip to admit the wick. These are the
lamps which artists have pictured in the hands of the wise and foolish
virgins, though in the opinion of some scholars they were merely rods
of porcelain and iron, covered with cloth and steeped in oil. Another
early type, which was less common, presents a simple disc with an
aperture in the centre for the oil, and a hole for the wick, at one or
both of the sides.
Under the Empire, when the light of the lamp had become general, the
better ones were made of bronze, ornamented with heads, animals, and
other decorations, attached to the handles, while as life in Rome
partook more of luxury and extravagance, gold, silver, or Corinthian
brass were the materials, the designs being more elaborate and
complicated. Many and beautiful examples of these ancient lamps have
been unearthed from the ruins of Herculaneum and Pompeii.
When Were Street Lamps First Used?
Dark must have been the lives of those people who, until comparatively
recent times, lived, in the absence of sunlight, by the feeble,
uncertain light of the primitive illuminants borne by these lamps. And
as for street lighting--that was a luxury but seldom indulged in, and
then, not for public benefit, but to enhance the glory of a potentate,
or grace the obsequies of some great man. Even Rome, at the height of
her luxury and beauty, rarely exhibited more than one or two lanterns
in her streets. These were suspended over the baths and places of
public resort. Occasionally, however, the streets were illuminated
during festivals and other public occasions, while the Forum was
sometimes lighted for a midnight exhibition. With these glittering
exceptions, and that memorable one when, to satisfy the homicidal
impulses of a bad emperor, the bodies of Christians were made living
torches, Rome was a city of darkness.
[Illustration: THE FIRST STREET LIGHT IN AMERICA
The first street light in America. Early in 1795 several large cressets
were placed on the corners of Boston’s most frequented street.
Pine-knots were placed in these fire baskets by the night watchman.]
When Were Candles Introduced?
Historical records indicate the prevalent use of candles in the
earliest days of Rome, but these candles were of the simplest
sort--mere string or rope which had been smeared with pitch or wax.
In the early Christian centuries it was the custom to dip rushes in
pitch and coat them with wax, a method of candle-making that was long
continued, for it was not until the fourteenth century that dipped
tallow candles were introduced. In the Middle Ages wax candles provided
the usual means of illumination, and these were made, not by common
craftsmen, but by monks, or by the servants of the rich. Until the
fifteenth century their use was confined to churches, monasteries and
the houses of nobles, but the demand for them had become so great that
the chandlers of London obtained an act of incorporation. As late as
the eighteenth century the candles were made by dipping the wicks
into melted wax or tallow, but about this time an ingenious Frenchman
conceived the idea of casting them in metal moulds.
[Illustration: A part of the “Amende Honorable” of Jacques Coeur before
Charles VII of France.]
[Illustration: A pagan votive lamp of bronze, now in the museum at
Naples.]
It is only within a modern period that the state or city has assumed
responsibility in the matter of public lighting, which for the most
part had been left to the good will and public spirit of citizens.
But in England a proclamation was issued to the effect that every
individual should place a candle in each of the lower windows of his
house, and keep it burning from nightfall until midnight.
[Illustration: THE FIRST OIL LANTERN
The first “Réverbère”--oil lantern--with a metal reflector, used
to light the streets of Paris. It was invented by Bourgeois de
Châteaublanc in 1765, and used until the introduction of gas.]
Paris was the first city to improve upon this method of street
lighting, and in 1658 huge, vase-like contrivances, filled with resin
and pitch, were set up in the principal thoroughfares. The improvement
proving, as may readily be seen, both dangerous and expensive, the
falct, so-called, were replaced by the lantern. This was at first
simply a rude frame, covered with horn or leather, within which a
candle burned. For more than one hundred years this was the extent of
the illumination which the authorities could provide. But of course
it was understood that no honest man would venture abroad without his
torch or flambeau, and as London, Berlin, Vienna, and all leading
cities of Europe, were in like case, the darkness of Paris could be
borne.
[Illustration: Argand got his first suggestion for his burner--invented
in 1780--from this style of alcohol lamp, then in general use
throughout France.]
But progress had been made, and early in the eighteenth century the
Corporation of London entered into contract with a certain individual
to set up public lights, giving him permission to exact a sum of six
shillings from every householder whose actual rent exceeded ten pounds.
In the middle of the same century the Lord Mayor and Common Council
applied to Parliament for power to light the streets of London better.
From the granting of this permission dates improvement in public
lighting.
Where Did the Word “Gas” Originate?
A Belgium chemist, Van Helmont, coined the word “gas” in the first half
of the seventeenth century. The Dutch word “geest,” signifying “ghost,”
suggested the term to him, and his superstitious neighbors hounded him
into obscurity for talking of ghosts.
[Illustration: Hanging lamp from Nushagak in Southern Alaska. It is
suspended from the framework of the tent by cords. Oils and fats from
northern animals give a clear and steady light, and Eskimo lamps are
frequently praised by travelers.]
[Illustration: WHAT THE BIG TANK NEAR THE GASWORKS IS FOR