by D.Tudor Harrell, Hobbies Magazine, January, 1953

'Twas a light that made
Darkness itself appear
A thing of comfort. -- SOUTHEY

Even though man had used fire since prehistoric days, it was not until the beginning of the 19th century that anything in the nature of a match was available.

From Virgil we learn that in the reign of the Emperor Titus, fire was obtained by rubbing decayed wood with a roll of sulphur between two stone, but it was not until Saxon times we find evidence of the use of the tinder box with its flint and steel. That this was still regarded as remarkable until the 15th century, is proved by its representation in the collar of the Order of the Golden Fleece, which was founded in 1429.

The Greek story of Prometheus who stole fire from heaven, is only a reiteration of the older fables touching the worship of trees or Arborolatry. The universe was a tree, the fire its fruit, and the leaves distilled the water of life. The gods used the fire for themselves, and he who stole it was accursed. The priests alone used fire.

The "lamp of fire" as in Abraham's dream was carried through the wilderness.

Burning glasses had been employed from most primitive times, but it was very discouraging to have to wait for a sunny day to boil the kettle.

Tinder, where the linen caught and would set sulphur on fire would blaze up. Muskets with which Napoleon won most of his battles were furnished with flints, and soldiers of Marlborough set off their guns with punk. Percussion caps were patented in 1807.

Man, obtaining fire from burning naphtha wells, bog or forest, saw sparks fly from his flint weapon, and noted the affinity of sulphur with fire. The axle of his chariot took fire, and he learned to rub sticks. Finally sulphur was dipped on sticks at volcanic craters or mines and it blazed up. Then it was found that the sulphur match would light itself by drawing it through sandpaper. Thus the brimstone match was born.

The introduction of phosphorus and potassium led to the adoption of a bottle match in place of the tinderbox. Phosphorus was put in a bottle and when the sulphur match was run in the bottle it came out ablaze.

The Locofocus or Brimstone Match was brought to America about 1825. A piece of sandpaper was sold with a comb of matches. This was a stick dipped in sulphide of antimony and chlorate of potash mixed with gum.

Two discoveries, one by a German who isolated phosphorus in 1669 and the other by a Frenchman who produced cholate of potash in 1786 prepared the way for the manufacture of matches.

From this latter date the production of fire was greatly facilitated. A few years before Queen Victoria came to the throne of England, John Walker, a chemist of Stockton-on-Tees produced the first friction matches of which there is any certain record. These were called "Congreves" and sold in boxes of 50 for 2/6. Their success soon led others to experiment, and factories began to spring up in all parts of the country. Match makers became familiar with fire making properties not only of sulphur and phosphorus, but chlorate of potash, red lead, nitrate of lead, bichromate of potash, peroxide of manganese, sulphide of antimony, saltpetre, charcoal, etc.

The wooden phosphorus match came from Vienna in 1833. Lundstrom of Sweden began using red phosphorus in 1855, which reduced the evils of match making considerably.

In America, pines, and aspens are favorite woods, the square matches were cut from a veneer of wood, and the round ones being made by forcing a block of wood against a steel plate with holes in it. In both processes the wood was boiled and shaved.

In France the Government reserved the monopoly on matches and sold it to a Match Trust called La Compagnie Generale des Allumettes Chimiques. This company had 12 factories, and the largest was at Marseilles.

At the World's Fair of 1893 in Machinery Hall a match machine cut 15 million splints in a day, and one English factory made 36 million matches a year.

Matchboxes also were made of aspen. A section being cut about 30 inches in length and made to revolve on a peeling machine. After a few revolutions, the rough outer surface was removed, and thin rolls of wood peeled off or veneered. It was then cut into "skillets" of pieces of the size required for either covers or the insides of the boxes. The skillets then went to the box machines, which folded and labeled them. After 30 minutes in a drying chamber they were ready for use.