What is sulfur for matches made of? When did the first matches appear? Why do matches burn?
Matches were invented relatively recently - at the beginning of the 19th century. Until that time, fire was produced in a different way. Instead of a box of matches, people carried in their pocket a small box containing three items: a piece of steel, a small stone, and a piece of something like a sponge. If you asked what it is, you would be told that steel is flint, a pebble is flint, and a piece of sponge is tinder.
A whole bunch of things instead of one match!
How then was fire produced?
Here sits a fat man in a motley robe, with a long pipe in his teeth. In one hand he holds a tinderbox, in the other flint and tinder. He strikes flint on flint. No result! Again. Nothing again. Again. A spark jumps out of the flint and flint, but the tinder does not light up. Finally, for the fourth or fifth time, the tinder flares up.
In fact, this is the same lighter. There is also a pebble in the lighter, there is a piece of steel - a wheel, there is also tinder - a wick soaked in gasoline.
Putting out a fire is not easy. At least when European travelers wanted to teach the Greenland Eskimo how to make fire in this way, the Eskimo refused. They considered that their old method was better: they produced fire by friction, like primitive people, by rotating a wand placed on a piece of dry wood with a belt. Self-ignition of wood occurs at 300 degrees - imagine how much effort it takes to heat a wooden stick to that temperature!
The Europeans themselves were also not averse to replacing flint and steel with something more convenient. Every now and then all kinds of "chemical flint" appeared on sale, one more wiser than the other.
So, there were matches that were lit by touching sulfuric acid. The head of such a match consisted of a mixture of sulfur, bartolet salt (KClO 3) and cinnabar. In 1813 in Vienna, Maliard and Wieck registered the first match manufactory in Austria-Hungary for the production of chemical matches. The inconvenience of this type of match is obvious: sulfuric acid, an unsafe chemical, should always be at hand.
There were matches with a glass head that had to be crushed with tongs to make the match flare; there were, finally, whole glassware of a very complex device.
In 1826, the English chemist and pharmacist John Walker invented sulfur matches, and he did it, as often happens, quite by accident. Walker was interested in ways to quickly create a fire, but without an explosion, so that this fire could slowly transfer to the tree from the flammable mixture. Once he was mixing chemicals with a stick, and a dried drop formed on the end of the stick. To remove it, he struck a stick on the floor. Fire broke out! Walker immediately appreciated the practical value of his discovery and began to experiment, and then to produce matches. There were 50 matches in one box and it cost 1 shilling. Each box came with a piece of sandpaper folded in half. Walker named his matches "Congreve" after inventor William Congreve.
On April 7, 1827, Walker made his first commercial deal: he sold the first sulfur matches to lawyer Nixon.
The heads in John Walker's matches consisted of a mixture of antimony sulfide, bartolet salt and gum arabic, a viscous substance that acacias secrete (also called gum). When such a match is rubbed against sandpaper or another rather rough surface, its head easily ignites.
Box of matches - "lucifers"
Walker's matches, having burned down, left behind a bad memory in the form of a nasty sulfur dioxide, scattered clouds of sparks around them when ignited, and were a whole yard long (about 90 cm).
Matches brought Walker neither fame nor fortune. Walker did not want to patent his invention, although many persuaded him about this, for example, Michael Faraday. But a guy named Samuel Jones, who once was present at the demonstration of "congreves", estimated the market value of the invention. He called the matches "Lucifers", and began to sell them in tons - "Lucifers" were in demand, despite all their shortcomings. These matches were packed in tin cases of 100 pieces.
This continued until, in 1830, the young French chemist Charles Soria invented phosphorus matches, which consisted of a mixture of bartholite salt, white phosphorus and glue.
Charles Sauria
Phosphorus is a substance that ignites at the slightest heating - only up to 60 degrees. It would seem that the best material for matches cannot be invented. However, this advantage of phosphorus matches turned out to be their main drawback. To light a match, it was enough to strike it against the wall or even on the top. Why strike there - such matches caught fire even from mutual friction in the box during transportation! There was even an anecdote in England: a whole match says to another, half-burnt: “You see how your bad habit of scratching the back of your head ends!”
When the match was lit, an explosion occurred. The head exploded into pieces, like a small bomb.
Much worse was the fact that matches with white phosphorus are very poisonous. The production of such matches was harmful: match factory workers from the vapors of white phosphorus acquired a severe disease - bone necrosis. Suicides of that time solved their problem very easily, simply by eating a few match heads. What can we say about the numerous poisonings with phosphorus matches due to careless handling!
