What is the head of a match called? What are matches made of in factories? Chemical combustion reaction

16.12.2019

A match is a stick (shaft, straw) made of flammable material, equipped with an incendiary head at the end, used to produce an open fire.

Main types of modern matches

Based on the material of the matchstick, matches can be divided into wooden (made from soft wood - aspen, linden, poplar, American white pine, etc.), cardboard and wax (paraffin - made from cotton rope impregnated with paraffin).

According to the ignition method - grated (ignited by friction against a special surface - a grater) and non-grated (ignited by friction with any surface).

In Russia, the most common are aspen matchsticks, accounting for more than 99% of matches produced.

Grating matches various types are the main mass type of matches throughout the world.

Stemless (sesquisulfide) matches are produced mainly in England and the USA, in limited quantities.

History of the match

Some kind of matches were invented in medieval China. These were thin slivers with tips soaked in ordinary pure sulfur. They were lit not by striking, but by contact with smoldering tinder, and served to facilitate the process of starting a fire using tinder and flint. These "proto-matches" are mentioned in Chinese texts XIII-XIV centuries. By the 15th century, this new product reached Europe, but did not become widespread. Such sulfur sticks began to be used in Europe only in the 17th-18th centuries, until the development of chemistry made it possible to improve them.

The first matches were made in 1805 by the French chemist Jean Chancel. These were wooden matches that were lit when the head of a mixture of sulfur, berthollet salt and cinnabar came into contact with concentrated sulfuric acid. In 1813, the first match factory in Austria-Hungary, Maliard and Wieck, was registered in Vienna for the production of chemical matches. By the time the production of sulfur matches (sulfur matches) began (1826) by the English chemist and pharmacist John Walker, chemical matches were already quite widespread in Europe.

The heads in John Walker's matches consisted of a mixture of antimony sulfide, berthollet salt and gum arabic (gum - a viscous liquid secreted by acacia). When such a match is rubbed against sandpaper (grater) or another fairly rough surface, its head easily ignites.

Walker matches were (according to various sources) 2½ or 3 inches long. They were packaged in tin cases containing 84 matches and a sheet of sandpaper, which were sold for one English shilling and called "congreves" (after the inventor of rockets, William Congreve). However, big money Walker did not make any money from his invention. In addition, these matches had a terrible smell.

In 1830, 19-year-old French chemist Charles Soria invented phosphorus matches, consisting of a mixture of Bertholet salt, white phosphorus and glue. These matches were very flammable, since they caught fire even from mutual friction in the box and when rubbing against any hard surface, for example, the sole of a boot.

The main disadvantage of the Walker and Soria matches was the instability of the ignition of the match handle - the burning time of the head was very short. A solution was found in the invention of phosphorus-sulfur matches, the head of which was made in two stages - first, the handle was dipped in a mixture of sulfur, wax or stearin, a small amount of berthollet salt and glue, and then in a mixture of white phosphorus, berthollet salt and glue. A flash of phosphorus ignited a slower-burning mixture of sulfur and wax, which ignited the handle of the match.

These matches remained dangerous not only in production, but also in use - extinguished match handles continued to smolder, leading to frequent fires. This problem was solved by impregnating the handle of the match with ammonium phosphate (NH4H2PO4). Such matches began to be called impregnated (impregnated - impregnated) or, later, safe. To ensure stable burning of the cuttings, they began to impregnate it with wax or stearin (later - paraffin).

In 1855, Swedish chemist Johan Lundström applied red phosphorus to the surface of sandpaper and replaced white phosphorus in the head of a match. Such matches no longer caused harm to health, were easily lit on a pre-prepared surface and practically did not self-ignite. Johan Lundström patents the first “Swedish match”, which has survived to this day almost unchanged. In 1855, Lundström's matches were awarded a medal at the World Exhibition in Paris. Later, phosphorus was completely removed from the composition of match heads and remained only in the composition of the spread (grater).

With the development of the production of “Swedish” matches, the production of matches using white phosphorus was banned in almost all countries. Before the invention of sesquisulfide matches, limited production of white phosphorus matches remained only in England, Canada and the USA, mainly for military purposes, and also (until 1925) in some Asian countries. In 1906, the international Berne Convention was adopted, prohibiting the use of white phosphorus in the production of matches. By 1910, the production of phosphorus matches in Europe and America had completely ceased.

Sesquisulfide matches were invented in 1898 by French chemists Saven and Caen. They are produced mainly in English-speaking countries, mainly for military needs. The basis of the rather complex composition of the head is non-toxic phosphorus sesquisulfide (P4S3) and Berthollet salt.

IN late XIX century, the match business became the Swedish “national sport”. In 1876, 38 match factories were built, and a total of 121 factories were operating. However, by the beginning of the 20th century, almost all of them either went bankrupt or merged into large concerns.

Currently, matches manufactured in most European countries, do not contain sulfur and chlorine compounds - paraffins and chlorine-free oxidizers are used instead.

