Part 33

This match, the first, was introduced in 1505. It was a slip of wood tipped with a chemical mixture. To light it it was necessary to stick its head into a bottle containing acid.]

[Illustration: PROMETHEAN MATCH

This was a paper cigarette dipped in a mixture of sugar and potash. Rolled within the paper was a tiny glass bulb filled with sulphuric acid. To light the match you pressed the bulb with pincers hard enough to break the bulb. This released the acid which set fire to the paper.]

What Would We Do Without Matches?

If one were to ask the man in the street what invention of the nineteenth century is his most constant and invaluable ally he might be mystified for the moment, but the undoubted answer would surely come in the single word “Matches.” These familiar objects, apart from their luxurious use by smokers, are the indispensable servants of mankind from the moment of rising in the morning till the household is wrapped in sleep, and it is to them we turn when disturbed in the hours of darkness.

[Illustration: FIRST LUCIFER MATCH

Invented by John Walker in 1827. It consisted of a stick of wood tipped with sulphur and then with a chlorate mixture. To ignite it the match was drawn rapidly through a folded piece of sandpaper.]

[Illustration: MODERN SAFETY MATCH

The first practical match was made less than a century ago.]

No doubt “familiarity breeds contempt,” and it is difficult to imagine how man would fare, bereft of his box of matches. It might help the world to realize how much it owes to the inventors of the Lucifer Match, were it possible to cut off the supply of these magic fire producers for only one brief day. It requires no very vivid imagination to picture the consternation and confusion that such a step would produce, and there is a grim humor in wondering how the primitive methods of obtaining a light would serve the public convenience in these days of strenuous hustle.

Seeing that fire has been employed by man since prehistoric days, one would expect that easy means of obtaining it would have been devised in the early ages. We find, however, that until the beginning of the nineteenth century nothing in the nature of a match was available, and the crudest methods were still in use. We know from Virgil that in the reign of the Emperor Titus fire was obtained by rubbing decayed wood with a roll of sulphur between two stones, but it is not till Saxon times that we have evidence of the use of the tinder box with its flint and steel. That this latter was still regarded as something remarkable, as late as the fifteenth century, is proved by its representation in the collar of the Order of the Golden Fleece, which was founded in 1429. Burning glasses had, of course, been employed from the most primitive times, but one can imagine the despair of an early Briton who had to wait for a sunny day before he could boil his kettle.

Incredible as it may seem, it was not a time well within the memory of many people living to-day that matches in anything approaching the form now familiar were offered to the public. The way for their manufacture had been prepared by two discoveries; one by a German who isolated phosphorus in 1669; the other by a Frenchman who produced chlorate of potash in 1786. From this latter date the production of fire was much facilitated, and a few years before Queen Victoria came to the throne, John Walker--a chemist of Stockton-on-Tees--produced the first friction matches of which there is any certain record. These, called “Congreves,” were sold in boxes of fifty for 2/6, and their success soon led others to experiment in match manufacture, so that improvements were rapidly invented and factories sprang up in all parts of the country.

It would be a difficult task to compute accurately the value to the human race of the introduction to general use of this little article. At the present writing, in America the consumption of matches amounts to over a billion of matches a day.

How Matches Are Made.

To-day matches are in such demand that the ingenuity of man has devised a machine which makes complete matches without the help of the human hand.

At the very start of operations a man feeds blocks of wood into the jaws of the machine, and thenceforth the mechanical monster does its own work. Seizing the block from the man’s hand, the machine grips it between rollers and forces it against rows of keen-edged cutters, which are so arranged that there is little or no waste. Each of these cutters (and there are usually forty-eight in a machine) severs a piece of wood of exact size and shape. At the same moment a plate rises from beneath, which thrusts these little pieces of wood into a moving flexible cast-iron band, or rather into small holes in this band, from which the embryo matches project like bristles. This traveling band is about 700 feet in length, and follows a serpentine course in its journey, which occupies about an hour from start to finish, the speed being regulated according to temperature so that the matches may be quite dry when they reach the boxes.

When the band arrives at the finishing point, a steel bar punches out the matches stuck in its surface and they fall into the inside boxes placed ready to catch them. These boxes are kept continually shaking, to that no spaces are left and the matches fill them completely. As the inside boxes fill, a steel arm presses them forward into their covers, and they are passed along a trough in dozens, quickly wrapped in paper and sealed by a machine. Quick-fingered girls then wrap twelve of these dozen packages and we have the gross packages of boxes so familiar in the stores. It will be seen, that in spite of the marvellous machines which do so much, there is still plenty of work for human hands.

How Match Boxes Are Made.