Another disadvantage of the Walker and Soria matches was the ignition instability of the match handle - the burning time of the head was very short. The way out was found in the invention of phosphorus-sulfur matches, the head of which was made in two stages - first, the stalk was dipped in a mixture of sulfur, wax or stearin, a small amount of berthollet salt and glue, and then in a mixture of white phosphorus, berthollet salt and glue. A flash of phosphorus ignited a slower-burning mixture of sulfur and wax, and from it a match stalk ignited.
Phosphorus matches had one more drawback - extinguished matchsticks continued to smolder, which often led to fires. This problem was solved by impregnating the matchstick with ammonium phosphate (NH 4 H 2 PO 4). Such matches began to be called impregnated (eng. impregnated- impregnated) and later - safe. For stable burning of the cutting, they began to impregnate it with wax or stearin (later - paraffin).
In 1853, "safe" or "Swedish" matches finally appeared, which we still use today. This became possible as a result of the discovery in 1847 of red phosphorus, which, unlike white, is not poisonous. Red phosphorus was obtained by the Austrian chemist A. Schroetter by heating white phosphorus at 500°C in a carbon monoxide (CO) atmosphere in a sealed glass ampoule. The Swedish chemist Johan Lundström applied red phosphorus to the surface of sandpaper and replaced the white phosphorus in the head of a match with it. Such matches were no longer harmful to health, they easily ignited on a pre-prepared surface and practically did not ignite spontaneously. Johan Lundström patented the first "Swedish match", which has survived to this day almost unchanged.
Johan Lundström's younger brother, Carl Frans Lundström (1823-1917) was an entrepreneur with many bold ideas. The brothers founded a match factory in Jönköping as early as 1844-1845. In the early years of its existence, the Lundström brothers' factory produced matches from yellow phosphorus. The production of safety matches began in 1853 and at the same time Carl Frans Lundström began to export matches to England.
The Lundström matches were a great success at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1855, receiving a silver medal for the fact that the way they were made did not endanger the health of the workers. But due to the fact that matches were quite expensive, commercial success came to the brothers only in 1868. In the first years after its founding, the Lundström factory produced 4,400 matchboxes a year, and in 1896 there were already seven million of them! So the Swedish match conquered the whole world.
References:
1. M. Ilyin. "Stories of Things"
2.Wikipedia.org
3. tekniskamuseet.se
With the advent of the first matches, humanity has finally mastered the ability to control fire like never before. With instant access to fire, cheap price, small size and reliable use, matches and lighters have enriched our history and lifestyle. The people who invented these wonderful devices were few and far between, but their efforts are still remembered in history as very important moments that changed the path of society, allowing it to develop more successfully. But not many people know the story of when matches were invented, who invented them today. This article aims to fill a knowledge gap.
The first matches ever made did not have the ability to create fire on their own, but were instead used to quickly increase smaller fire sources. Capturing the smallest spark, the sulfur-coated Chinese sticks burned brightly, which made it possible to quickly form a traditional fire. However, this method did not develop into something that can be used today.
Hennig Brandt
Hennig Brandt was the first chemist (he called himself an alchemist) to discover the properties of phosphorus in 1669. By discovering this substance and registering its properties, he allowed future scientists to use it in their projects and tests. Brandt himself was disappointed with the discovery of phosphorus and did not seek to develop it, instead wishing to find the secret to turning various metals into gold.
However, the young Parisian chemist Jean Chancel was very interested in inventing an easy and safe way to produce wooden matches. In 1805, he came up with a method to cause a strong chemical reaction that creates a fire. For the reaction, it was necessary to dip a wooden stick, which was coated with a mixture of potassium chlorate, sulfur, sugar and rubber, into an asbestos bottle, which was filled with sulfuric acid. Although his dangerous and toxic invention did not find much commercial use, it opened the door for other inventors to step up and try to find a more chemically acceptable solution to the match improvement problem.
This solution came from John Walker, an English chemist and apothecary, who in 1826 invented sulfur matches. He combined a mixture of sulfur and other materials that coated a wooden stick and strong phosphorus-coated paper. Striking a match between the folded paper, the sulfur ignited and the wand caught fire. Over the next few years, he managed to sell numerous matches of this design, but it became apparent that his chemical formula was not suitable for widespread use. Matches invented by Walker, burning out, left behind an unpleasant sulfur dioxide, while burning a whole sheaf of sparks flew out of them, and they were almost a meter (90 cm) long. The wand's gray tip often burned so intensely that it managed to detach itself from the wand, setting fire to the carpets and dresses of the people who used it.