Production of matches in Russia

The production of phosphorus matches began in Russia around 1833-37, but neither the packaging nor the labels of the first factories have been preserved, and precise documentary data on their location has not yet been found. The first surge in the development of match production occurred in the 1840s. By 1848, there were already more than 30 match factories operating in Russia. In November 1848, a law was passed allowing the production of matches only in Moscow and St. Petersburg and limiting the retail sale of matches. As a result, in 1849 there was only one match factory left in Russia. In 1869, it was allowed “to manufacture phosphorus matches everywhere, both in the Empire and in the Kingdom of Poland.” By 1913, there were 251 registered match factories operating in Russia.

In Russia, attention was paid quite early to the extreme danger of white phosphorus - already in 1862, restrictions on the circulation of white phosphorus appeared, and in 1882, an excise tax was established on matches made from white phosphorus, twice as high as on “Swedish” matches. By the beginning of the 20th century, the production of matches using white phosphorus in Russia gradually faded away.

Since 1863, the gradual mechanization of match production began in Russia, and by 1914, most match factories were equipped with at least several mechanical machines, powered mainly by steam engines.

From 1914 to 1926 (due to the First World War, revolution, collapse of the empire, Civil War and post-revolutionary devastation) the production of matches in Russia has been steadily declining. By 1931, only 31 match factories were operating in the USSR.

By 1922, all match production in the USSR was nationalized. From this time on, another revival of match production began. At the first stage, idle equipment from closed factories is concentrated on working ones. Several small factories located close to each other were merged. But by the mid-1930s, the production of matches still did not meet the country’s needs. By 1940, many factories had been renovated, the first match machines were installed, and match production increased significantly. The country began to export matches on a commercial scale.

In 1941-43. more than half of the match production enterprises (accounting for more than 2/3 of production) were destroyed during the war and occupation. In 1948, match production was at the level of the early 1930s.

During 1944-60. several destroyed enterprises were restored, most enterprises were re-equipped with new equipment, and by the mid-1960s the match crisis in the country was largely eliminated.

By 1980, match factories had undergone a number of modernizations and reconstructions, and the country again began to export matches in large quantities.

The transition from a planned socialist economy to a market economy took the management of most enterprises by surprise. The lack of understanding by enterprise managers of working conditions in a market economy, the complete absence of competent economists and marketers in the country led first to a crisis of overproduction (due to the fact that enterprises were cut off from export markets, a sharp influx of cheap imported lighters and the complete indifference of the state to these facts), and then - to the massive bankruptcy of factories.

Structure, composition and manufacture

A match consists of a head and a straw. The head is a suspension of powdery substances in a glue solution. The powdered substances include oxidizing agents - Berthollet salt and potassium chromium, which release oxygen at high temperatures; this temperature is somewhat reduced by the addition of a catalyst - pyrolusite. The sulfur contained in the head is oxidized by the oxygen released by the oxidizers, as well as by the oxygen in the air, and sulfur dioxide is released, which gives the burning match a characteristic odor; when the head burns, a slag with pores, similar to glass, is formed. A brief flash of the head would not be sufficient to ignite the straw. But the paraffin located under the head boils when it burns, its vapors ignite, and this fire is transferred to the match straw. To control the burning rate, ground glass, zinc white, and red lead were added to the powdered substances.

The match straw in Russian and formerly Soviet matches is most often an aspen stick. To avoid its smoldering, it is impregnated with a 1.5% solution of H3PO4.

The coating of a matchbox, against which a match is rubbed when it is ignited, is also a suspension of powdery substances in a glue solution. But the composition of powdered substances is somewhat different. These include antimony (III) sulfide and red phosphorus, which, when the head rubs against the lubricant, turns into white phosphorus, which instantly flares up upon contact with air and sets the head on fire. To prevent the entire coating from catching fire when ignited, the particles of red phosphorus are separated by poorly burning substances - red lead, kaolin, gypsum, ground glass.

Percentage composition of the match head and the grease (“grater”) of the box:

Match head composition

Berthollet salt KClO3 46.5%

ground glass SiO2 17.2%

lead lead Pb3O4 15.3%

bone glue 11.5%

sulfur S 4.2%

Zinc white ZnO 3.8%

potassium dichromate K2Cr2O7 1.5%

Composition of the spread (“grater”)

stibnite Sb2S3 41.8%

phosphorus (red) P 30.8%

lead iron Fe2O3 12.8%

bone glue 6.7%

ground glass SiO2 3.8%

chalk CaCO3 2.6%

zinc white ZnO 1.5%

Matches in Russia are manufactured in accordance with GOST 1820-2001 “Matches. Technical conditions".

When making matches, the veneer is first peeled from aspen logs - a thin layer is cut off along the entire length of the log, then the veneer is laid in layers and chopped with knives, resulting in match straws. The straws are impregnated with anti-smoldering solutions, dried, polished and fed into a match machine. They are installed in the conveyor strips, heated, and part of the straw, which later becomes the head, is immersed in liquid paraffin. Next, the mentioned part of the straw is dipped several times in a special composition - a match head is formed. The matchsticks with the head are dried and placed in boxes.

Boxes are produced on box-gluing machines. Inner and outer cartons European system First they are nested into each other, and then they are filled with matches. By American system First, the inner box is filled with matches, and then it is inserted into the outer one. The last step is to apply the coating to the outer box.