The machines for making the wooden box which contain the matches are in themselves wonderful. First, a section of the trunk of an aspen tree, about 30 inches in length, is made to revolve in what is known as a peeling machine. After a few revolutions the rough outer surface is removed, and thin rolls of smooth-surfaced wood are peeled off or veneered. The machine at the same time scores the wood ready for folding by the boxmaking machine. Cut into skillets, i. e., into pieces of the size required for box covers or insides, the ends are next dipped in pink dye to cover the edge of the wood which is not covered by the label. The skillets then go to the box machines, which fold and label them, and after half an hour in a cleverly devised drying chamber they are ready for use. In one room alone sixty machines are labelling and folding the skillets to the number of several thousand gross a day. To see these machines take a strip of wood, push it forward to receive the pasted label, fold it, fasten the joint, wipe off the superfluous paste, and, finally, toss the finished “outside” into a receiving basket, is as fascinating an example of mechanical ingenuity as the industrial world can afford.

Are Matches Poisonous?

A non-poisonous “strike anywhere” safety match, made from selected, clear, strong cork pine is now made in this country, and is the first satisfactory non-poisonous match. It is also the first match to be endorsed by the country’s recognized leaders and authorities in fire prevention and the conservation of human life and property.

The Hughes-Esch Anti-White Phosphorus Match Bill, which became a law during the administration of President Taft, was drafted by the attorneys of the American Association of Labor Legislation, and is the most drastic that our National Constitution will permit. It would be unconstitutional to absolutely prohibit the manufacture of white phosphorus matches, but the Hughes-Esch bill obtains the same result, viz.: absolute prohibition by means of excessive taxation. No match manufacturer in these days of keen competition can afford to pay a tax of ten cents on each box of white phosphorus matches made, and place his factory under government surveillance, for this tax of ten cents is over three times as much as his present selling price to the wholesale trade.

As soon as man learned to make fire and light, he began to appreciate how much more comfortable he could be if he could keep his lights burning and to have his light independent of his fire, because it was at times very uncomfortable to sit by a fire on a hot night simply because he wished to use the light which it made. The first schemes devised for lighting purposes merely were the camp-fire torch and the rushlight. With these as a basis, man was enabled to fashion more convenient forms of lighting. He invented the candle and the lamp, and grown “enlightened,” boxed his light in iron and in other metals.

Did Candles Come Before Lamps?

The candle is in appearance a primitive affair, yet there is little doubt that its predecessor was the lamp. Those old Egyptian tombs, which have unlocked many mysteries, held lamps, and through them evidence of ancient burial customs. Lamps played a part in the solemn feasts of the Egyptians, who on such occasions placed them before their houses, burning them throughout the night. Herodotus, in one of his numerous references to Xerxes, alludes to the hour of lamp-lighting, and evidences abound regarding the use of lamps among the ancient Greeks. Lamps, indeed, are pictured upon some of their oldest vases, indicating the symbolic significance which attached to them.

[Illustration: A French watch tower of the fifteenth century in time of siege. The tower is lighted by means of beacons and is protected by dogs. Ruins of such a tower can still be seen at Godesberger on the Rhine.]

What Were the Earliest Lamps?

It is probable that the earliest lamps were nothing more than convenient vessels, filled with oil and fired by means of rushes. Among the Romans pine splinters, the torch and the flambeau, supplied light until the fifth century before Christ, and even when the Roman began to use the lamp, it was by no means common, finding a place only in the homes of the rich, or on special festival days.

The custom of burning funeral lights beside the dead before interment is a very old one. Gregory, interpreting its significance for the Christian, says that departed souls, having walked here as the children of light, now walk with God in the light of the living. The Roman, Pliny, refers to the use of the pith of brittle rushes in making funeral lights and watch-candles, which were probably the ancient prototype of the old rushlight of England. Again, in speaking of flax, Pliny states that the part of the reed that is nearest to the outer skin is called tow, and is good for nothing but to make lamp-matches or candlewicks.

What Were the Lamps of the Wise and Foolish Maidens Made Of?

When lamps had come into general favor, better attention was given to their form and construction. The first seem to have been made of baked clay, moulded by hand into elongated vessels to contain the oil, and provided at one end with a lip to admit the wick. These are the lamps which artists have pictured in the hands of the wise and foolish virgins, though in the opinion of some scholars they were merely rods of porcelain and iron, covered with cloth and steeped in oil. Another early type, which was less common, presents a simple disc with an aperture in the centre for the oil, and a hole for the wick, at one or both of the sides.

