Friction matches are a comparatively modern invention. They were first
made by John Walker in England, in 1827, but were rather crude affairs; he
improved them somewhat in 1833 by using phosphorus. But the first really
practical friction match was made in the United States in 1836 by L.C.
Allin, of Springfield, Massachusetts. Before this time a clumsy form of
match was imported from France, which had to be dipped into a bottle of
sulphuric acid before it was lighted.
This took a great deal of time and trouble, and Allin, seeing the
necessity for friction matches, set about to make them, and succeeded. He
neglected to patent them, however, and on finally applying for a patent
found that a man named Alonzo Phillips, who was a peddler, had discovered
through a third person the secret of making the matches and had already
obtained a patent. Allin, though the real inventor, was forced to become
a mere manufacturer under another man's patent.