John Walker
The invention did not bring Walker any money or fame. He did not want to patent his sulfur matches, although even Michael Faraday urged him to do this, but there was a resourceful boy Samuel Jones who managed to see that you can make good money here. He attended Walker's demonstrations and, based on them, created his own matches, which he called "Lucifer" and began to sell them. Matches, for all their shortcomings, were a success. They were packed in tin cases of 100 pieces each.
Matches "Lucifer"
Another great improvement in the history of matches came from the exploits of Charles Sauria, the chemist who was the first to introduce mixed white phosphorus into the match industry. Although its mixture, created in the 1830s, was incredibly strong and flammable (even self-igniting), the toxicity of white phosphorus caused outrage among people and government officials who, after several decades of use, declared it banned. It got to the point that match factory workers acquired bone tissue necrosis. In those days, suicidal people even came up with a way to quickly commit suicide, they simply ate a few heads from Sauria's force matches.
Charles Sauria
The most popular match design was created by Swede Gustaf Erik Pasch (1788-1862), who, together with Johan Edvard Lundström, managed to create a safe design - an easy-to-use, cheap and non-toxic match that did not have the ability to self-ignite. By placing the phosphorus coating in a separate place, the little matches with their famous red heads instantly amazed the whole world.
Swedish matches
More than 500 billion matches are used every year, which would not have been possible without the efforts and ingenuity of all these scientists from our past.
In the video below you can see how modern matches are made:
This video explains and shows in detail how the combustion reaction of a match occurs:
Also, beautiful fiery dominoes are obtained from matches:
Matches have been one of the most important elements of human life for many decades, and even today they play an important role in our everyday life. Usually, striking a match on a box, we do not even think about what chemical reactions are taking place at that second and how much ingenuity and effort people have put in to have such a convenient means of making fire.
Ordinary matches are undoubtedly among the most amazing inventions of the human mind. To be convinced of this, it suffices to recall how much effort it took to make a fire in the old days.
True, our ancestors abandoned the tedious method of extracting fire by friction even in antiquity. In the Middle Ages, a more convenient device appeared for this purpose - a steel, but even with it, kindling a fire required a certain skill and effort. When steel hit flint, a spark was struck, which fell on tinder soaked in saltpeter. The tinder began to smolder. Having attached a piece of paper, shavings or any other kindling to it, they fanned the fire. Fanning the spark was the most unpleasant moment in this lesson. But was it possible to do without it? Someone came up with the idea of dipping a dry splinter into molten sulfur. As a result, a sulfur head formed on one tip of the torch. When the head was pressed against the smoldering tinder, it flared up. The whole splinter lit up from it. This is how the first matches appeared.
I must say that throughout their previous history, people tried to get fire with the help of mechanical influences - friction or impact. With this approach, the sulfur match could only play an auxiliary role, since it was impossible to directly make fire with its help, because it did not catch fire either from impact or friction. But at the end of the 18th century, the famous chemist Berthollet proved that a flame can be the result of a chemical reaction. In particular, if sulfuric acid is dropped on potassium hypochlorous acid (Bertholite salt), a flame will arise. This discovery made it possible to approach the problem of making fire from a completely different angle. In different countries, many years of research began on the creation of matches with an end smeared with one or another chemical substance that can ignite under certain conditions.
In 1812, Chapsel invented the first self-igniting matches, still very imperfect, but with their help it was possible to get a flame much faster than with the help of a steel. Chapsel's matches were wooden sticks with a head made of a mixture of sulfur, bartolet salt and cinnabar (the latter served to color the incendiary mass in a beautiful red color). In sunny weather, such a match was lit with a biconvex lens, and in other cases, in contact with a drop of concentrated sulfuric acid. These matches were very expensive and, moreover, dangerous, since sulfuric acid splashed when the head ignited and could cause burns. It is clear that they are not widely used. More practical were to be matches with heads that light up with light friction. However, sulfur was not suitable for this purpose.
They were looking for another flammable substance and then drew attention to white phosphorus, discovered in 1669 by the German alchemist Brand. Brand obtained phosphorus while trying to create the Philosopher's Stone by evaporating a mixture of sand and urine. Phosphorus is much more combustible than sulfur, but not everything worked out right away with it. At first, matches were lit with difficulty, as the phosphorus burned out too quickly and did not have time to ignite the torch. Then they began to apply it over the head of an old sulfur match, assuming that sulfur would catch fire faster from phosphorus than wood. But these matches also lit up badly. Things went smoothly only after they began to mix with phosphorus substances that, when heated, release the oxygen necessary for ignition.
The next version of chemical matches, ignited by the contact of a head of a mixture of sugar and potassium perchlorate with sulfuric acid, appeared in Vienna. In 1813, Mahliard & Wik's first match factory in Austria-Hungary for the production of chemical matches was registered here. A variant of such a match was used by Charles Darwin, biting through the glass of a cone with acid and risking burns.
