1874.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
107 
1©YS <k ©MILS' (SdMLUJMSo 
I'hr I>oelor takes the Boys to a 
IvfatcU Factory. 
"Uncle," said one of the boys, as the match with 
which the evening lamp was lighted went off with a snap 
and a fizz, " how are matches made ? " " That depends 
upon the country," I replied. "In some Indian coun- 
tries the young man tics a uursu near the hut of the 
something that will take fire readily and burn long 
enough to set fire to it. For the cheaper matches sul- 
phur is used, but for what arc called parlor matches they 
use parafflne, which burns without any unpleasant odor. 
"What is paraffine? "— "It is one of the many things 
obtained from petroleum ; it is a solid white body that 
looks much like white wax ; it burns with a very bril- 
liant light, and is used for making candles." At the 
time of our visit they were making sulphur-dipped 
matches, but the operation is the same with paraffine. 
The material is melted in a large vessel, and the roll of 
Fig. 1. — MAKING THE STICKS INTO ROLLS. 
maiden, and if she feeds and waters it, the owner Is ac- 
cepted ; but if the horse is left without care for three 
days, he is " Then there was a shout. "What a 
provoking old uncle I You know we don't mean that 
kind of matches, but the kind with which we strike a 
light." I promised to take them to the city next Satur- 
day, where there are several match factories, the pro- 
prietor of one of which I knew. At the proper time, 
Wat, Art (as we abbreviate Walter and Arthur), and my- 
self found our way to the place where matches are 
made. "What I want most to see," said Wat, "is the 
way in which all those nice round sticks are whittled 
out. I should not think a man could make sticks for 
many boxes of matches in a day, if he had ever so good 
a knife." The proprietor smiled as he informed the 
boy that the sticks were not made by whittling, nor 
were they made at the factory. The sticks are brought 
from Canada, where the making of them is a separate 
business. They are made by 
machinery which drives a block 
of wood upon a steel die that 
has numerous Bmall holes in it. 
The wood is forced through 
these holes in the rounded form 
of the match sticks. They are 
twice the length of an ordinary 
match, and come .packed in 
boxes. The first thing to be 
done with the sticks is to ar- 
range them so that large num- 
bers can be handled at once in 
dipping the ends in the mix- 
tures that cause them to light 
readily. If the sticks were 
simply tied together in bun- 
dles, they would be too close 
together, and the composition 
would be all in one mass upon 
their ends, so a machine had 
to be invented which should 
make them into rolls and still 
keep the sticks a little distance 
apart. This machine (fig. 1) 
did its work with wonderful 
rapidity and accuracy ; the 
sticks were upplied to the ma- 
chine which made them into 
large rolls, and with a belt of cloth between the layers of 
sticks ; this cloth keeps the sticks just a little distance 
apart. When the- bundle is large enough, some two 
feet across, it is bound securely and then taken to an- 
other room. "What a smell I " exclaimed both the 
boys at once, as we entered the room. " It is not very 
pleasant to strangers," said the proprietor, " but we who 
are here every day do not notice it." We learned that 
the composition upon the ends of matches does not 
burn long enough to set fire to the stick, and that before 
that is applied it is necessary to prepare the wood with 
Fl£. 2. — DIPPING IN SULPHUR 
sticks so suspended (fig. 2) that the ends can be evenly 
and slightly dipped in the melted sulphur. Both ends 
are dipped, and they are then ready to receive the com- 
position that takes fire when the match is rubbed. The 
principal thing in this composition is phosphorus, which 
the boys saw, looking like sticks of barley candy in a 
bottle of water. Finding it had to be kept under water to 
prevent it from taking fire, and that it was a very curi- 
ous substance in other respects, I had to promise to 
tell them more about phosphorus and sulphur when 
we got home, as we could not now take up the time of 
the proprietor of the match factory. Although pure 
phosphorus takes fire 60 readily, it may be so mixed 
with other things as to require to be strongly rubbed be- 
fore it will burn. It melts readily, and may be mixed 
while in the melted state with these things, if care be 
taken to keep it covered from the air. We learned that 
different makers of matches use different mixtures for 
more difficulty than they should. After it is well 
mixed, the sticks that have had their cuds covered 
with sulphur or paraffine are dipped in it in the same 
manner as at the first dipping, only care is required 
to have but a small quantity of the mixture just 
at the very tips. The next step is to dry the matches, 
and they are taken to a room where they are placed 
upon racks ; here there is a fan rapidly revolving, 
so as to constantly change the air and gradually dry the 
composition upon the ends of the matches. They are- 
not allowed to become bo dry that they will readily take 
fire, as they have 6till to go through 
another machine, and if they were 
perfectly dry, disagreeable accidents 
might happen. Thus, far the matches 
are in pairs, or "double headers"—* 
twice the length of one— and they 
have to be cut apart. For thi6 they 
are put into a cutting machine (fig. 5), 
which unrolls the bundle and carries 
the sticks over a knife which rapidly 
cuts Ihem in equal parts, and the now 
complete matches slide into boxes 
on each side of the machine. All that 
remains to be done is to pack them in 
the proper boxes. 
The boys left the factory feeling 
that their curiosity about the making 
of one kind of matches, at least, was 
satisfied. I asked Art what part of 
the operation interested him most. 
y He said, " The machines that made 
the match Bticks np into rolls and cut 
the sticks apart. Why, they did their 
work just as [if they could think." 
"I know why," said Wat ; " the man 
who invented them put lots of think 
into them."— "A very good idea, 
Master Walter," I suggested, "but 
it would be much more proper to 
say, 'they embodied a great deal of thought.' "—I am 
not sure, but I heard him remark in an undertone, 
"He has forgotten his boys 1 talk." 
Aunt Sue's Puzzle-Uox. 
DECAPITATIONS AND CURTAILMENTS. 
1. Behead " to stare " and leave an animal. 
2. Behead a bird and leave " to agitate." 
3. Behead a poet and leave a Hebrew measure. 
4. Curtail an herb and leave " to lean." 
5. Curtail a bird and leave a distinguished man- 
6. Curtail a vegetable and leave an insect. 
Italian Bot. 
cross-word. 
My firet is in marble but not in flint. 
Fig. 3.— MAKING THE MIXTURE. 
their composition, but all of them have phosphorus as 
the principal thing. Some have chlorate of potash in 
them, a substance that in some respects is a good deal 
like saltpeter. The phosphorus is mixed with dissolved 
glue, and whiting or some other powder to make a paste, 
and coloring stuff is added. The whole, after being 
stirred over a fire (fig. 3), is put into a machine where it 
is more thoroughly mixed. It is very important that 
the composition be well mixed, as otherwise some 
matches will get more, and some lees phosphorus than 
they ought to have, and will go off too easily, or with 
ill 
Fig. 4. — CUTTING THE MATCHES APABT. 
My next is in thyme but not in mint. 
My third is in glove but not in mit. 
My fourth is in humor but not in wit. 
My fifth is in room but not in house. 
My sixth is in rat but not in mouse. 
My seventh is in pretty but not in good. 
My eighth is in splinter but not in wood. 
My ninth is in tress but not in curl. 
My tenth is in emerald, not in pearl. 
I hope, with all my heart and soul, 
You'll never suffer with my whole. 
