Year of the invention of matches. The history of the creation of matches for children and adults

Matches have been one of the essential elements human life, 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 famous chemist Berthollet proved that flames can be the result 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. AT 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 splattered when the head ignited and could cause burns. It is clear that they did not receive widespread. 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 got phosphorus trying to create philosopher's Stone, when 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 big money Walker did not make 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 next way 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, 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 prepared it - they 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 gave no smoke, no bad smell, which 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 production of matches. By 1910, the production of phosphoric matches in Europe and America was completely discontinued.

AT late XIX century, the match business has turned into a Swedish " national view sports." 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.

At present, matches made in most European countries, do not contain sulfur and chlorine compounds - paraffins and chlorine-free oxidizing agents are used instead.

Matches were invented relatively recently - in early XIX 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 said to another, half-burned: “You see how your bad habit scratch your head!"

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 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, 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, the "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.

Younger brother Johan Lundström, 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. Production safety matches began in 1853 and at the same time Karl Frans Lundström began to export matches to England.

Lundström's matches had big success at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1855, having received silver medal for the fact that the method of their manufacture did not threaten the health of workers. But because the 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

As stated in modern encyclopedia, these are thin elongated pieces of wood, cardboard or wax-impregnated thread, equipped with a head made of chemical ignited by 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. Originally to refer to matches in modern understanding 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 in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, leading to the invention various types matches, quite confusing. International patent law did not yet exist, 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 Swedish chemist applied to the surface of the sandpaper and replaced it with white phosphorus as part of the match head. Such matches were no longer harmful to health, they easily ignited on a pre-prepared surface and practically did not ignite spontaneously. 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 production 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 industrial production matches, but two years later phosphorus matches were already 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 square matches. 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 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 in Bern (Switzerland) it was signed international agreement 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, matches pass successively through five baths, in which a general impregnation with a fire-fighting solution is carried out, a primer 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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From a simple small stick, a light is instantly born. But the fact of the matter is that the match is not at all a simple stick, but a stick with a secret. And her secret is in her little brown head. He struck a brown head on the box - a flame broke out.

Try rubbing your palm against your palm. Do you feel how warm your palms are? That's the match. She, too, becomes warm from friction, even hot.

But for a tree to flare up, this heat is not enough. But a combustible head is enough. It lights up even from a slight heating. Therefore, the match does not need to be rubbed against the box for a long time, just strike it, and it just flared up. And then a wooden stick lights up from the head.

When matches appeared

Matches were invented about 200 years ago. In 1833 the first match factory was built. Until that time, people made fire in a different way.

First lighter

In ancient times, many people carried in their pocket a piece of iron - flint, a hard stone - flint and a wick - tinder. Chirk-chirk with flint and flint. Once again, again, again and again ... Sparks rained down. Finally, a lucky spark ignites the tinder and it begins to smolder. Why not a lighter? Only instead of a single item, as it is now, the ancient lighter consisted of three items. The lighter also has a pebble, a piece of steel - a wheel, there is also tinder - a wick soaked in gasoline.

A match is also a lighter

And the match is also a lighter. Small, thin, very handy lighter. She, too, flares up from friction. The rough barrel of the box is its steel. And the combustible head is both flint and tinder.

Making fire is a very difficult task. People all the time came up with different devices for making fire. But no matter what trick people come up with, trying to make a fire, friction has always been an indispensable condition for getting fire.

At first, matches were harmful and dangerous:

ignited only from caustic acid;
the heads of others had first to be crushed with special tweezers;
the third matches did look like tiny bombs. They did not catch fire, but exploded with a bang. These are phosphorus matches. When ignited, poisonous sulfur dioxide was formed;
at one time huge and complex glass instruments were used as matches. The devices were very expensive and inconvenient to use, besides, all these matches smoked heavily ...

More recently, about 100 years ago, "Swedish" matches were invented, which we still use today. These are the safest and cheapest matches ever invented by man. Here is the history of the creation of matches.

Varieties of matches

Travelers, geologists, climbers take signal matches with them on a hike. Each one burns with a small torch. It is bright and burns with a multi-colored torch: red, blue, green, yellow. Visible from afar.

Sailors have huge wind matches in stock. Their strong flame does not go out even in the violent sea wind.

During the Great Patriotic War our soldiers had huge ignition matches. They set fire to bottles with a combustible mixture.

That's how much use a match has! She will light a gas stove, and make a fire in the field, and give a signal, and destroy the enemy’s tank. match in good hands will do many good deeds. But if suddenly she gets into bad hands, then you will not end up with misfortunes. In this regard, it is necessary to explain to children how dangerous games with matches are.

The biggest match in the world

On August 21, 2004, the longest match in the world was made and lit in Estonia. It is 20,000 times larger than our regular match. Its length is over 6 meters. Picked up a match cargo lift.

And there was a time when simple matches not yet figured out.To keep warm by the fire or cook meat, you need a fire. But where to get it? What about a thunderstorm? Lightning sets wood on fire, that's fire for you. Take a smoldering firebrand, bring it home to the cave and build a fire there.People kept this "heavenly fire" as the most valuable treasure, never let it go out. And then they learned to make fire without a thunderstorm.They will take a firmer dry plank, a stronger dry stick, drier grass. They insert the stick into the hollow of the plank - and begin to rotate it with all their might in their palms. Seven sweats will be shed until the grass begins to smolder. Further it is easier: they will blow - it will burst into flames.

Primitive man made fire by friction. With the help of a belt, he rotated a stick placed on a piece of dry wood. In order for a tree to ignite, it must be very hot. That is, to get fire, you need to rub one stick against another for a very long time and strongly. And how easy and simple it has become to make a fire in our day thanks to the invention of the match!

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 English physicist and the chemist Robert Boyle (co-inventor of the Boyle-Mariotte law) and his assistant Gottfried Hauckweitz: they coated paper with phosphorus and ran a sulfur-coated wood 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, 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).

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 solution 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 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 (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 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.

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 phosphoric acid, and then paraffinized (by dipping in molten paraffin).

The composition of the match head: Berthollet salt - 46.5%, chromium peak - 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%, trisulfuric antimony - 41.8%, minium - 12.8%, chalk - 2.6%, zinc white - 1.5%, ground glass - 3.8% , bone glue - 6.7%.