By the time the production of sulfur matches began (1826) by the English chemist and pharmacist John Walker, chemical matches were already quite widespread in Europe. The heads in John Walker's matches consisted of a mixture of antimony sulfide, bertolet salt and gum arabic (gum, a viscous liquid secreted by acacia). When such a match was rubbed against sandpaper (grater) or another rather rough surface, its head easily ignited. Walker's matches were a full yard long. They were packed in tin cases of 100 pieces. The main disadvantage of the Walker and Soria matches was the instability of the ignition of the match handle - the burning time of the head was very short. In addition, these matches had a terrible smell and sometimes ignited with an explosion. Perhaps that is why Walker did not earn a lot of money on his invention.
Now it is difficult to say who was the first to come up with a successful recipe for incendiary mass for phosphorus matches. According to one version, in 1830 it was developed by the 19-year-old French chemist Charles Soria. His matches consisted of a mixture of Berthollet salt, white phosphorus and glue. These matches were very flammable, because they caught fire even from mutual friction in the box and when rubbing against any hard surface, for example, the sole of a boot. At that time, there was even an English joke in which a whole match says to another, half-burnt: “You see how your bad habit of scratching the back of your head ends!”
According to another version, it was the Austrian Irini. In 1833, he suggested to the entrepreneur Roemer the following method for making matches: “You need to take some hot glue, gum arabic is best, throw a piece of phosphorus into it and shake the bottle with glue vigorously. In hot glue, with strong agitation, the phosphorus will break into small particles. They adhere so closely to the glue that a thick whitish liquid is formed. Further, finely ground powder of lead peroxide must be added to this mixture. All this is stirred until a uniform brown mass is obtained. First you need to prepare sulphates, that is, splinters, the ends of which are covered with sulfur. From above, sulfur must be covered with a layer of phosphorus mass. To do this, sulphurs are dipped in the prepared mixture. Now it remains to dry them. Thus, matches are obtained. They ignite very easily. You just have to strike them against the wall.
This description enabled Roemer to open a match factory. However, he understood that it was inconvenient to carry matches in his pocket and strike them against the wall and came up with the idea of packing them in boxes, on one side of which they glued a rough piece of paper (they simply cooked it - dipped it in glue and poured sand or crushed glass on it). When striking on such a piece of paper (or on any rough surface), the match ignited. Having set up a trial production of matches to begin with, Roemer then expanded production forty times - so great was the demand for his goods, and earned a lot of money from the production of matches. Other manufacturers followed his example, and soon phosphorus matches became a popular and cheap commodity in all countries.
Gradually, several different compositions of the incendiary mass were developed. Already from the description of Irini it is clear that the head of the phosphorus match included several components, each of which performed its own functions. First of all, there was phosphorus, which played the role of an igniter. Substances that release oxygen were mixed with it. In addition to the rather dangerous berthollet salt, manganese peroxide or red lead could be used in this role, and in more expensive matches, lead peroxide, which was generally the most suitable material.
Less combustible substances were placed under a layer of phosphorus, transmitting a flame from an igniter to a wooden torch. It could be sulfur, stearin or paraffin. In order for the reaction not to go too fast and the wood to have time to heat up to the combustion temperature, neutral substances were added, for example, pumice or powdered glass. Finally, glue was mixed into the mass in order to connect all the other components together. When the head rubbed against a rough surface at the point of contact, heat arose sufficient to ignite the nearest particles of phosphorus, from which others ignited. At the same time, the mass was so heated that the body containing oxygen decomposed. The released oxygen contributed to the ignition of a flammable substance that was under the head (sulfur, paraffin, etc.). From him, the fire was transferred to the tree.
The first phosphorus matches were brought to Russia in 1836, they were expensive - a silver ruble for a hundred.
A big disadvantage of phosphorus matches was the toxicity of phosphorus. In match factories, workers quickly (sometimes in a few months) were poisoned by phosphorus vapor and became incapable of work. The harmfulness of this production exceeded even mirror and hat production. In addition, a solution of an incendiary mass in water gave the strongest poison, which was used by suicides (and often murderers).
