“It can light your mind if you think!
Or can make some lamps blink!
It can make you feel warm!
And slowly you will feel it’s charm!”
One of the most important piece of glass in every household before this invention was a magnifying glass! Now, it was not used to read stuff but rather used for an entirely different thing which also needed light but of the sun! Moreover it changed because of an accident!
read on!
So this was before the invention of the one thing which has become a part of our life in ways that we could not even imagine! Though in most places it has been replaced by the modern electronic version but still there are some places it is needed for a light!
Yes! Matches!
We cannot imagine starting our day without the fire! And for fire we need either matches or lighter! As kids we used to love play with those matches! Getting burnt was the norm! How long can you hold it was the game! The most exciting game was getting two and if you are lucky three lights from a single matchstick! The trick was to immediately put the tip in water; wait for it to dry and light again! Two was easy! Three was epic! Four was unheard!
A pre deepawali cracker was lighting all the matches together! It used to look like a mini bonfire!
But in the olden days, there were no matches! It has been told that those days light was started by rubbing wood or stones together but the more better and intelligent way would be using a lens to concentrate sun’s rays! Of course the latter needed sun or else it is no fun!
All that changed with the invention of the matches!
Now the person in question for the start of this invention was John Walker.
About the age of fifteen John Walker was apprenticed to Mr. Watson Alcock a surgeon who was physician to the Marquis of Londonderry. There is not much detail of this period of his life but he worked as an assistant surgeon and it was claimed by his great niece that he was a “fully qualified doctor”. However he did not remain in this profession for long and it has been suggested that he could not stand the sight of blood which is nice in that if not for that we would not have a light!
After abandoning this profession he went to where he studied pharmacy with wholesale druggists in Durham and York. In the nineteenth century the science of pharmacy was still in its infancy with the transition from natural cures to scientific prescribing. And when John Walker came to open his shop he was thirty eight years old and in addition to a wide experience of botanical studies and herbal healing he had a sound training in the use of drugs in human and veterinary practice and a keen interest in chemistry.
A lot of his experimental work was with light producing agents including phosphorus. In addition to these experiments he also made a wide range of medicines for man and beast! Many of these “cures” would be banned today as being dangerous!
The experiments that led to his breakthrough came in 1826-27 and he was working at his home on the Quayside with combustible paste that he was developing perhaps as material to be used in percussion caps for the gun trade!
He knew the mixture would flare-up but was not explosive. The eureka moment came when he scrapped the mixing stick on the hearth at his home and it “spluttered and caught fire”. This was the breakthrough – not the flammable compound but realizing it would ignite a spill dipped in it!
By 1827 John Walker was selling these “friction lights” or matches to the public at 1s 2d (6 new pence) per 100 in a tin case with piece of sandpaper to ignite them. Originally the matches were made of pasteboard but 3 inch splints of wood were soon substituted – the friction head was added to the stick by dipping!
These matches were very popular in the town, with one early customer being the Stockton to Darlington Railway, but their fame soon spread. John Walker did not patent his invention as he thought it would benefit mankind however other inventors were not so benevolent and did protect their “spin off” developments! Unfortunately sometimes the selfish get the loot and get away with it!
Thus with the others especially “Lucifers” rapidly gaining a well established market John Walker ceased production in the early 1830s. But still Lucifer as they inspired name is a big cheat and a copy!
The modern safety matches though were made by a Swedish chemist named Gustaf Erik. These matches used red phosphorus, which is not toxic, on the striking surface, making them much safer than previous matches. The match head was coated with a mixture of antimony sulphide, potassium chlorate, and sulfur, which could be ignited by rubbing it against the red phosphorus on the box! When it comes to safety then these are really safe! And of course they light up so well!
Light in every way is the song Vande matram written by birthday celebrity Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay!
A quick scribe of the legend!
Now store those matches safely!
Shubh Ratri!
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