Match

(mach.) (Applied Chem.) A small stick of combustible material, furnished with some very in flamm a ble composition, and used for producing fire. Lucifer matches, which are now in general use, are made by tipping the wood with sulphur or wax or paraffine to convey the flame, and afterwards with the match composition, which is generally composed of saltpetre or chlorate of potash, phosphorus, red lead, and glue, and depends for its action on the easy inflammation, by friction, of phosphorus when mixed with oxidizing agents like saltpetre (KO.NO%), chlorate of potash (KO.C105), or red lead (Pb304), the glue only serving to bind the composition together and attach it to the wood. The composition used by different makers varies much in the nature and proportions of the ingredients. The match composition is colored either with ultramarine blue, Pru ian blue, or vermilion. The safety matches, which refuse to ignite unle rubbed upon the bottom of the box, are tipped with a mixture of sulphide of antimony, chlorate of potash, and powdered gla , which is not sufficiently sensitive to be ignited by any ordinary friction, but inflames at once when rubbed upon the amorphous phosphorus mixed with gla which coats the rubber beneath the box. On this principle some French matches have been made which can be ignited only by breaking the match and rubbing the two ends together. The trade in matches has a umed enormous dimensions, and it has been calculated that in the U. States about 7,000 gro of boxes are daily manufactured, containing 35,700,000 matches, and worth $3,000. American matches are largely exported to the E. and W. Indies, Mexico, Australia, China, S. America, . [s. 584]