In 1847, Schroeter discovered the non-poisonous amorphous red phosphorus. Since that time, there was a desire to replace dangerous white phosphorus with it. Before others, this problem was solved by the famous German chemist Betcher. He prepared a mixture of sulfur and bartolet salt, mixed them with glue, and applied it to the paraffin-coated splinters. But, alas, these matches turned out to be impossible to light on a rough surface. Then Betcher came up with the idea of smearing a piece of paper with a special composition containing a certain amount of red phosphorus. When the match was rubbed against such a surface, particles of red phosphorus were ignited due to the particles of berthollet salt of the head touching them and ignited the latter. New matches burned with a steady yellow flame. They did not give off any smoke or that unpleasant smell that accompanied phosphorus matches. However, the invention of Betcher at first did not interest the manufacturers. And only in 1851, the Lundstrem brothers from Sweden began to produce "safe matches" according to Bechter's recipe. Therefore, phosphorus-free matches were called "Swedish" for a long time. In 1855, these matches were awarded a medal at the World Exhibition in Paris. As soon as "safety" matches became widespread, many countries banned the production and sale of matches made from poisonous white phosphorus.
Limited production of matches with white phosphorus remained only in England, Canada and the USA, mainly for military purposes, and also (until 1925) in some Asian countries. In 1906, the international Berne Convention was adopted, prohibiting the use of white phosphorus in the manufacture of matches. By 1910, the production of phosphoric matches in Europe and America was completely discontinued.
At the end of the 19th century, the match business became Sweden's "national sport". In 1876, 38 factories for the production of matches were built in this country, and a total of 121 factories were operating. However, by the beginning of the 20th century, almost all of them either went bankrupt or merged into large concerns.
Currently, matches made in most European countries do not contain sulfur and chlorine compounds - paraffins and chlorine-free oxidizing agents are used instead.
History of matches
Matches are a relatively recent invention of mankind, they replaced the tinderbox about two centuries ago, when weaving looms were already working, trains and steamships were running. But it wasn't until 1844 that safety matches were announced.
The discovery of phosphorus
In 1669, the alchemist Henning Brand, trying to create a philosopher's stone, obtained a substance that glows in the dark, later called phosphorus, by evaporating a mixture of sand and urine. The next step in the history of the invention of the match was made by the English physicist and chemist Robert Boyle (co-author of the Boyle-Mariotte law) and his assistant Gottfried Hauckweitz: they coated paper with phosphorus and ran a sulfur-coated wooden chip over it.
Incendiary machines
Between matches and flint and steel, there were several inventions for making fire, in particular, Döbereiner's incendiary apparatus, created in 1823 and based on the property of detonating gas to ignite in the presence of fine platinum sawdust.
The history of inventions and discoveries in chemistry at the end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th centuries, which led to the invention of various types of matches, is rather confusing. International patent law did not yet exist at that time, European countries often challenged each other's primacy in many projects, and various inventions and discoveries appeared almost simultaneously in different countries. Therefore, it makes sense to talk only about the industrial (manufactory) production of matches.
The first matches were made in 1805 by the French chemist Chancel. These were wooden matches that were ignited by the contact of the head of a mixture of sulfur, bartholium salt and cinnabar with concentrated sulfuric acid.. In 1813, the first match factory in Austria-Hungary for the production of chemical matches by Mahliard and Wik was registered in Vienna. By the time the production of sulfur matches began (1826), the English chemist and pharmacist John Walker (eng. John Walker) chemical matches were already quite widespread in Europe (Charles Darwin used a variant of such a match, biting through the glass of a cone with acid and risking burns).
The heads in John Walker's matches consisted of a mixture of antimony sulfide, bertolet salt and gum arabic (gum, a viscous liquid secreted by acacia). When such a match is rubbed against sandpaper (grater) or other rather rough surface, its head easily ignites.
Walker's matches were a full yard long. They were packed in tin pencil cases100 pieces each, but Walker did not earn a lot of money on his invention. In addition, these matches had a terrible smell. Later, smaller matches began to go on sale.
In 1830, 19-year-old French chemist Charles Soria invented phosphorus matches, which consisted of a mixture of barthollet salt, white phosphorus and glue. These matches were very flammable, because they caught fire even from mutual friction in the box and when rubbing against any hard surface, for example, the sole of a boot (how can one not remember the hero of Charlie Chaplin, who lit a match on his own pants). At that time, there was an English joke in which a whole match says to another, half-burnt: “You see how your bad habit of scratching the back of your head ends!” Soria's matches were odorless, but were harmful to health, since white phosphorus is very poisonous, which was used by many suicides to settle accounts with life.
The main disadvantage of the Walker and Soria matches was the instability of the ignition of the match handle - the burning time of the head was very short. The way out was found in the invention of phosphorus-sulfur matches, the head of which was made in two stages - first, the handle was dipped in a mixture of sulfur, wax or stearin, a small amount of barthollet salt and glue, and then in a mixture of white phosphorus, barthollet salt and glue. A flash of phosphorus ignited a slower-burning mixture of sulfur and wax, which ignited the stalk of a match.
