CHAPTER II.

OF MATCHES.

Matches, in artillery, are a kind of rope made of flax, hemp, or cotton slightly twisted, and prepared to retain fire for the use of artillery, mines, fire-works, &c. Bigot, (_Traité d'Artifice de Guerre_, p. 64,) has considered this subject under three heads; namely, of match-rope, priming fuses or tubes, and quick-match. We purpose, therefore, in the following sections, to treat the subject in this order.

_Sec. I. Of Slow Match._

Slow-match may be prepared by different processes. When hemp or tow is spun on the wheel like cord, but very slack, and made into three twists and then covered with tow, so that the twists do not appear, and then boiled in the lees of old wine, a slow-match will be formed which burns very gradually; but slow-match is commonly made after the following method: The rope for this match is made of flax, or of soft well-beaten hemp, thoroughly cleansed from the harder fibres, and the strands are loosely spun. Three strands are sufficient, which should not, when formed into rope, exceed one inch and two-thirds in thickness. It should not be shortened in twisting more than one-fifth, or one-fourth at most, in order to be firm without being hard.

The ley or lixivium in which the rope is soaked, is composed of wood ashes and quick lime; and every hundred pounds of match require fifty pounds of the former, and twenty-five pounds of the latter. They are boiled for fifteen hours and are taken out of the tub, piled in heaps and covered with tow, in which situation they are left to ferment. Some recommend, in order to improve them, immersing them two or three times in a nitrous solution, composed of four pounds of saltpetre in a sufficient quantity of water, to every one hundred pounds of match.

The match is afterwards polished by rubbing it along a hair rope, which removes all extraneous fibres that would spread fire too rapidly. Twisting the rope strongly before it is polished, is said to be a good plan.

Matches are finally dried in the sun, and rolled into pieces of twenty yards each, (weighing about two and a half pounds); then made up into barrels or boxes, each of which contains about twenty of these pieces. Match of a good quality burns uniformly at the rate of five inches per hour, and its coal terminates in a point that resists pressure. Match rope may be formed by boiling the rope in water, containing three pounds of wood ashes, one pound of quicklime, two pounds of the liquor of horse-dung, and one pound of saltpetre.

In the small work, called _The Bombardier and Pocket Gunner_, there are three formulæ given for slow-match: The first consists in soaking light twisted rope in strong ley for three days. It burns three feet in six hours. The second or No. 2, as made at Gibraltar, by immersing blue paper in a solution of eight ounces of nitre in a gallon of water. The No. 3, by soaking rope in a solution of three-fourths of an ounce of sugar of lead in a pint of rain-water, using a larger quantity in the same proportion, according to the rope.

The use of the acetate or sugar of lead for the formation of match-rope, was recommended by a French officer in 1782; and since that time has been used in France both with and without saltpetre. The tinder-wood, if soaked alternately in solutions of saltpetre and sugar of lead, will form a very good match.

M. Rothelet (_Archives des Découvertes_, v, p. 239) has given some new observations on the use of acetate of lead for the preparation of combustible match-rope. He mentions the use of liquid acetate of lead, which may either be a solution of the oxide of lead in distilled vinegar, or a solution of sugar of lead in water. Rope, he adds, may be made very inflammable, by soaking it well in the liquid acetate, and drying it thoroughly. See also the _Bulletin de Pharmacie_, September, 1812.

Matches may be made very expeditiously by employing sugar of lead in the following manner: Put a quantity of rain or river water in a kettle over the fire, and when it boils, throw in sugar of lead in the proportion of three-fourths of an ounce to a pound of water. Remove the kettle when the sugar of lead is all dissolved, and immerse the cord or rope in the solution for ten minutes, and then take it out and dry it in the air. If cold water is used, the rope must remain longer in the solution. Rope of every description, old or new, or that made of the linden bark, and damaged match, may be submitted to the same process, previously boiling them in common water to remove their old coating. One pound of solution is required for each pound of cord.[32]

Ruggeri (_Pyrotechnie Militaire_, p. 185,) has a similar process. The _salt of saturn_ there recommended, is the same as sugar of lead.

When matches have been made by contract, we may determine their quality by examining their interior, to see if they are not mixed with old matches, or pieces of dirty hemp. They should be sufficiently closed without being either too hard or too loose. The lixivium should penetrate to their centre; the difference of colour will indicate the contrary. They should be well dried and partake neither of mould nor rottenness, which are easily ascertained by the colour and smell. To be good, the match when lighted should preserve the fire, and burn uniformly without interruption in moist weather, so that a piece of five inches in length shall last at least one hour.

In 1808, there appeared in our papers an article on the subject of _artillery rods_, of which the following is a copy. We re-published it in the Aurora, of Philadelphia, in the same year, with comments. Instead of the acetate, nitrate of lead is used.

