Match Holders

A match is a consumable tool for lighting a fire under controlled circumstances on demand. Matches are readily available, being sold in tobacconists and other shops. Matches are rarely sold singly; they are sold in multiples, packaged in match boxes or matchbooks. more...

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A match is typically a wooden stick (usually sold in match boxes) or stiff paper stick (usually sold in matchbooks) coated at one end (the match head) with a material often containing the element phosphorus, which will ignite from the heat of friction if rubbed ("struck") against a suitable surface.

There are two main types of matches: safety matches, which can be struck only against a specially prepared surface; and strike-anywhere matches, for which any sufficiently rough surface can be used.

Match-type compositions may also be used to produce electric matches, which are fired electrically. These items do not rely on the heat of friction.

History of the term match

match: 1350–1400; Middle English macche (wick) < Middle French meiche, Old French mesche < Vulgar Latin *mesca (lamp wick), metathetic variant of Latin myxa < Greek mýxa, μυχα, (mucus, nostril, nozzle of a lamp)

Historically, the term match referred to lengths of cord, or later cambric, impregnated with chemicals, and allowed to burn continuously. These were used to light fires and set off guns and cannons. Such matches were characterised by their burning speed, e.g. quick match and slow match; depending on their formulation, they could provide burning rates of between, typically, 4 milliseconds and 15 seconds per centimetre.

The modern equivalent of this sort of match is the simple fuse, still used in pyrotechnics to obtain a controlled time delay before ignition. The original meaning of the word still persists in some pyrotechnics terms, such as black match (a black powder–impregnated fuse) and Bengal match (a firework producing a relatively long-burning, coloured flame). But, when friction matches were developed, they became the main object meant by the term.

History of the modern match

A predecessor of the match, small sticks of pinewood impregnated with sulfur, was developed in China in 577 A.D..

The first modern, self-igniting match was invented in 1805 by K. Chancel, assistant to Professor Louis Jacques Thénard of Paris. The head of the match consisted of a mixture of potassium chlorate, sulfur, sugar, and rubber. They were ignited by dipping the tip of the match in a small asbestos bottle filled with sulfuric acid. This kind of match was quite expensive and its usage was dangerous, so Chancel's matches never gained much popularity.

Read more at Wikipedia.org