166 ON THE MANUFACTURE OP MATCHES IN NEW YORK. 



thinly spread over stones which are kept hot by means of steam pipes. The 

 matches already dipped in the brimstone are now dipped into this to the 

 depth of about an eighth of an inch, and are then placed in large racks to 

 dry. The quickness of the drying process depends altogether upon the 

 atmosphere. If it is damp they will not dry at all, and the whole building 

 becomes enveloped in a thin vapour, with an exceedingly unpleasant odour, 

 which comes from the phosphorus. When the atmosphere is not damp 

 they dry in from three to eight hours, sufficiently to admit of their being 

 packed into the boxes. The matches are first taken out of the grooved 

 "slats" by boys, and placed in a little rack of the same size as those in 

 which they were originally placed when gathered from the mass, and taken 

 into another room, where a number of girls stand surrounded by thousands 

 of match-boxes and piles of matches. Before each trio is a knife, which 

 operates perpendicularly, and is used for cutting the matches in two. The 

 girl who stands immediately in front of this knife, with a nicety that long 

 practice could alone give her, takes in her hand a bundle of matches from 

 the rack, which is just sufficient to fill the boxes ; this bundle she places 

 under the knife, which, as she puts her foot upon the treddle, descends and 

 cuts the bunch in the middle. Each of the severed ends is taken by the 

 girl on each side of her, and put into the box, on which the cover is placed, 

 and the box of matches is then thrown into a receptacle for them, from 

 which they are taken to be packed in parcels of a gross each. The 

 operation of filling the boxes is performed with great rapidity, and makes 

 one wonder at the flexibility of the muscles and sinews of the human hand. 

 The process of the manufacture of match-boxes is almost as curious as 

 the manufacture of the matches which they contain. They are made of 

 different materials, and in various ways. Some of the articles used are 

 paper, paste-board, sheet-tin, brass, and wood. The better sort of boxes, 

 even when made of common paper, cost nearly as much, and sometimes 

 more than the matches. The paper boxes are made entirely by hand, by 

 Germans, mostly outside of the factories, and are sold to the manufactories 

 by the gross. When made in the factory, the paper is first cut into long 

 strips, by means of a large knife which is worked by machinery, these 

 strips are again cut into pieces of the required size for the box. A large 

 quantity of the paper is cut by one stroke of the knife, every stroke cutting 

 off 288 strips ; each strip is again divided into six parts, so that by seven 

 cuts of the knife tfce materials for 1,728 or twelve gross of boxes is furnished. 

 The packs are then put into a machine in which a number of very sharp little 

 knives are made to work vertically, and are " scored," — that is the knives 

 cut through the entire depth of the pack two incisions about a quarter of 

 an inch in length. These incisions are made at each end of the paper, to 

 enable those who put them together to form the sides and ends of the 

 boxes. The tops are cut in the same way. The boxes which are of 

 th:n pine wood, are made of the same material as the matches. The 

 blocks of wood are put into a box of the same appearance as those which 

 make the splints or match-sticks, and a knife, which works horizontally, 