Under the Empire, when the light of the lamp had become general, the better ones were made of bronze, ornamented with heads, animals, and other decorations, attached to the handles, while as life in Rome partook more of luxury and extravagance, gold, silver, or Corinthian brass were the materials, the designs being more elaborate and complicated. Many and beautiful examples of these ancient lamps have been unearthed from the ruins of Herculaneum and Pompeii.

When Were Street Lamps First Used?

Dark must have been the lives of those people who, until comparatively recent times, lived, in the absence of sunlight, by the feeble, uncertain light of the primitive illuminants borne by these lamps. And as for street lighting--that was a luxury but seldom indulged in, and then, not for public benefit, but to enhance the glory of a potentate, or grace the obsequies of some great man. Even Rome, at the height of her luxury and beauty, rarely exhibited more than one or two lanterns in her streets. These were suspended over the baths and places of public resort. Occasionally, however, the streets were illuminated during festivals and other public occasions, while the Forum was sometimes lighted for a midnight exhibition. With these glittering exceptions, and that memorable one when, to satisfy the homicidal impulses of a bad emperor, the bodies of Christians were made living torches, Rome was a city of darkness.

[Illustration: THE FIRST STREET LIGHT IN AMERICA

The first street light in America. Early in 1795 several large cressets were placed on the corners of Boston’s most frequented street. Pine-knots were placed in these fire baskets by the night watchman.]

When Were Candles Introduced?

Historical records indicate the prevalent use of candles in the earliest days of Rome, but these candles were of the simplest sort--mere string or rope which had been smeared with pitch or wax. In the early Christian centuries it was the custom to dip rushes in pitch and coat them with wax, a method of candle-making that was long continued, for it was not until the fourteenth century that dipped tallow candles were introduced. In the Middle Ages wax candles provided the usual means of illumination, and these were made, not by common craftsmen, but by monks, or by the servants of the rich. Until the fifteenth century their use was confined to churches, monasteries and the houses of nobles, but the demand for them had become so great that the chandlers of London obtained an act of incorporation. As late as the eighteenth century the candles were made by dipping the wicks into melted wax or tallow, but about this time an ingenious Frenchman conceived the idea of casting them in metal moulds.

[Illustration: A part of the “Amende Honorable” of Jacques Coeur before Charles VII of France.]

[Illustration: A pagan votive lamp of bronze, now in the museum at Naples.]

It is only within a modern period that the state or city has assumed responsibility in the matter of public lighting, which for the most part had been left to the good will and public spirit of citizens. But in England a proclamation was issued to the effect that every individual should place a candle in each of the lower windows of his house, and keep it burning from nightfall until midnight.

[Illustration: THE FIRST OIL LANTERN

The first “Réverbère”--oil lantern--with a metal reflector, used to light the streets of Paris. It was invented by Bourgeois de Châteaublanc in 1765, and used until the introduction of gas.]

Paris was the first city to improve upon this method of street lighting, and in 1658 huge, vase-like contrivances, filled with resin and pitch, were set up in the principal thoroughfares. The improvement proving, as may readily be seen, both dangerous and expensive, the falct, so-called, were replaced by the lantern. This was at first simply a rude frame, covered with horn or leather, within which a candle burned. For more than one hundred years this was the extent of the illumination which the authorities could provide. But of course it was understood that no honest man would venture abroad without his torch or flambeau, and as London, Berlin, Vienna, and all leading cities of Europe, were in like case, the darkness of Paris could be borne.

[Illustration: Argand got his first suggestion for his burner--invented in 1780--from this style of alcohol lamp, then in general use throughout France.]

But progress had been made, and early in the eighteenth century the Corporation of London entered into contract with a certain individual to set up public lights, giving him permission to exact a sum of six shillings from every householder whose actual rent exceeded ten pounds. In the middle of the same century the Lord Mayor and Common Council applied to Parliament for power to light the streets of London better. From the granting of this permission dates improvement in public lighting.

Where Did the Word “Gas” Originate?

A Belgium chemist, Van Helmont, coined the word “gas” in the first half of the seventeenth century. The Dutch word “geest,” signifying “ghost,” suggested the term to him, and his superstitious neighbors hounded him into obscurity for talking of ghosts.

[Illustration: Hanging lamp from Nushagak in Southern Alaska. It is suspended from the framework of the tent by cords. Oils and fats from northern animals give a clear and steady light, and Eskimo lamps are frequently praised by travelers.]

[Illustration: WHAT THE BIG TANK NEAR THE GASWORKS IS FOR

SIX MILLION CUBIC FOOT GAS HOLDER.

Almost every boy and girl has seen the big tank near the gas works, and most of them have wondered what was in it and what it is for. This big tank is a “holder” in which the gas is stored after it is manufactured.

