The Matches Was Invented By Whom?

The desire of man has caused him to invent “Matches”. In the endeavour he has in-vented a good variety. He – wanted to start fire to keep him warm and also to cook food. The cave man struck a spark from a flint and hoped, that it would ignite dry leaves. Thousands of years later, the Romans were not far advanced. They caught the spark on a split of wood covered with sulphur, through striking flinty stones. The spark struck by flint and steel were caught on charred rags, but, it was during the Middle Ages. Even moss when dried or fungus was used for catching fire. The materials that catch fire easily are called tinder.

The discovery of phosphorus made the modern matches a probability. Phosphorus is a substance that catches fire at a very low temperature. In the year 1681, Robert Boyle, an Englishman, dipped a sliver of wood which had earlier been treated with sulphur into a mixture of phosphorus and sulphur. The matches took fire so easily that his invention was not considered very practical.

John Walker, a druggist in England made the first practical matches. In order to light them, they were drawn between folds of paper covered with ground glass. By the year 1833, phosphorus Upped matches that could be ignited by friction were being made in Austria and Germany. There as a problem in this case. The white and yellow phosphorus was very dangerous for the workers as it caused exposure to vulnerability. It was forbidden by an international treaty in the year 1906.

Red phosphorus, non-poisonous, was introduced finally and this lead to the invention of safety matches. The first safety matches which light only on a prepared surface, was made in the year 1844, in Sweden. The entire lot of requisite chemicals was put into the matches head, except red phosphorus which was painted into the striking surface on the container. The matches were thus totally ” safe”, unless it was rubbed on the striking area.

There are long rainy periods in the pacific tropics. Our troops were fighting there during World War II. The long rainy spells made the ordinary matches ineffective. A man by the name Raymond Cady invented a coating for matches which kept them “safe” and “efficient” even after eight hours under water.