MATCHES 



MATE 



89 



sparks of kindled matter it was not free of danger. 

 The introduction of phosphorus in 1834 was a great 

 improvement. 



The chief operations in the manufacture of 

 matches embrace ( 1 ) cutting the wood splints ; 

 (2) immersing the splints in melted paraffin ; 

 and (3) preparing the ignitin" composition and 

 dipping the splints into it. There is also the 

 making of the boxes, which, in the case of safety 

 matches, have the phosphorus composition glued 

 upon their sides. Pine or aspen is the wood used 

 for the splints. 



There are several kinds of splint-cutting 

 machines. One of the simplest is a special kind 

 of lathe for which the tree trunks to be operated 

 upon are sawn across in pieces 14 inches long, and 

 the bark removed. One of these pieces is the length 

 of seven matches, and is tixed on the chuck of the 

 lathe and cut into a continuous slice or shaving 

 equal to a match in thickness. The principal cut- 

 ting tool is fixed on tin; slide-rest, and as the shaving 

 comes away it is divided into seven equal widths by 

 cutters placed alxive the chief slicing tool. After 

 the two-inch wide shavings are cut into six feet 

 lengths, they are divided into f ingle splints by a 

 guillotine cutter similar to that used for cutting 

 paper. Under favourable circumstances this 

 machine will cut a million splints in an hour. 



For the purjiose of l>eing immersed in paraffin 

 find afterwards dip]>ed into the igniting coni|>osi- 

 tion the splints are fixed into a dipping-frame. 

 This frame consists of thin wooden laths fully two 

 feet long, placed parallel to each other and held in 

 position by two round iron liars passing through 

 holes in their ends. About fifty splints, projecting 

 equally beyond the frame, are held firmly between 

 every two of these laths at a little distance from 

 each other, the whole frame containing between 

 two and three thousand. The splints are supplied 

 to the frames by filling-machines, of which there 

 are several kinds, chiefly of American invention. 

 In the dipping-room, to which these filled frames 

 are taken, the igniting composition is spread of the 

 proper thickness on a hollow iron table kept hot by 

 steam, and the splints dip|x>d into it to form them 

 into matches. The rooms where the igniting-mix- 

 ture 1st prepared and the matches dipped are, or at 

 least were, the most unhealthy parts of a match- 

 factory. In former days especially, among those who 

 worked in these rooms cases of necrosis or caries 

 of the lower jaw occurred from the action of the 

 phosphorus fumes. But, owing to the lessened 

 quantity of phosphorus now nsed in the dipping- 

 mixtures ami improved ventilation, this disease 

 IMS become rare. It never occurs at all where red 

 or amorphous phosphorus is employed, but common 

 phosphorus is still very largely used. 



Nearly every manufacturer has his own special 

 mixture for the dipping of matches. One published 

 recipe gives as the Ingredient* for this : A part by 

 weight of common phosphorus, 4 of chlorate of 

 potash, 2 of glue, 1 of whiting, and 4 of finely- 

 powdered glass. The proportion of phosphorus is 

 small in this mixture. As it makes a more noise- 

 less match, nitrate of potash is sometimes substi- 

 tuted for the chlorate. Other oxidising agents 

 used instead of, or along with, these salts of potash 

 are oxide of manganese and the red oxide or the 

 dioxide of lead. Of course some water (slightly 

 heated) is used in preparing dipping-mixtures. 

 According to Caulier I I'mim tie Ckimie,, 1H87), the 

 igniting mixture for ordinary matches made in 

 France consists of 3 parts of common phosphorus, 

 2 of lead dioxide, 2 of sand, and 3 of gum. The 

 name author states that safety or 'Swedish' 

 matches are dipped in a composition of 5 parts of 

 chlorate of potash, 2 of sulphide of antimony, and 

 1 of glue ; and that tin: rubbing-surface for these 



is a mixture of 5 parts of amorphous phosphorus, 

 4 of sulphide of antimony, and 24 of glue. It need 

 hardly lie mentioned that matches are made in 

 enormous numbers, some large linns turning out a 

 hundred millions daily. 



Probably matches to the value of 1,500,000 are 

 made annually in Britain. In Sweden and Norway, 

 whereof late the trade has most rapidly developed, 

 there are some sixty factories ; Jonkoping alone 

 employs some 6000 matchmakers. Germany and 

 Austna have together as many as 4f>0 factories. 

 In the United States the manufacture is mainly 

 controlled by one combination of capitalists ; in 

 France the making of matches is a government 

 monopoly. As a contrast to present prices it may 

 lie added that in 1830 the first friction matches, 

 the Congreves, were sold in tin boxes of fifty at 

 half-a-crown a box, each box containing a piece 

 of glass paper to strike the matches on. 



Vestas only differ from ordinary matches in the 

 stalks being formed of bits of stecirin tapers (called 

 wax-tapers) instead of wood splints. Vesuvians 

 nsed by smokers consist of a hard wood, or some- 

 times a hollow glass stalk, with a bulbous head 

 formed of some slow-burning compound, such as 

 a mixture of charcoal, saltpetre, sand, and gum, 

 tipped with the igniting composition of ordinary 

 matches. ' Flamers,' also for the use of smokers, 

 have a thick head of a flaming mixture, with either 

 a ' wax-taper ' or wood stalk. 



Matchlock. See FIREARMS. 



Mate is an assistant, a deputy, or a second in 

 any work. In the navy the use of the term is now 

 confined to petty officers, such as boatswain's-mate, 

 gunner's-mate, &c. In the merchant-service the 

 mates are important officers, holding functions not 

 greatly inferior to those of lieutenants in the royal 

 navy. The first mate ranks next to the master or 

 captain, commands in his absence, and is immedi- 

 ately responsible for the state of the vessel ; the 

 second and third (and fourth in large vessels) have 

 various analogous duties. 



llat< ; . or PARAGUAY TEA, a substitute for tea, 

 extensively used in South America, and almost 

 universally through Brazil. It consists of the 

 leaves ami green shoots of certain species of Holly 



Mat<S (Ilex Parayvayensil). 



(q.v.), more especially Ilex Paragucn/ensis, dried 

 and roughly ground ; the leafy portion being 

 reduced to a coarse powder, and the twigs being in 

 a more or less broken state. The term matt, which 

 has by usage attached to this material, belonged 

 originally to the vessels in which it was infused for 

 drinking ; these were usually made of gourd? or 

 calabashes, often trained into curious forms during 

 their growth. Into the hollow vessels thus formed 