In addition to ordinary (household) matches, special ones are also made:

Storm (hunting) - burning in the wind, in dampness and in the rain.
Thermal - developing a higher temperature during combustion and producing heads during combustion large quantity heat.
Signal - giving a colored flame when burning.
Photographic - giving an instant bright flash used in photography.
Cigar matches - oversized matches for longer burning when lighting a cigar.
Fireplace matches are very long matches for lighting fireplaces.
Gas burners are shorter in length than fireplace burners to light gas burners.
Decorative (gift, collectible) - limited edition boxes with various designs (similar to postage stamps), the matches themselves often had a colored head (pink, green). Box-sized sets of labels were also produced separately.

Matches are a relatively recent invention of mankind; they replaced flint and steel about two centuries ago, when looms were already working, trains and steamships were running. But it was not until 1844 that the creation of safety matches was announced.

Before a match broke out in the hands of a man, many events happened, each of which contributed to the long and difficult path of creating a match.

Although the use of fire dates back to the dawn of mankind, it is believed that matches were originally invented in China in 577 during the Qi Dynasty, which ruled northern China (550-577). The courtiers found themselves under military siege and left without fire; they invented them from sulfur.

But let's find out the history of this everyday thing in more detail...

A description of these matches is given by Tao Gu in his book “Evidence of the Extraordinary and Supernatural” (c. 950):

“If something unexpected happens overnight, it takes some time. An insightful person simplified small pine sticks by impregnating them with sulfur. They were ready to use. All that remains is to rub them on an uneven surface. The result was a flame as big as an ear of wheat. This miracle is called "the servant clothed with light." But when I started selling them, I called them fire sticks.” In 1270, matches were already freely sold on the market in the city of Hangzhou.

In Europe, matches were invented only in 1805 by the French chemist Chancel, although already in 1680 the Irish physicist Robert Boyle (who discovered Boyle's law) coated a small piece of paper with phosphorus and took the already familiar wooden stick with a sulfur head. He rubbed it on the paper and as a result a fire broke out

The word “match” comes from the old Russian word spica - a sharpened wooden stick, or splinter. Initially, knitting needles were the name given to wooden nails that were used to attach the sole to a shoe. At first, in Russia, matches were called “incendiary, or samogar matches.”

Sticks for matches can be either wooden (soft woods are used - linden, aspen, poplar, American white pine...), as well as cardboard and wax (cotton string impregnated with paraffin).

Collecting match labels, boxes, matches themselves and other related items is called philumenia. And their collectors are called phylumenists.

According to the method of ignition, matches can be grated, which are ignited by friction against the surface of a matchbox, and non-grated, which are ignited on any surface (remember how Charlie Chaplin lit a match on his trousers).

In ancient times, to make a fire, our ancestors used the friction of wood against wood, then they began to use flint and invented flint. But even with it, lighting a fire required time, a certain skill and effort. By striking the steel against the flint, they struck a spark that fell on the tinder soaked in saltpeter. It began to smolder and from it, using dry kindling, the fire was fanned

The next invention was the impregnation of a dry splinter with molten sulfur. When the head of sulfur was pressed against the smoldering tinder, it burst into flames. And she was already setting fire to the hearth. This is how the prototype of the modern match appeared.

In 1669, white phosphorus, which was easily ignited by friction, was discovered and was used in the production of the first match heads.

In 1680, the Irish physicist Robert Boyle (1627 - 1691, who discovered Boyle's law), coated a small piece of phosphorus with such phosphorus and took the already familiar wooden stick with a sulfur head. He rubbed it on the paper and as a result, a fire broke out. But unfortunately, Robert Boyle did not draw any useful conclusion from this.

Chapselle's wooden matches, invented in 1805, had a head made of a mixture of sulfur, bertholite salt, and cinnabar red, which was used to color the head. Such a match was lit either with the help of a magnifying glass from the Sun (remember how in childhood they burned out drawings or set fire to carbon paper), or by dripping concentrated sulfuric acid onto it. His matches were dangerous to use and very expensive.

A little later, in 1827, the English chemist and apothecary John Walker (1781-1859) discovered that if you coat the end of a wooden stick with certain chemicals, then scratching it on a dry surface, the head lights up and sets the stick on fire. The chemicals he used were: antimony sulfide, bertholet's salt, gum and starch. Walker did not patent his "Congreves," as he called the world's first matches, which he invented, which were lit by friction.

An important role in the birth of the match was played by the discovery of white phosphorus made by a retired soldier from Hamburg, Henning Brand, in 1669. After studying the works of famous alchemists of that time, he decided to get gold. As a result of the experiments, a certain light powder was accidentally obtained. This substance had the amazing property of luminescence, and Brand called it “phosphorus,” which translated from Greek means “luminiferous.”

As for Walker, as often happens, the pharmacist invented matches by accident. In 1826, he mixed chemicals using a stick. A dried drop formed at the end of this stick. To remove it, he struck the floor with a stick. Fire broke out! Like all slow-witted people, he did not bother to patent his invention, but demonstrated it to everyone. A guy named Samuel Jones was present at such a demonstration and realized the market value of the invention. He called the matches “Lucifers” and began selling tons of them, despite the fact that there were some problems associated with “Lucifers” - they smelled bad and, when ignited, scattered clouds of sparks around.