These matches remained dangerous not only in production, but also in use - extinguished matchsticks continued to smolder, leading to frequent fires. This problem was solved by impregnating the match handle with ammonium phosphate (NH 4 H 2 PO 4). Such matches became known as impregnated(English) impregnated- impregnated) or, later, safe. For stable burning of the cutting, they began to impregnate it with wax or stearin (later - paraffin).
In 1855, the Swedish chemist Johan Lundström applied red phosphorus to the surface of sandpaper and replaced the white phosphorus in the head of a match with it. Such matches were no longer harmful to health, they easily ignited on a pre-prepared surface and practically did not ignite spontaneously. Johan Lundström patents the first "Swedish match", which has survived almost to this day. In 1855, Lundström's matches were awarded a medal at the World Exhibition in Paris. Later, phosphorus was completely removed from the composition of the match heads and remained only in the composition of the spread (grater).
With the development of the production of "Swedish" matches, the production of matches using white phosphorus was banned in almost all countries. Before the invention of sesquisulfide matches, limited production of matches with white phosphorus was maintained only in England, Canada and the United States, mainly for military purposes, and also (until 1925) in some Asian countries. In 1906, the international Berne Convention was adopted, prohibiting the use of white phosphorus in the manufacture of matches. By 1910, the production of phosphoric matches in Europe and America was completely discontinued.
Sesquisulfide matches were invented in 1898 by French chemists Saven and Caen. They are produced mainly in English-speaking countries, mainly for military needs. The basis of a rather complex composition of the head are non-poisonous phosphorus sesquisulfide (P 4 S 3) and Berthollet salt.
At the end of the 19th century, the match business became Sweden's "national sport". In 1876, 38 factories for the production of matches were built, and a total of 121 factories were operating. However, by the beginning of the 20th century, almost all of them either went bankrupt or merged into large concerns.
Currently, matches made in most European countries do not contain sulfur and chlorine compounds - paraffins and chlorine-free oxidizing agents are used instead.
Device
The mass of a match head is 60% berthollet salt, as well as combustible substances - sulfur or metal sulfides. In order for the head to ignite slowly and evenly, without an explosion, so-called fillers are added to the mass - glass powder or iron oxide. The binding material is glue. The main component of the grater coating is red phosphorus. Manganese oxide, crushed glass and glue are added to it. When the head is rubbed against the skin at the point of their contact, red phosphorus ignites due to the oxygen of Berthollet's salt, that is, fire initially occurs in the skin and sets fire to the match head. Sulfur or sulfide flares up in it, again due to the oxygen of the Bertolet salt. And then the tree lights up.
Manufacturing
Matches are made in accordance with GOST 1820-2001. In order to avoid smoldering, match straws are impregnated with a 1.5% solution of orthophosphoric acid, and then paraffinized (by dipping in molten paraffin).
The composition of the match head: Berthollet salt - 46.5%, chrompeak - 1.5%, sulfur - 4.2%, minium - 15.3%, zinc white - 3.8%, ground glass - 17.2%, glue bone - 11.5%.
The composition of the "grater": red phosphorus - 30.8%, antimony trisulfur - 41.8%, minium - 12.8%, chalk - 2.6%, zinc white - 1.5%, ground glass - 3.8% , bone glue - 6.7%.
As stated in the modern encyclopedia, these are thin, elongated pieces of wood, cardboard, or wax-impregnated thread, equipped with a head of a chemical that ignites from friction.
Etymology and history of the word
The word "match" is derived from the old Russian word "matches" - the plural uncountable form of the word "spoke" (a pointed wooden stick, a splinter). Initially, this word referred to wooden nails that were used in the manufacture of shoes (for attaching the sole to the head). In this sense, the word is still used in a number of regions of Russia. Initially, to designate matches in the modern sense, the phrase “incendiary (or samogar) matches” was used, and only with the ubiquity of matches did the first word begin to be omitted, and then completely disappeared from everyday life.
History of the match
The history of inventions and discoveries in chemistry at the end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th centuries, which led to the invention of various types of matches, is quite confusing. International patent law did not yet exist at that time, European countries often challenged each other's primacy in many projects, and various inventions and discoveries appeared almost simultaneously in different countries. Therefore, it makes sense to talk only about the industrial (manufactory) production of matches.
The first matches appeared at the end of the 18th century. These were chemical matches that were ignited by the contact of a head of a mixture of sugar and potassium perchlorate with sulfuric acid. In 1813, the first match factory in Austria-Hungary for the production of chemical matches by Mahliard and Wik was registered in Vienna. By the time the production of sulfur matches began (1826) by the English chemist and pharmacist John Walker, chemical matches were already quite widespread in Europe (Charles Darwin used a variant of such a match, biting through the glass of a cone with acid and risking burns).
