MATCHES. 415 



carbonizes and prevents combustion. In preparing the compound, the 

 muciko-inous substance is dissolved in water till it assumes the consist- 

 ency of thin sirup. After it is heated, the phosphorus is added in 

 small pieces, and thoroughly incorporated by rubbing till cold. If it 

 were left in this condition, however, the mass, upon becoming cold, 

 would prevent the admission of air and hinder combustion. Some 

 additional substance is necessary to supply the oxygen to it, such as 

 red-lead, saltpetre, or chlorate of potash. ' Coloring-matter is also 

 usually put into the solution : vermilion, if the tips are to be red ; 

 Prussian blue, if they are to be blue, etc. In making sulphur-matches, 

 the ends of the splints are first dipped into melted sulphur, and after- 

 ward touched to the surface of the phosphorus-paste. In lighting such 

 a match, the process is as follows : the coating of the head is broken 

 by friction, the phosphorus is kindled, and the heat of its combustion 

 decomposes the salts ; these, in their decomposition, evolve oxygen, 

 which provides the fuel, increases the heat, and causes the ignition of 

 the sulphur, which in turn inflames the wood. The temperature re- 

 quired for kindling matches varies from 150 to 160 Fahr. The 

 sulphur is what causes the peculiar brimstone-odor. Instead of sul- 

 phur, stearin, stearic acid, or paraffin, is used in the better kinds of 

 matches. They burn more readily than the sulphur-matches, as the 

 fatty matter and wood take fire together, while in the others the sul- 

 phur must first be consumed before the wood is ignited. The matches 

 soaked in fatty matter also burn with a clearer and brighter light, and 

 are free from the disagreeable odor due to the sulphur. A coating of 

 varnish is sometimes employed to protect the head from moisture. 



Before a box of matches can be sold, it has passed through about 

 forty diftereat processes, twenty for the matches and as many for the 

 box. The wood used for the splints is commonly white-pine, free from 

 knots. Other woods are also occasionally employed, as beech, birch, 

 willow, poplar, and cedar. Much of the wood for this purpose is 

 brought from Canada, and the match-manufacture is assuming such 

 large proportions that it is making serious inroads into the supply of 

 clear white-pine timber needed for other purposes. Formerly, the 

 splints were cut by hand, and the composition was applied by the 

 same means. Separate factories are now commonly employed for mak- 

 ing the splints, and the entire labor is performed by machinery. As 

 the manufacturers do not allow visitors in their buildings, it is impos- 

 sible to describe exactly the machinery or the methods employed. By 

 one process, the pine-wood is reduced to two-inch planks, which are 

 cut into blocks the length of the ordinary match. These are put into 

 a small machine, which at each stroke cuts ofi" twelve splints, and at 

 the following stroke delivers them upon an endless chain, which car- 

 ries them to a sulphui--bath, where a wheel, revolving in the sulphur, 

 coats their ends as they pass ; farther on, a similar wheel applies the 

 phosphorus. In this condition the matches are brought back across 