He soon released them to the market. The first sale of matches took place on April 7, 1827 in the city of Hikso. Walker made some money from his invention. His matches and "Congreves", however, often exploded and were unpredictably dangerous to handle. He died in 1859, aged 78, and was buried in Norton Parish Church cemetery, Stockton.

However, Samuel Jones soon saw Walker's "Congreves" matches and decided to start selling them as well, calling them "Lucifers". Perhaps due to their name, Lucifers matches became popular, especially among smokers, but they also had an unpleasant odor when burning

There was another problem - the heads of the first matches consisted of only phosphorus, which ignited perfectly, but burned out too quickly and the wooden stick did not always have time to light up. We had to return to the old recipe - a sulfur head and began to apply phosphorus to it to make it easier to set fire to the sulfur, which in turn set fire to the wood. Soon they came up with another improvement to the match head - they began to mix chemicals that release oxygen when heated with phosphorus.

In 1832, dry matches appeared in Vienna. They were invented by L. Trevani; he covered the head of a wooden straw with a mixture of Berthollet salt with sulfur and glue. If you run such a match over sandpaper, the head will ignite, but sometimes this happened with an explosion, and this led to serious burns.

The ways to further improve matches were extremely clear: it was necessary to make the following mixture composition for the match head. so that it lights up calmly. Soon the problem was solved. IN new line-up included Berthollet's salt, white phosphorus and glue. Matches with such a coating could easily ignite on any hard surface, on glass, on the sole of a shoe, on a piece of wood.
The inventor of the first phosphorus matches was a nineteen-year-old Frenchman, Charles Soria. In 1831, a young experimenter added white phosphorus to a mixture of bertholite salt and sulfur to weaken its explosive properties. This idea turned out to be successful, since the matches lubricated with the resulting composition easily ignited when rubbed. The ignition temperature of such matches is relatively low - 30 degrees. The scientist wanted to patent his invention, but for this he had to pay a lot of money, which he did not have. A year later, matches were again created by the German chemist J. Kammerer.

These matches were easily flammable, and therefore caused fires, and besides, white phosphorus is a very toxic substance. Match factory workers suffered from serious illnesses caused by phosphorus fumes.

The first successful recipe for an incendiary mass for making phosphorus matches was apparently invented by the Austrian Irini in 1833. Irini offered it to the entrepreneur Remer, who opened a match factory. But it was inconvenient to carry matches in bulk, and then a matchbox with rough paper glued to it was born. Now there was no longer any need to strike a phosphorus match against anything. The only problem was that sometimes the matches in the box caught fire due to friction.

Due to the danger of self-ignition of phosphorus matches, the search began for a more convenient and safe flammable substance. Discovered in 1669 by the German alchemist Brand, white phosphorus was easier to set on fire than sulfur, but its disadvantage was that it was a strong poison and, when burned, gave off a very unpleasant and harmful odor. Match factory workers, having inhaled white phosphorus fumes, became disabled in just a few months. In addition, by dissolving it in water, they obtained a strong poison that could easily kill a person.

In 1847, Schröter discovered red phosphorus, which was no longer poisonous. Thus, the replacement of poisonous white phosphorus in matches with red gradually began. The first combustible mixture based on it was created by the German chemist Betcher. He made a match head using glue from a mixture of sulfur and Berthollet salt, and impregnated the match itself with paraffin. The match burned superbly, but its only drawback was that it did not ignite as before due to friction against a rough surface. Then Boettcher lubricated this surface with a composition containing red phosphorus. When the head of a match was rubbed, the particles of red phosphorus contained in it ignited, ignited the head and the match lit up with an even yellow flame. These matches did not produce any smoke or the unpleasant smell of phosphorus matches.

Boettcher's invention did not initially attract the attention of industrialists. Its matches were first produced in 1851 by the Swedes, the Lundström brothers. In 1855, Johan Edward Lundström patented his matches in Sweden. That’s why “safety matches” began to be called “Swedish”.

The Swede applied red phosphorus to the surface of sandpaper on the outside of a small box and added the same phosphorus to the composition of the match head. Thus, they no longer caused harm to health and were easily ignited on a pre-prepared surface. Safety matches in the same year they were presented at the International Exhibition in Paris and received gold medal. From that moment on, the match began its triumphal march around the world. Their main feature was that they did not ignite when rubbed against any hard surface. A Swedish match was lit only if it was rubbed against lateral surface boxes covered with a special mass.

Soon after this, Swedish matches began to spread around the world and soon the production and sale of hazardous phosphorus matches was banned in many countries. After a few decades, the production of phosphorus matches stopped completely.