The heads in John Walker's matches consisted of a mixture of antimony sulfide, bertolet salt and gum arabic (gum, a viscous liquid secreted by acacia). When such a match is rubbed against sandpaper (grater) or other rather rough surface, its head easily ignites.
They were a full yard long. They were packed in tin cases of 100 pieces, but Walker did not earn a lot of money on his invention. In addition, these matches had a terrible smell. Later, smaller matches began to go on sale.
In 1830, 19-year-old French chemist Charles Soria invented phosphorus matches, which consisted of a mixture of barthollet salt, white phosphorus and glue. These matches were very flammable, because they caught fire even from mutual friction in the box and when rubbing against any hard surface, for example, the sole of a boot (how can one not remember the hero of Charlie Chaplin, who lit a match on his own pants). At that time, there was an English joke in which a whole match says to another, half-burnt: “You see how your bad habit of scratching the back of your head ends!” Soria's matches were odorless, but were harmful to health, as they were very poisonous, which was used by many suicides to settle accounts with life.
The main drawback of the Walker and Soria matches was the instability of the ignition of the match handle - the burning time of the head was very short. The way out was found in the invention of phosphorus-sulfur matches, the head of which was made in two stages - first, the stalk was dipped in a mixture of sulfur, wax or stearin, a small amount of berthollet salt and glue, and then in a mixture of white phosphorus, berthollet salt and glue. A flash of phosphorus ignited a slower-burning mixture of sulfur and wax, which ignited the stalk of a match.
These matches remained dangerous not only in production, but also in use - extinguished matchsticks continued to smolder, leading to frequent fires. This problem was solved by impregnating the match handle with ammonium phosphate (NH4H2PO4). Such matches began to be called impregnated (English impregnated - impregnated) or, later, safe. For stable burning of the cutting, they began to impregnate it with wax or stearin (later - paraffin).
In 1855, a Swedish chemist applied sandpaper to the surface and replaced it with white phosphorus in the head of a match. Such matches were no longer harmful to health, they easily ignited on a pre-prepared surface and practically did not ignite spontaneously. Johan Lundström patents the first "Swedish match", which has survived almost to this day. In 1855, Lundström's matches were awarded a medal at the World Exhibition in Paris. Later, phosphorus was completely removed from the composition of the match heads and remained only in the composition of the spread (grater).
With the development of the production of "Swedish" matches, the use of white phosphorus was banned in almost all countries. Before the invention of sesquisulfide matches, limited matches with white phosphorus were kept only in England, Canada and the USA, mainly for military purposes, and also (until 1925) in some Asian countries. In 1906, the international Berne Convention was adopted, prohibiting the use of white phosphorus in the manufacture of matches. By 1910, the production of phosphoric matches in Europe and America was completely discontinued.
Sesquisulfide matches were invented in 1898 by French chemists Saven and Caen. They are produced mainly in English-speaking countries, mainly for military needs. The basis of a rather complex composition of the head are non-poisonous phosphorus sequisulphide (P4S3) and berthollet salt.
At the end of the 19th century, the match business became Sweden's "national sport". In 1876, 38 factories for the production of matches were built, and a total of 121 factories were operating. However, by the beginning of the 20th century, almost all of them either went bankrupt or merged into large concerns.
Currently, matches made in most European countries do not contain sulfur and chlorine compounds - paraffins and chlorine-free oxidizing agents are used instead.
First matches
For the first time, white phosphorus was successfully used to light a match by friction in 1830 by the French chemist C. Soria. He made no attempt to organize the industrial production of matches, but two years later phosphorus matches were already being produced in Austria and Germany.
Safety matches
The first safety matches, ignited by rubbing against a specially prepared surface, were created in 1845 in Sweden, where J. Lundström began their industrial production in 1855. This became possible thanks to the discovery by A. Schrotter (Austria) in 1844 of non-toxic amorphous phosphorus. The head of safety matches did not contain all the substances necessary for ignition: amorphous (red) phosphorus was deposited on the wall of the matchbox. Therefore, the match could not be ignited by accident. The composition of the head included potassium chlorate mixed with glue, gum arabic, crushed glass and manganese dioxide. Almost all matches made in Europe and Japan are of this type.
kitchen matches
Matches with a two-layer head, ignited on any hard surface, were patented by F. Farnham in 1888, but their industrial production began only in 1905. The head of such matches consisted of potassium chlorate, glue, rosin, pure gypsum, white and colored pigments and a small amount phosphorus. The layer at the tip of the same head, which was applied by the second dipping, contained phosphorus, glue, flint, gypsum, zinc oxide and a dye. The matches ignited silently, and the possibility of flying off the burning head was completely excluded.
