– 1826
On
this date in 1826, English chemist and apothecary John Walker
invented the first friction match. Walker coated the tips of
three-inch splints of wood with a mixture of antimony sulfide,
potassium chlorate, arabic gum, and starch. After the matches dried,
one could strike them on any rough surface and start a fire.
Walker
called his invention “Congreves,” and he sold some...but he
didn't patent the matches, and he made little money on his idea.
Later
a man named Samuel Jones marketed Walker's Congreves – but he
changed the name to “Lucifers.” Even though these matches
produced a bad burning odor, they became quite popular.
Later,
people tried to improve on the invention. In 1830, a French chemist
came up with an odorless match—which sounds great—but it turned
out to be poisonous! The chemist had used white phosphorous as part
of the mixture, and that made people sick with something called
“phossy jaw.” In 1855, safety matches were patented by Johan
Edvard Lundstrom of Sweden. Lundstrom used phosphorous, too—but he
used red phosphorous, not white, and he put it on a strip of
sandpaper on the outside of the match box. When the match was struck
across the surface of the rough sandpaper, the chemicals on the match
tip were able to ignite—but the red phosphorous itself didn't burn!
Years
later, in 1910, the Diamond Match Company patented the first
nonpoisonous match in the United States. The U.S. president, William
H. Taft, asked Diamond Match to release their patent for the good of
humankind, and the company did! Then all the match companies could
manufacture non-poisonous matches!
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