In America, the history of producing your own matchbox began in 1889. Joshua Pusey from Philadelphia invented his own matchbox and called it Flexibles. To this day, no information has reached us about the number of matches placed in this box. There are two versions - there were 20 or 50. He made the first American matchbox from cardboard using scissors. On a small wood stove, he cooked up a mixture for the match heads and coated the surface of the box with another bright mixture to light them. Beginning in 1892, Pusey spent the next 36 months defending the priority of his discovery in the courts. As often happens with great inventions, the idea was already in the air and at the same time other people were also working on the invention of the matchbox. Pusey's patent was unsuccessfully challenged by the Diamond Match Company, which invented a similar matchbox. An inventor rather than a fighter, in 1896 he agreed to the Diamond Match Company's offer to sell his patent for $4,000 along with a job offer for the company. There was a reason to sue, because already in 1895, match production volumes exceeded 150,000 matchboxes per day.

Pusey went to work for the Diamond Match Company and worked there until his death in 1916. Despite the fact that before 1896 other companies produced similar matchboxes, Pusi's invention received worldwide recognition.

In 1910, in the United States, the same Diamond Match Company patented completely non-poisonous matches that used a safe chemical called sesquisulfide phophoroues.

US President William Taft publicly asked the Diamond Match Company to donate its patent for the benefit of humanity. On January 28, 1911, the US Congress imposed a very high tax on matches made from white phosphorus. This marked the end of the era of phosphorus matches in America.

The earliest known commercial matchbox advertisement in America was created in 1895 and advertised the Mendelson Opera Company. "A cyclone of fun - powerful caste - pretty girls - handsome ward-robe - get seats early." On top of the matchbox was a photograph of the star of this comic troupe, trombonist Thomas Lowden, with the caption "America's Young Opera Comedian." The opera troupe purchased 1 box of matchboxes (about 100 pieces) from the Diamond Match Company and the actors, sitting at night, pasted photographs and their primitive advertising on them. Recently, the only remaining matchbook of 100 made that night sold for $25,000.

This idea was quickly picked up and the focus moved towards a larger business. It turned out to be the Pabst brewery in Milwaukee, which ordered ten million matchboxes.
Next came an advertisement for tobacco king Duke's products. He has already purchased thirty million boxes for his advertising. A moment later, William Wrigley, the king of chewing gum, Wrigley's Chewing Gum, ordered one billion matchboxes advertising his chewing gum.

The idea of advertising on a matchbox came from a young Diamond Match Company salesman, Henry C. Traute. Traute's idea was picked up by other match companies in the United States and it generated huge profits during the first twenty years of the 20th century. In the late 1920s, tens of thousands of advertisers used matchboxes, which became the most popular form of advertising in America.

But the Great Depression came and companies no longer had money to advertise their products. Then the Diamond Match Company came up with the next move and in early 1932 it placed its own advertising on its boxes in the form of photographs of Hollywood movie stars. The "smallest billboard in the world" featured photographs of American film stars: Katharine Hepburn, Slim Sommerville, Richard Arden, Anne Harding, Zazu Pitts, Gloria Stewart, Constance Bennett, Irene Dunne, Frances Dee and George Raft.

The rest was a matter of technique. Following the success of the first series, which sold for pennies, Diamond released matchbooks featuring several hundred national celebrities. Photographs of film and radio stars were supplemented on the back of the matchbox with their brief personal biography.

Next came athletes, patriotic and military advertising, popular American heroes, football, baseball and hockey teams... The idea was picked up all over the world and the matchbox in all countries became a window of advertising and propaganda.

But perhaps the USA became the only country. where in the 40s a free box of matches came with a pack of cigarettes. They were an integral part of every cigarette purchase. The price of a matchbox has not increased in America in fifty years. So the rise and fall of the matchbox in America tracked the number of packs of cigarettes sold.

Matches came to Russia in the 30s of the 19th century and were sold for a hundred rubles in silver. Later, the first matchboxes appeared, first wooden, and then tin. Moreover, even then labels were attached to them, which led to the emergence of a whole branch of collecting - phylumenia. The label carried not only information, but also decorated and complemented the matches.

By the time the law was passed in 1848 allowing their production only in Moscow and St. Petersburg, the number of factories producing them reached 30. The following year, only one match factory was operating. In 1859, the monopoly law was repealed and in 1913 there were 251 match factories operating in Russia.

Modern wooden matches are made in two ways: the veneer method (for square matches) and the stamping method (for round matches). Small aspen or pine logs are either chipped or stamped with a match machine. The matches sequentially pass through five baths, in which a general impregnation with a fire-fighting solution is carried out, a ground layer of paraffin is applied to one end of the match to ignite the wood from the match head, a layer forming the head is applied on top of it, a second layer is applied to the tip of the head, the head is also sprayed with a strengthening solution , protecting it from atmospheric influences. A modern match machine (18 meters long and 7.5 meters high) produces up to 10 million matches in an eight-hour shift.

How does a modern match work? The mass of a match head consists of 60% berthollet salt, as well as flammable substances - sulfur or metal sulfides. In order for the head to ignite slowly and evenly, without an explosion, so-called fillers are added to the mass - glass powder, iron (III) oxide, etc. The binding material is glue.

What does the skin coating consist of? The main component is red phosphorus. Manganese (IV) oxide, crushed glass and glue are added to it.

What processes occur when a match is lit? When the head rubs against the skin at the point of contact, red phosphorus ignites due to the oxygen of Berthollet salt. Figuratively speaking, fire is initially born in the skin. He lights the match head. Sulfur or sulfide flares up in it, again due to the oxygen of Berthollet salt. And then the tree catches fire.

