h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Matches - a short history - A798834
Author: Zarquon's Singing Fish! (ACE) (Scout) - U182827

Gosho commented on my previous fire-making entries and suggested a passion, so I thought I'd do one on the history of matches. The research was fascinating, particularly the social history part.

I *could* have written more technical stuff, eg on safety matches and the chemical composition, but I thought it was boring, so I left some out. If anyone *really* insists, I would consider putting something in.

Hi ZSF

Excellent entry, very interesting. For some techie stuff you could try linking here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/scienceshack/backcat/multimedia/visafetymatch.shtml

Note that Lundstrom is Johan not Carl.

Some additional notes for you:

Pack Up Your Troubles: dates from 1915, is by George Asaf (1880-1951).

A yard is still three feet, but perhaps you should give the metric equivalent.

John Walker's invention was copied by Samuel Jones of the Strand, and it was Jones who first sold it as a Lucifer, c 1829.

A predecessor of the Lucifer was a Congreve (Sir William, 1772-1828, inventor of the Congreve rocket).

A match was originally a length of wick or cord which burned at a steady rate and was used to fire cannon. It also meant a spill used as secondary tinder in the days of the tinderbox.

It's true, we don't know when humans first discovered fire, but the Greeks reckoned Prometheus stole fire from the gods (ie from Vulcan) and gave it to man.

There was a rather dangerous match invented in 1828 called a Promethean. It had a small glass bulb with sulphuric acid, and the bulb was coated with potassium chlorate, sugar and gum, wrapped in a paper spill. You break the glass bulb with your teeth to 'strike' this match. Charles Darwin used it and was much taken by it.

The discovery of red phosphorus in 1845 (which led to Lundstroem's 'safety' match) was made by Anton von Schroetter.

The safety aspect, of course, was in the fact that the match head did not contain all the ingredients necessary - the rest had to be supplied by what the match was struck on. I think this is not too techie and worth a mention.

Not 'locofocus', but Loco-focos. A Loco-foco (supposed to mean 'self-lighting') was originally a self-igniting cigar patented in New York in 1834 (and probably the original exploding cigar). It then became applied to the Lucifer match. It was later applied to a political party, the Democrats, after an incident at a party meeting in 1835 at which opponents of the radical element within the party turned out the gas lights, but the radicals promptly produced candles which they lit with loco-focos.

And then there's Vesta, the Roman goddess, the virgin who tended the sacred fire, and after whom the wax matches were named.

So many trivia, so little time...



Bels


Vestas

Hi Bels,

Thanks for this. I'll incorporate it into the entry today, if I have time and tomorrow if I don't and I'll give you credit when I've done it. I'm sure I did have Anton von Schroetter's name (so I'll give him credit and not be mean), but I didn't have the other stuff.

I didn't think of looking in the BBC Science bit.

I only did this in response to Gosho's comment on my other entry and I had great fun finding out about it.

We miss you as a scout, you know. Do think of coming back when you have time.

HEy ZSF,

We already have an entry on matches here (A283132), but the information in it is different to yours - is there a way I can help by re-titling the older entry?

Mmm, I see what you mean Ashley, - and you should know .

Interesting that as I came at it with a blank sheet our entries are so different. I did have access to more technical stuff (eg the chemical reaction for safety matches), but I wasn't really interested in that. I could put more stuff in about book matches, for instance. Your entry doesn't cover that at all.

I'll give some thought to an alternative name. Given that you're probably the expert on differentiation, how different does it have to be?

Would 'A Social History of Matches' be accurate enough? What would you suggest?

I've made some alterations and I think I'll sleep on it.

When I first did the entry I tried to find a link to Swan Vesta, but couldn't find a decent one. Much more interesting was the Bryant & May one. Incidentally, I tried to put the ampersand in Bryant & May and wasn't allowed to. How do I do it?

Ashley,

Having read your post again, I see that you are offering to retitle the older one. I've just retitled mine. Having read the older one, I'm not sure what you could retitle it to. Do let me know your thoughts on this.

Great entry ZSF

Couple of questions tho':

'In 1832, small phosphorus matches were manufactured in Germany; they were extremely hazardous.'

Why? Did they explode half the time or something?

'In 1855, a Swede, Johan Lundstrom produced the first red phosphorus 'safety' matches, following the discovery of amorphous (red) phosphorus in 1845. Red phosphorus was first manufactured in quantity fy the firm Albright in Birmingham, England from 1851.'

Think that should be 'by'.

'The match-girls formed a Union, the company agreed to improve conditions and to do away with a punitive fine system'

Fine for what? Low production? Striking?

Apart from those, nice one.

Have you seen Digital Redneck's comments off the entry?

Annie Besant - who and when?

You didn't want to mention the self-lighting cigar? I think it's hilarious!

You can get an ampersand by typing the following five characters: &

Double s in Mendelssohn, please.

You could mention that match books have become eminently collectable, with the rarest fetching high prices although their original cost of production would have been tiny.

I've made some amendments following these excellent suggestions. There are some more to come, which I'll look at tomorrow.

If anyone has more 'match facts', I'll happily include them.

I *love* the new title

Yes, I rather like it as well - a big improvement on the original, I thought. Does it now resolve the conflict with the other entry, Ashley?

I've still got a couple of amendments to include (such as converting a yard into metric - I know a metre measures 3ft 3(ins) ('it's longer than a yard, you see') - I've just not done the conversion yet - ah, I see .9144 of a metre.

I think it's coming along nicely with the input I've had.

Hmmm.. it would be good to see 'strike' in there somewhere - I dunno...

The Striking Story of Matches
Matches - The First Strike
Matches Strike It Rich
Matches Go On Strike
Matches Strike Out
Strike a Light! The Story of Matches

or maybe something like

From Loco-foco to Vesta - the Story of Matches

With the title change, there is enough room for both entries in the Edited Guide - they provide different information on the same subject - the more the merrier I say.

I think I'm going to leave the main title as it is for the moment as I really like it.

I did wonder about the rather pedestrian header for the match-girls strike though, so I'll give your suggestions some thought for that.
I think the reason was that industrial disease wasn't confined to this country. The match museum has a photo of 'Mina' a woman who was no longer able to work due to necrosis caused by the phosphorus.

I still haven't put Vestas in as I would like to be able to find a link. I know they're made in Sweden and advertise themselves as 'Britain's favourite match'. Any ideas?

You are thinking of the Swan brand of vestas. A vesta is another name for a match, usually a short match, made of wood or wax. It comes from the name of the goddess.

I've found a decent hook to include Swan Vestas on. I've not included a link to Trevor Baylis OBE http://www.itp.net/features/101714559532462.htm as it's an interview and I tend to think they get deleted reasonably quickly.

Bels,

I've not included the info about the Congrieve as I'm not sure whether it was similar to a Lucifer or not.

I'll think about putting the information about the original meaning of the word 'match'. I'm also wondering about its derivation.

I think I've finished my amendments for the moment. I found a really useful link to early match manufacturers, which I've added:

http://www.pipe-smokers.co.uk/yesteryear/the_first_light.asp

which mentions the Congreve match, but seems to cast doubt on whether he actually invented it. As it mentions John Walker first, I've linked it to him.

Thanks Bels, for the information.

Any further comments?

It's rather ironic IMHO, that the old Bryant and May factory at Bow - once a symbol of 19th century inequality, become one of many buildings around east London which were gutted in the 1980s and turned into yuppie flats - a symbol of 20th century inequality.

I don't if that's relevant enough to add to your fine piece of writing Zarquon - I like it fine just as it is