The control of firewas the first andperhaps greatestof humanity’ssteps towards alife-enhancingtechnologyTo early man, firewas a divine giftrandomly deliveredin the form oflightning, forestfire or burning lava.Unable to makeflame forthemselves, theearliest peoplesprobabh stored fireby keeping slow burning logs alight or bycarrying charcoal in pots.How and where man learnt how to produceflame at will is unknown. It was probably asecondary invention, accidentally madeduring tool-making operations with wood orstone. Studies of primitive societies suggestthat the earliest method of making fire wasthrough friction. European peasants wouldinsert a wooden drill in a round hole androtate it briskly between their palms Thisprocess could be speeded up by wrapping acord around the drill and pulling on each end.The Ancient Greeks used lenses or concavemirrors to concentrate the sun’s rays andburningglasses were alsoused by MexicanAztecs and theChinese.P e r c u s s i o nmethods of firelighting date backto Paleolithic times,when some StoneAge tool-makersdiscovered thatchipping flintsproduced sparks.The techniquebecame moreefficient after thediscovery of iron,about 5000 vearsago In Arctic North America, the Eskimosproduced a slow-burning spark by strikingquartz against iron pyrites, a compound thatcontains sulphur. The Chinese lit their firesby striking porcelain with bamboo. InEurope, the combination of steel, flint andtinder remained the main method of firelighting until the mid 19th century.Fire-lighting was revolutionised by thediscovery of phosphorus, isolated in 1669by a German alchemist trying to transmutesilver into gold. Impressed by the element’scombustibility, several 17th century chemistsused it to manufacture fire-lighting devices,but the results were dangerouslyinflammable. With phosphorus costing the eqimalent of several hundred pounds perounce, the hrst matches were expensive.The quest for a practical match really beganafter 1781 when a group of French chemistscame up with the Phosphoric Candle orEthereal Match, a sealed glass tubecontaining a twist of paper tipped withphosphorus. When the tube was broken, airrushed in, causing the phosphorus to selfcombust. An even more hazardous device,popular in America, was the InstantaneousLight Box — a bottle filled with sulphuricacid into which splints treated with chemicalswere dipped.The first matches resembling those usedtoday were made in 1827 by John Walker,an English pharmacist who borrowed theformula from a military rocket-maker calledCongreve. Costing a shilling a box,Congreves were splints coated with sulphurand tipped with potassium chlorate. To lightthem, the user drew them quickly throughfolded glass paper.Walker never patented his invention, andthree years later it was copied by a SamuelJones, who marketed his product as Lucifers.About the same time, a French chemistrystudent called Charles Sauria produced thefirst “strike-anywhere” match by substitutingwhite phosphorus for the potassium chloratein the Walker formula. However, since whitephosphorus is a deadly poison, from 1845match-makers exposed to its fumessuccumbed to necrosis, a disease that eatsaway jaw-bones. It wasn’t until 1906 that thesubstance was eventually banned.That was 62 years after a Swedish chemistcalled Pasch had discovered non-toxic redor amorphous phosphorus, a developmentexploited commercially by Pasch’scompatriot J E Lundstrom in 1885.Lundstrom’s safety matches were safebecause the red phosphorus was non-toxic;it was painted on to the striking surfaceinstead of the match tip, which containedpotassium chlorate with a relatively highignition temperature of 182 degreescentigrade.America lagged behind Europe in matchtechnology and safety standards. It wasn’tuntil 1900 that the Diamond MatchCompany bought a French patent for safetymatches — but the formula did not workproperly in the different climatic conditionsprevailing in America and it was another 11years before scientists finally adapted theFrench patent for the US.The Americans, however, can claim several“firsts” in match technology and marketing.In 1892 the Diamond Match Companypioneered book matches. The innovationdidn’t catch on until after 1896, when abrewery had the novel idea of advertisingits product in match books. Today bookmatches are the most widely used type inthe US, with 90 percent handed out free byhotels, restaurants and others.Other American innovations include an antiafterglow solution to prevent the match fromsmouldering after it has been blown out; andthe waterproof match, which lights aftereight hours in water.
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