7 April: Matches

On this date in 1827 the first friction matches went on sale. 10 things you might not know about matches:

1. Like many things, the earliest matches appeared in China. Chinese court ladies were using sulphur coated pine sticks to light fires as early as AD 577.
2. The word "match" derives from Old French "mèche" referring to the wick of a candle. Historically, it was the word used for what we would now call a fuse, a piece of chord used to fire guns or cannons. They were known as quick matches or slow matches depending on how long they took to burn.
3. The earliest matches in Europe were invented in the early 19th century by Jean Chancel of Paris. The head of the match consisted of a mixture of potassium chlorate, sulphur, rubber and Sugar. In order to light them, they had to be dipped in a small bottle of sulphuric acid. Needless to say they didn't catch on.
4. Nevertheless, a portable means of starting fires was something people wanted and there were numerous attempts at inventing such a thing in the early 19th century. They went by names like the "Promethean match", "Euperion", "Vesuvian" or "Lucifers". They were all reliant on dangerous chemicals like sulphuric acid to make them work.
5. In 1826, John Walker, a chemist from County Durham was experimenting with similar inventions when he accidentally invented the friction match when he dropped one of his matches and it caught light through friction on his hearth. His matches contained sulphur, sulphide of antimony, chlorate of potash, and gum, with camphor added to make them smell better. He sold 50 of them for a shilling (5p), and named them "Congreves" in honour of the inventor and rocket pioneer Sir William Congreve. They still weren't all that safe. In fact, their use was banned in France and Germany.
6. Making matches was even more dangerous as white phosphorus was a common ingredient in mass produced matches. This stuff was highly toxic and inevitably, workers in match factories would breathe it in. This caused a condition called phossy jaw, in which the bones of the jaw disintegrated. In 1888, following a campaign by social activist Annie Besant, the women who worked at the Bryant & May factories went on strike demanding better working conditions and health and safety measures.
7. So called "safety matches" which we have today are still dangerous enough to be banned by some airlines. The term "safety match" originated when white phosphorous was phased out of match production so making or using them didn't poison people. Later it came to mean matches with the striking surface outside of the box. Early matches were packed with the striking surface inside the box with them, which needless to say wasn't the safest option.
8. Books of matches were invented in the 1890s by the American Joshua Pusey.
9. Around the world about half a trillion matches are used every year.
10. The hobby of collecting match-related items, such as matchcovers and matchbox labels, is known as phillumeny. The first written use of the word ‘phillumenist’ for a collector of matchbox covers occurred in 1943.

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