The giant holders are reservoirs from which gas is constantly being taken and the quantity on storage constantly replenished, as the ordinary gas plant never ceases manufacturing its product.

There is little or no danger of an interruption of the supply by reason of accident, as gas plants are always equipped with duplicate apparatus for emergencies.]

When Illuminating Gas Was Discovered.

The first practical demonstration of the value of gas made from coal for lighting was made by a Scotchman--Robert Murdock--who in 1797, after some years of experimenting, fitted up an apparatus in the workshop of Boulton and Watt, in Birmingham, England, which successfully lighted a portion of that establishment. The advantages of this kind of lighting were so apparent that its use was rapidly extended, although in many instances the people were afraid of it. For a time this kind of lighting was confined to street lights. One of the first great structures to be lighted by gas was Westminster Bridge in London, and great crowds gathered to watch the burning jets nightly. It was difficult to remove from the minds of the people the belief that the gas-pipes were filled with fire and the jets were only openings through which the flame in the pipes escaped. People sometimes touched the pipes expecting to find them hot, and when the pipes were put in buildings they made sure that they were placed several feet from the walls lest the fire in them set fire to the buildings.

The use of illuminating gas for lighting private houses developed quite slowly because of this fear of the fire in the gas-pipes. This was not entirely unwarranted, however, because at first the plumbers did not know, as they do now, how to prevent leakage of gas from the pipes. The methods of joining the pipes were oftentimes imperfect and, not realizing the dangers which would follow leaks, causing explosions, the workmen were often careless in installing the pipes.

The first American house in which gas was used for lighting was the home of David Mellville at Newport, R. I. Baltimore, Maryland, was the first American city to use gas for lighting. It was introduced there in 1817.

How Does Gas Get Into the Gas Jet?

If you hold a cool drinking glass over a burning gas jet for a moment, a film of moisture will form on the inside of the glass and remain until the tumbler becomes warm, and then disappear. Now, then, you will remember that water is a mixture of oxygen and hydrogen, and that when hydrogen is burned in the air, water is formed. It is also true that whenever water is formed by burning anything, hydrogen is present in it. You see, therefore, that the gas used for lighting purposes must contain hydrogen.

Let us now learn something more about what gas is made of. Wet a piece of glass with a little fresh lime water and hold this over the lighted gas jet. In a few moments a change takes place in the water. The water turns somewhat milky. This indicates the presence of carbonic acid gas, and the formation of carbonic acid gas, when burning is going on, means the presence of carbon.

From these two experiments we gather that the gas in the jet contains hydrogen and carbon. All kinds of illuminating gas contain these two substances. Sometimes there are small quantities of other substances present, but the value of gas for lighting depends on hydrogen and carbon.

We have already learned about hydrogen, but it would be well to re-learn about carbon.

Carbon is an element, and an extremely important one, for a large part of the composition of every living thing is carbon. It is found in more compounds than any other element. Almost pure carbon can easily be obtained by heating a piece of wood, in a covered utensil, until it is turned into charcoal. Charcoal, which is black, is composed almost entirely of carbon. It is a very interesting product in all ways; in connection with gas we are particularly interested in the fact that carbon will burn when heated in the air or in oxygen.

Charcoal is very much like hard coal, both being formed in practically the same way. Ages of years ago many large forests of trees were buried under a layer of soil and rocks, during changes that occurred in the earth’s surface, and the hot inside earth slowly heated the wood, until almost nothing was left but the carbon.

[Illustration: WHERE THE GAS IS TAKEN FROM THE COAL

GENERATOR HOUSE AND 175-FT. STACK.

In the process of gas making, coal is placed in the generator and heated to an incandescent state, then from the top or bottom steam is admitted and forced through the heated coal, producing a crude water gas which is passed on to the carbureter. In this shell enriching oil is produced, but as the oil and the water gas do not effectually unite, they are passed on to the superheater, where, as its name implies, they are subjected to a high temperature which thoroughly gasifies them into a permanent gas.]

[Illustration: AN INTERIOR VIEW OF GENERATOR HOUSE.]

* Pictures on Gas Manufacture by courtesy of the Consolidated Gas, Electric Light and Power Co. of Baltimore.

[Illustration: ILLUMINATING GAS MUST BE SCRUBBED

SHAVING SCRUBBERS.

After passing into the scrubbers the gas is cooled, passed into the scrubbers, and by contact with wooden slat trays, made up like screens; a large portion of the tar is removed from the gas, the tar passing off to large receptacles.]

Soft coal was formed in much the same manner, but the process was not so completely finished. Mixed with the carbon in soft coal we find quite a good deal of other substances, of which hydrogen forms the principal part. This is what makes soft coal valuable in the making of illuminating gas.