Matchbooks
Cardboard matchbooks are an American invention. A patent for them, issued by J. Pussy in 1892, was acquired in 1894 by the Diamond Match Company. At first, such matches did not receive public recognition. But after a beer company purchased 10 million matchbooks to advertise its products, cardboard matches became big business. Nowadays, matchbooks are distributed free of charge to win the favor of customers in hotels, restaurants, tobacco shops. There are twenty matches in a standard booklet, but books of other sizes are also available. They are usually sold in packs of 50. Books of special design can be supplied in packages of various sizes, most suitable for the customer. These matches are of the safe type;
Impregnation of matches
Prior to 1870, no fire impregnation methods were known to prevent flameless burning of the remaining coal on an extinguished match. In 1870, the Englishman Howes received a patent for the impregnation of matches with a square cross section. It listed a number of materials (including alum, sodium tungstate and silicate, ammonium borate and zinc sulfate) suitable for impregnating square matches by immersing them in a chemical bath.
The impregnation of round matches on a continuous match machine was considered impossible. Due to the fact that the legislation of some states since 1910 required mandatory fire impregnation, W. Fairburn, an employee of the Diamond Match company, in 1915 proposed, as an additional operation on a match machine, immersing matches by about 2/3 of the length in a weak solution (approx. 0 .5%) ammonium phosphate.
Phosphorus sesquisulfide
White phosphorus, which was used to make matches, caused bone disease in match factory workers, tooth loss and necrosis of jaw areas. In 1906 an international agreement was signed in Bern (Switzerland) banning the manufacture, import and sale of matches containing white phosphorus. In connection with this ban, harmless matches with amorphous (red) phosphorus were developed in Europe. Phosphorus sesquisulfide was first obtained in 1864 by the Frenchman J. Lemoine, mixing four parts of phosphorus with three parts of sulfur without access to air. In such a mixture, the toxic properties of white phosphorus did not appear. In 1898, the French chemists A.Seren and E.Caen proposed a method for using phosphorus sesquisulfide in match production, which was soon adopted in some European countries.
In 1900, the Diamond Match Company acquired the right to use a patent for matches with phosphorus sesquisulfide. But the patent formula was for matches with a simple head. The quality of sesquisulfide matches with a two-layer head turned out to be unsatisfactory.
In December 1910, W. Fairburn developed a new formula for harmless matches with phosphorus sesquisulfide. The company published the patent formula and allowed all competitors to use it for free. A law was passed to tax every box of matches with white phosphorus equal to two cents, after which matches with white phosphorus were forced out of the market.
Mechanization of the production of matches
In the beginning, the production of matches was completely manual, but soon attempts began to increase productivity through mechanization. Already in 1888, an automatic continuous-action machine was created, which, with some modifications, still forms the basis of match production.
Production of wooden matches
Modern wooden matches are made in two ways. With the veneer method (for matches of a square cross section), selected aspen logs are skinned and then cut into short blocks, which are peeled or planed into ribbons corresponding in width to the length of the matches, one match thick. The ribbons are fed into a match machine, which cuts them into individual matches. The latter are mechanically inserted into the perforations of the plates of the dipping machine. In another method (for round matches), small pine blocks are fed into the head of the machine, where punching dies arranged in a row cut match blanks and push them into perforations of metal plates on an endless chain.
With both methods of production, the matches pass successively through five baths, in which a general impregnation with a fire-fighting solution is carried out, a ground layer of paraffin is applied to one end of the match to ignite the wood from the match head, a layer forming the head is applied on top of it, a second layer is applied to the tip of the head, and in Finally, the head is sprayed with a hardening solution that protects it from atmospheric influences. After passing on an endless chain through huge drums for drying for 60 minutes, the finished matches are pushed out of the plates and enter the packing machine, which distributes them among the matchboxes. Then the wrapping machine wraps three, six or ten boxes in paper, and the packing machine fills the shipping container with them. A modern match machine (18 m long and 7.5 m high) produces up to 10 million matches in an 8-hour shift.
Production of cardboard matches
Cardboard matches are made on similar machines, but in two separate operations. Pre-treated cardboard from large rolls is fed into a machine that cuts "combs" of 60-100 matches from it and inserts them into the sockets of an endless chain. The chain carries them through the paraffin bath and head forming bath. The finished combs are fed into another machine, which cuts them into double "pages" of 10 matches and fastens them with a pre-printed lid fitted with an ignition strip. Ready matchbooks are sent to the packing machine.
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