686 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



koping factory produced annually four million marks' worth, of 

 matches. Rivals soon rose to it in different parts of the world, 

 and several shops in Germany are sending out excellent Bottger 

 safety matches in Swedish dress. They have so far naturalized 

 themselves as to make the condition of the phosphorus match 

 trade a hard one, and in some states the prohibition of the use 

 of the poisonous white phosphorus in matches has been con- 

 templated. 



Still the match has not yet reached its highest stage of perfec- 

 tion. A third period of development looms before it. The safety 

 matches can still be lighted only on the prepared surface of the 

 box. An unpoisonous match which will light as readily as a 

 phosphorus match is not yet found. 



Not less important than the chemical constitution is the me- 

 chanical preparation of the little fire-bearers. The times have 

 passed when a man could make matches profitably with a simple 

 apparatus at home or in a little shop. Machines have gained the 

 victory over hand labor in this field, and they only are competent 

 to turn out the thousands of thousands of sticks that are burned 

 yearly. The favorite wood for matches is the poplar ; but as this 

 can not supply all the demand, pine and fir woods are also used. 

 In the early days of the manufacture, the work of cutting the 

 blocks and forming the sticks was performed by hand ; but now 

 the machines are so perfected that a single one can turn out as 

 many as 6,000,000 sticks in a day of ten hours. 



The ordinary cut stick is not adapted to matches the heads of 

 which contain no sulphur, and the Swedish matches are prepared 

 by a new method, in which the sticks are obtained by a peeling 

 process. The logs are barked and sawed into blocks about 

 eighteen inches long. These are steamed, then drawn out of the 

 tubs and placed while still hot into the peeling machine, where 

 they are turned upon a pivot and cut by a sharp knife into a con- 

 tinuous band of the right thickness, which is also cut into strips 

 as broad as the length of a match. One of these machines, of 

 only two horse power, operated by a man, can in one working day 

 turn out 4,000 square metres of shavings, from which 15,000,000 

 matches may be made. The narrow ribbons of wood next go into 

 a machine the operation of which is something like that of a 

 common straw chopper. By a simple mechanism from fifty to 

 seventy thicknesses of the ribbons are pushed slowly forward 

 under a sharp knife, which cuts them into sticks of the desired 

 thickness. These fall upon an endless belt and are carried by it 

 into the drying room. There are machines which, worked by a 

 man and a boy, will turn out 28,000,000 sticks a day. The boxes 

 for the Swedish matches are likewise made by the aid of ma- 

 chines, a description of which involves too many technicalities to 



