LUCIFER MATCHES 345 



not, with this apparatus, run the risk of being caught by the machinery. To tie on 

 the cotton or worsted thread, pass a long thread through tho eye-hole, E, of the bolt, 

 and then draw the two ends through the tube by a fine wire with a hook to it, one 

 end on one side of the cross-wire D, and the other end on the other side. Then put 

 the cover on, and the bolt in the position shown in fig. 1409 ; when, by drawing the 

 two ends of the thread, and tying them across tho wire D, you have the exact length 

 required. When you wish to see the quantity of oil remaining in the lubricator, tho 

 bolt must be dropped, as in jig. 1408, and you can then lift the cover a little way offj 

 without breaking the thread, and replenish with oil. The figures in the woodcut are 

 one-third of the full size. 



XiUCXFER MATCHES. The importance of this manufacture has been shown 

 by Mr. Tomlinson in a communication made by that gentleman to the ' Journal of the 

 Society of Arts.' ' It has been estimated,' ho says, ' that the English and French 

 manufacturers of phosphorus are now producing at the rate of 300,000 Ibs. of common 

 phosphorus per annum, nearly the whole of which is consumed in making lucifer 

 matches. In compounding tho emulsion for tipping the . matches, the German manu- 

 facturers make three pounds of phosphorus suffice for five or six millions of matches. 

 If we suppose only one-half of the French and English annual product of phosphorus 

 to be employed in making matches, this will give us 250,000,000,000 of matches as 

 the annual product consequent on the consumption of one-half of the French and 

 English phosphorus. We need not suppose this to be an exaggerated statement when 

 we consider the daily product of some of our match manufactories. I lately had occa- 

 sion to describe the processes of a London factory, which produces 2,500,000 matches 

 daily. For this purpose, fourteen 3-inch planks are cut up ; each plank produces 30 

 blocks; each block, of the dimensions of 11 inches long, 4 inches wide and 3 inches 

 thick, produces 100 slices; each slice 31 splints; each splint 2 matches: thus we 

 have 14 x30x!00x31x2 = 2,604,000 matches as the day's work of a single factory 

 in London. At Messrs. Dixon's factory, near Manchester, from 6,000,000 to 9,000,000 

 of matches are produced daily.' 



Tho lucifer matches formerly employed for procuring a light were the wooden 

 sulphur matches, coated with a paste containing phosphorus, which, when dry, would 

 ignite by friction. To prepare the paste, phosphorus was melted with a certain 

 quantity of water at 120, the requisite proportion of nitrate, with a small proportion 

 of chlorate of potash, was dissolved in this water, a small quantity of bmoxide of 

 manganese or red lead added, and the liquid thickened with gum ; the whole was 

 well triturated together in a mortar till the globules of phosphorus ceased _to be 

 visible to the eye, and the mass was coloured with Prussian blue or with minium. 

 The points of the matches were dipped into this paste, and then cautiously dried in a 

 stove. The use of the gum was to servo as a varnish to protect the phosphorus from 

 oxidation by the air. 



For the rapid manufacture of the wooden splints for lucifer matches, a patent was 

 obtained by Mr. Eeuben Partridge, in March 1842. He employed a perforated 

 metallic plate, having a steel face, strengthened by a bell-metal back ; see figs. 1411, 

 1412. The size of the perforations must depend on that of the desired splints; but 

 they must be as close together as possible, that there may be a very small blank 

 space between them, otherwise the plate would afford too great a resistance to the 

 passage of the wood. By this construction, the whole area of the block of wood 

 may be compressed laterally into the countersunk openings, and forced through the 

 holes, which are slightly countersunk to favour tho entrance and separation of the 

 wooden fibres. Fig. 1411 represents the face of one of these plates ; and fig. 1412 is 

 a rectangular section through the plate. A convenient size of plate is 3 inches broad, 

 6 inches long, and 1 inch thick. Tho mode of pressing is by fixing the back of the 

 plate against a firm resisting block or bearing, having an aperture equal to the area 

 of the perforations in the plate, and then placing the end of the piece or pieces of 

 wood in the direction of the grain against the face of the plato within the area of the 

 perforated portion. A plunger or lever, or other suitable mechanical agent, being 

 then applied to the back or reverse end of the piece of wood, it may be forced through 

 the perforations in the plate, being first split as it advances by the cutting edges of 

 the holes, and afterwards compressed and driven through tho perforations in the 

 plato, coming out on the opposite side or back of tho plate in the form of a multitude 

 of distinct splints, agreeably to the shapes and dimensions of the perforations^ 



The first stage in the manufacture of lucifers is the cutting tho wood, which is done, 

 according to the extent of the manufactory, either by hand or by machinery. This, 

 as well as the subsequent process of counting and placing the matches in frames, is in 

 itself necessarily free from any inconvenience or evil consequences ; nor does it appear 

 that the third stage, which consists of molting the sulphur and dipping the heads of 

 the matches in it, produces any inconvenience. The fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh ' 



VOL. HI. L 



