THE FIRE PISTON—BALFOUR. 569 
that the piston may rapidly descend to the bottom of AB, and being suddenly 
withdrawn, the tinder will be found on fire, and will light a common brimstone 
match. Amadou, or German tinder, which may be obtained at any of the prin- 
cipal druggists, is likewise a good tinder, but I prefer the rag steeped in salt- 
peter.—B. J. M. 
This instrument is of the simple air-compression kind, and, except 
for the piston rod terminating in a hook instead of a hollow for the 
tinder, it is identical in principle with the most prevalent form of fire 
piston. 
In 1834 a notice occurs* of a French modification (fig. 3) of the 
type of instrument invented by Lorentz, referred to above, though 
from the following account it does not seem to have been very suc- 
cessful: 
An attempt has been made in France to produce an instantaneous light by the 
compression of air. A strong tube a is furnished with a piston B, which may be 
driven rapidly from c to D by striking the knob & at the end of the piston rod. 
The end of the tube, at p, is pierced with small holes to allow the air, when 
forced up by the piston, to pass into the hollow space c, in the piece Fr, screwed 
air-tight to the end of the tubes. When a light is wanted a bit of tinder is 
placed in the hollow, the top screwed on, and the piston driven in forcibly; on 
unscrewing the top the tinder will be found ignited. Some modification of this 
instrument may be found useful, but in its present state it is inferior to the 
common tinder box; it requires considerable strength, is equally slow in getting 
a light, requires a match to be lighted after the tinder has taken fire, and is 
easily put out of order. 
The method of squeezing the compressed air through ducts into a 
tinder chamber is very similar to that patented by Lorentz. The 
loss of time caused by the necessity for unscrewing the tinder recep- 
tacle after the tinder was ignited must have militated against the 
efficiency of these syringe-like forms. As far as I am aware none of 
them have been preserved, and this may be an indication that they 
never were numerous or extensively used. Specimens of the simple 
fire-piston form occur sparingly in museums and private collections. 
An example from Bedminster, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, said to 
date about 1815-1820, is mentioned by H. C. Mercer.” A specimen 
of brass from Gestrikland, or Helsingland, Sweden, is in the Nor- 
diska Museum, Stockholm. Mr. E. Bidwell possesses three speci- 
mens, one of which (fig. 4) is entirely of brass and of large size, and 
resembles rather the modern instrument of the physical laboratory 
than the old domestic form. The tube is of thin brass, 84 inches 
long by 2 inch in diameter. The other two (figs. 5 and 6), which 
may have been intended for domestic use, are smaller, of brass 
throughout, with the exception of the piston rods, which are of steel. 
In one (fig. 5) the lower end of the piston rod is packed with leather, 
«The Penny Magazine, London, 1834, July 26, p. 286. 
b Light and Fire Making, Philadelphia, 1898, p. 25, 