The word “match” itself comes from the shape plural the words “knitting needle” (a pointed wooden stick). The word originally meant wooden shoe nails, and this meaning of "match" still exists in a number of dialects. The matches used to start fire were initially called “incendiary (or samogar) matches.”

In 1922, all factories in the USSR were nationalized, but their number after the devastation became an order of magnitude smaller. To the beginning of the Great Patriotic War In the USSR, about 55 boxes of matches were produced per person. At the beginning of the war, most match factories were located in the territory occupied by the Germans and a match crisis began in the country. Huge demands for matches fell on the eight remaining match factories. In the USSR, lighters began to be produced en masse. After the war, the production of matches quickly picked up again.

The price for matches was minimal and after the monetary reform of 1961 it invariably amounted to 1 kopeck. After the collapse of the USSR, like other factories and factories, match factories suffered massive bankruptcy.

Today, matches are again not in short supply and the cost of a box (about 60 matches) is 1 ruble. In addition to the familiar regular matches, the following varieties continue to be produced in Russia:

Gas - gas burners used for ignition.
Decorative (gift and collectible) - sets of matchboxes with various designs, often with colored heads.
Fireplaces with very long sticks for lighting fireplaces.
Signal - which give a bright and far visible colored flame when burning.
Thermal - when these matches burn, a greater amount of heat is released, and their combustion temperature is much higher than a regular match (300 degrees Celsius).
Photographic - giving an instant bright flash when photographing.
Household supplies in large packaging.
Storm or hunting matches - these matches are not afraid of dampness; they can burn in the wind and in the rain.

In Russia, 99% of all matches produced are aspen matchsticks. Rubbed matches of various types are the main type of matches throughout the world. Stemless (sesquisulfide) matches were invented in 1898 by French chemists Saven and Caen and are produced mainly in English-speaking countries, mainly for military needs. The basis of the rather complex composition of the head is non-toxic phosphorus sesquisulfide and Berthollet salt.

Something else from the “how it was” series for you: for example, you already know , is it familiar to you? Well, here’s what you should know for sure. The original article is on the website InfoGlaz.rf Link to the article from which this copy was made -

A match is a stick (shaft, straw) made of flammable material, equipped with an ignition head at the end, used to produce an open fire.

Before a match broke out in the hands of a man, many events happened, each of which contributed to the long and difficult path of creating a match.

But let's find out the history of this everyday thing in more detail...

A description of these matches is given by Tao Gu in his book “Evidence of the Extraordinary and Supernatural” (c. 950):

The word “match” comes from the old Russian word spitsa - a sharpened wooden stick, or splinter. Initially, knitting needles were the name given to wooden nails that were used to attach the sole to a shoe. At first, in Russia, matches were called “incendiary, or samogar matches.”

Sticks for matches can be either wooden (soft woods are used - linden, aspen, poplar, American white pine...), as well as cardboard and wax (cotton rope impregnated with paraffin).

Collecting match labels, boxes, matches themselves and other related items is called philumenia. And their collectors are called phylumenists.

In 1669, white phosphorus, which was easily ignited by friction, was discovered and was used in the production of the first match heads.

A little later, in 1827, the English chemist and apothecary John Walker (1781-1859) discovered that if you coat the end of a wooden stick with certain chemicals, then scratch it on a dry surface, the head lights up and sets the stick on fire. The chemicals he used were: antimony sulfide, bertholet's salt, gum and starch. Walker did not patent his "Congreves," as he called the world's first matches, which he invented, which were lit by friction.

There was another problem - the head of the first matches consisted of only phosphorus, which ignited perfectly, but burned out too quickly and the wooden stick did not always have time to light up. We had to return to the old recipe - a sulfur head and began to apply phosphorus to it to make it easier to set fire to the sulfur, which in turn set fire to the wood. Soon they came up with another improvement to the match head - they began to mix chemicals that release oxygen when heated with phosphorus.

The ways to further improve matches were extremely clear: it was necessary to make the following mixture composition for the match head. so that it lights up calmly. Soon the problem was solved. The new composition included Berthollet salt, white phosphorus and glue. Matches with such a coating could easily ignite on any hard surface, on glass, on the sole of a shoe, on a piece of wood.
The inventor of the first phosphorus matches was a nineteen-year-old Frenchman, Charles Soria. In 1831, a young experimenter added white phosphorus to a mixture of bertholite salt and sulfur to weaken its explosive properties. This idea turned out to be successful, since the matches lubricated with the resulting composition easily ignited when rubbed. The ignition temperature of such matches is relatively low - 30 degrees. The scientist wanted to patent his invention, but for this he had to pay a lot of money, which he did not have. A year later, matches were again created by the German chemist J. Kammerer.

The Swede applied red phosphorus to the surface of sandpaper on the outside of a small box and added the same phosphorus to the composition of the match head. Thus, they no longer caused harm to health and were easily ignited on a pre-prepared surface. Safety matches were presented at the International Exhibition in Paris that same year and received a gold medal. From that moment on, the match began its triumphal march around the world. Their main feature was that they did not ignite when rubbed against any hard surface. The Swedish match was lit only if it was rubbed against the side surface of the box, covered with a special mass.

What does the skin coating consist of? The main component is red phosphorus. Manganese (IV) oxide, crushed glass and glue are added to it.

The word “match” comes from the plural form of the word “spoke” (a pointed wooden stick). The word originally meant wooden shoe nails, and this meaning of "match" still exists in a number of dialects. The matches used to start fire were initially called “incendiary (or samogar) matches.”

In 1922, all factories in the USSR were nationalized, but their number after the devastation became an order of magnitude smaller. By the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the USSR produced about 55 boxes of matches per person. At the beginning of the war, most match factories were located in the territory occupied by the Germans and a match crisis began in the country. Huge demands for matches fell on the eight remaining match factories. In the USSR, lighters began to be produced en masse. After the war, the production of matches quickly picked up again.

Signal - which give a bright and far visible colored flame when burning.
Thermal - when these matches burn, a greater amount of heat is released, and their combustion temperature is much higher than a regular match (300 degrees Celsius).
Photographic - giving an instant bright flash when photographing.
Household supplies in large packaging.
Storm or hunting matches - these matches are not afraid of dampness, they can burn in the wind and in the rain.

The invention of matches belongs to 19-year-old Charles Soria in 1831. They were very imperfect matches: explosive and poisonous. A few years later, the Swedish chemist Bepger invented new, safe ones. For a long time, matches were called Swedish. And now our ordinary matches are almost no different from those Swedish ones.

What are matches made of?

Each match consists of a wooden stick - a straw, and an incendiary mass - a head. The best material for straws is aspen. Pine and spruce are not suitable, they contain resin, it can catch fire when drying the straw, and the match will burn unevenly. And aspen ignites easily, burns evenly, does not smoke, does not smoke, and is easy to process. In countries where there is no aspen, matches are made from linden, birch, poplar, alder, even cardboard.

A match head, weighing several milligrams, consists of many precisely dosed, thoroughly mixed substances, each of them has its own functions. Half the mass of the head is oxidizing agents. These are Berthollet salt and potassium chromium. When decomposed, they easily release oxygen. To lower the decomposition temperature of Berthollet salt, a catalyst, manganese dioxide, is added to the composition of the mass. The main flammable substance is sulfur. To prevent the head from burning too quickly and falling apart, fillers are added to the mass: ground glass, zinc white, and red lead. All this is connected together with glues.

Why do matches burn and burn?

When we strike the head of a match against the wall of the box, a series of chemical reactions begins.

There is a coating applied to the box. It consists of red phosphorus, fillers and glue. During friction, the particles of red phosphorus turn into white, it heats up and lights up at 50 o C. Note that the box, not the match, lights up first. To prevent the spread on the box from burning all at once, phlegmatizers are added to its composition. They absorb some of the generated heat.

Once ignited, white phosphorus ignites the match head. And in a split second several reactions occur in it. First, sulfur interacts with Berthollet salt. At a temperature of about 400 o C, Berthollet salt decomposes, releasing oxygen. Oxygen interacts with sulfur. At 441 o C, sulfur boils and turns into steam. At the same time, glues burn and potassium chromium decomposes. The combustion temperature of the head reaches 1500 o C.

But even at this temperature, the straw would not have caught fire (the head burns too quickly) if the match at the head had not been soaked in paraffin. Already at the beginning of the combustion of the head - at 300 o C - the paraffin flares up and sets fire to the straw. And one more chemical trick - to prevent a burning match from smoldering, it is impregnated with fire retardants - salts of phosphoric acid. At high temperatures they melt and envelop the coal. Air access to the straw stops. The match goes out.

How are matches made?

In winter, aspen is cut down (at this time of year the tree has suitable humidity.) At a match factory, veneer is cut from aspen logs. Of course, you've seen veneer - several layers of it are glued to plywood. Making veneer is not a tricky thing: the block is clamped at the ends and begins to rotate. Then they bring a knife to him - a very long one: along the entire length of the block. The knife presses on it and removes a layer of wood with each revolution. The impression is as if a roll of paper is unwinding - the machine works so quickly.

On the next machine, the veneer is cut lengthwise and crosswise. The result is thin sticks-straws - future matches. A stream of air carries the straw away to the third operation - impregnation with anti-smoldering solutions (fire retardants). The straws then go into a huge rotating drum, where they rub against each other and polish themselves.

Clean, polished straws fall into the hopper of the match machine. This car deserves more detailed story. It’s amazing that such a machine was built to create a match – it’s as tall as the workshop ceiling, and tens of meters long. And it’s very productive: this giant makes 1,500 thousand matches per hour.

On the way from the bunker to the special comb system, the matches are strictly oriented. Imagine a long metal strip with grooves. This is the ridge. Straws are placed in the grooves of the comb. They can only lie in one position. A typesetting strip is installed against the ridge: a long metal strip with holes. The grooves in the comb include pushers that push the straw out and push it into the holes in the bar. Look at the match. At the end opposite the head, it bears a trace of this pushing. The stacking strips are flexibly connected and form a conveyor. He takes a step - a new bar approaches the ridges, and the filled one moves on. Along the way, the matches are dipped to a depth of three millimeters in a bath of molten paraffin, cool, and approach the main unit, which makes a match out of the straw, that is, it forms the head.

This is done quite simply. Before the next batch of straws arrives, the dipping plate is lowered into the bath and an incendiary mixture flows onto it. A special device ensures that there is exactly as much mixture on the stove as needed. At the right moment, the slab rises and is pressed against the straw protruding from the inlaid planks. This movement is repeated 4 times, and each time future matches dive to a shallower depth. This forms a regular pear-shaped head.

Then 40 min. the matches dry on a conveyor that looks like a huge hedgehog - the matches stick out of it like needles.

At the end of the path, the finished matches are pushed out of the holes in the slats and fall into the cassettes.

Meanwhile, other machines are gluing boxes - internal and external - from the same veneer, only thinner. They are fed to the machines, the hoppers of which already contain matches. The machine measures a certain number of matches. All that remains is to apply coating to the boxes. A long conveyor belt carries the boxes past brushes half-immersed in baths of solution. Brushes and coat them. The box of matches is ready.

What types of matches are there?

A lot of them. For example, storm matches are produced for fishermen and sailors. They have a huge head - almost the size of a match. It contains a lot of Berthollet salt. These matches can burn even in a 12-point storm. Hunting matches are made for hunters. They also have a large head, but it contains less berthollet salt and more filler. It burns for a long time - 8-10 seconds. With such matches, even an inexperienced tourist will be able to quickly light a fire. Geologists and builders have their own matches - smoldering ones. Their task is to light the fuse of the explosives.

There are also sesquisulfide matches. They can ignite if rubbed against any surface.

And special matches, whose burning temperature is so high that they can weld metal, for example, a telephone cable. There are colored fire matches. If you add some salts to their incendiary mass, they will burn with red, blue, and green fire.

Main article – Miliukov, “UT” 1969/2

The match head has gone through interesting stages of its development. It all started when striking sparks when a stone hit a piece of FeS 2 and igniting charred pieces of wood or plant fibers with them was practically the only way for humans to produce fire.

The first matches based on chemical reactions began to be made at the end of the 18th century. At first, these were wood splinters, on the tip of which potassium chlorate (Berthollet salt KClO 3) and was fixed in the form of a head. Match head plunged into sulfuric acid, there was a flash and the splinter lit up.

The most important stage in the development of chemistry on the way to modern matches was the introduction of a match head into the mass (1833). Such matches were easily lit by friction against a rough surface. However, when burned, they created an unpleasant odor and, most importantly, their production was very harmful to workers. White phosphorus vapors led to a severe disease - phosphorus necrosis of bones.

In 1847, it was found that white phosphorus, when heated in a closed vessel without air access, turns into another modification - . It is much less volatile and practically non-toxic. Soon the white phosphorus in match heads was replaced with red. Such matches were lit only by friction against a special surface made of red phosphorus, glue and other substances.

There are several varieties of modern matches. According to their intended purpose, they distinguish between matches that light under normal conditions, moisture-resistant (designed to ignite after storage in damp conditions), wind matches (lighted in the wind), etc.

When burning a match, for safety reasons, it is necessary to obtain a non-smoldering ember from the straw and keep the hot slag from the burnt head on it. To eliminate the smoldering of the straw and secure the slag from the head, the straw is impregnated with substances that form a film on its surface during combustion. Thanks to this film, the combustion of coal stops. It also secures the slag from the match head. Phosphoric acid and its salt (NH 4) 2 HPO 4 are used as anti-smoldering substances.

To ensure efficient flame transfer from the head to the straw, the latter near the head is impregnated with molten paraffin. Paraffin ignites easily when the head burns and produces a bright flame, which is important when using a match as a light source. In addition, it is safe for storing matches and does not emit soot, smoke or harmful gases when burning.

Over a period of more than 150 years, the chemistry of the match head has a large number of formulations of incendiary masses. They are complex multicomponent systems. They include: oxidizing agents (KClO 3, K 2 Cr 2 O 7, MnO 2), which provide the oxygen necessary for combustion; flammable substances (sulfur, animal and vegetable glues, phosphorus sulfide P 4 S 3); fillers - substances that prevent the explosive nature of combustion of the head (crushed glass, Fe 2 O 3); adhesives (glues), which are also flammable; acidity stabilizers (ZnO, CaCO 3, etc.); substances that color the match mass in a certain color (organic and inorganic dyes).

The temperature of match heads reaches 1500 0 C, and their ignition temperature lies in the range of 180–200 0 C.

Phosphorus (grating) mass is also multicomponent. It is applied to the narrow side outer sides of the matchbox. The composition of the most common grating mass includes: red phosphorus, antimony sulfide (3) Sb 2 S 3, iron lead Fe 2 O 3, pyrolusite MnO 2, chalk CaCO 3, glue.

It should be noted that the reaction that occurs during the combustion of a match head is one of the most violent and dangerous chemical processes. Therefore, handling matches requires respect.

What is the head of a match called? What are matches made of in factories? Chemical combustion reaction

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