M. Cadet, of Paris, has invented artillery rods to supersede the matches in common use. They may be made of birch, elm, poplar, or of the linden tree. They are saturated with nitrate of lead and undergo two ebullitions in spirit of turpentine. They then burn very well and are not extinguished by the air. A _metre_ of each will last an hour and a half, while the common matches burn only seven minutes. General Gassendi has made a calculation, which proves, that matches, which now cost the French government twenty-thousand livres, will not cost more than fifteen hundred, if made on M. C's new principle.

One pound of rope-match, such as is used in the military academy of Segovia, lasts nearly thirty-five hours, and rather more provided it be damp. In that state it is generally surcharged with from six to seven per cent. of moisture. In short it would be better to dry the rods in an oven, before they are saturated with the nitrate as well as afterwards. The following table shows the difference of duration between the matches made of rope and the new invented rods; and the quantity of nitrate, each wood absorbs per quintal, is specified in the last column.

_Woods._ _Durat. per 25 lbs._ _lbs. French_ Cord-match 850 4 Linden, 2400 10 Pine, 2400 42 Cedar, 2400 42 Elm, 2430 19 Oak, 2200 18 Green oak, 1400 18 Walnut, 1400 7 Poplar, 1400 37 Willow, 2400 30

Hence we find that the poplar, pine, cedar and willow, exclude themselves when compared with the linden tree; since they absorb three or four times more nitrate than the latter, without burning longer.

The linden unites the advantages of economy and duration, since it absorbs only a tenth of its weight. The common oak, elm, walnut and green oak, occupy but the second rank. We may remark also, that the hardest woods are not of the greatest duration; for a rod made of green oak, which is much harder than the common oak, supports combustion only eight hours, while the latter will burn for twelve hours. Half a _kilogramme_ of nitrate of lead will saturate forty-five _metres_ of elm, seventeen of birch; twenty-one of poplar, and twelve of the linden tree. The woods were cut in parallelepipeds and boiled in a fish-pan.

MM. Carnot, Guyton Morveau, and Deyeux, were appointed to examine this invention, who reported favorably. An extract of their report may be seen in the _Archives des Découvertes_, v, p. 240.

Born also recommends for the same purpose, nitrate of lead, and used in the same manner. Proust, it appears, repeated the experiments of Born, and came to the same conclusion;--that it was an expeditious, and, on a large scale, an economical process for making matches. Proust, however, used hazle wood. He observes that the solution must be strong; that when cold it requires three days immersion in the fluid, and when boiling, only one and a half hours. He also found that nitrate of copper may be substituted for either the acetate or nitrate of lead.

_Sec. II. Of Priming Tubes._

Priming tubes, (_fusées d'amorce_) serve to communicate fire to the powder in a cannon. They were formerly made of tin, but in consequence of the inconvenience of rusting they were laid aside. James (_Military Dictionary_, p. 416) remarks, that, owing to this defect in the tin, a colonel Harding had invented a pewter tube in lieu of tin tubes. Tubes are used in quick firing. When made of tin their diameter is two-tenths of an inch, being just sufficient to enter into the vent of the piece. They are about six inches long. Through this tube is drawn a quick-match, the cap being primed with meal powder moistened with spirits of wine. To prevent the mealed powder from falling out by carriage, a cap of paper or flannel, steeped in spirits of wine, is tied over it.

They are composed of two distinct parts, the _cravat_ which contains the priming, and the tube that enters into the touch hole. Small pieces of well dried reeds or of quills, a little less than the size of the vent of the piece, are preferred. They are made thus. The reeds are cut into pieces three inches in length, square at one end and diagonally at the other, and are passed through a caliber two and one-third lines in diameter, (the diameter of the vent being two and one-fourth lines;) they are then rubbed clean in the inside by passing a small file several times through them, that removes the inner skin. Having prepared the reeds, they are filled, and also quills, or other cases, with the composition hereafter mentioned, made sufficiently thin to enter them. This may be done with the most facility by placing the cases side by side, with the square end up, in a tin or wooden box five inches deep; the composition is put into this, and made to descend into the cases, by knocking the box on the table. When they are full, they are taken out of the box, wiped clean, and laid to dry in the sun or in a warm room; before the composition is entirely dry, a knitting needle is passed from one end to the other, in order that the fire may reach the bore of the piece more rapidly. The match of communication (_etoupille_) is then fixed. This is done by cutting a notch on each side of the reed, near the end that is cut square, to which two strands of a match, two and a half inches long, are tied with a fibre of hemp.

The tubes are tied up in packets of ten each, to facilitate their distribution in service.

The reeds, or other cases, may also be filled in the following way, _viz_: Take twine made of the strands of cotton thread, and cut into pieces ten inches long; fold each of these into two lengths, and pass them through the reed from one end to the other by means of a loop of very fine thread. The two inches are covered with some of the composition made thick.

_Composition of Priming Tubes._

_Parts of_, _Meal-powder_, _Saltpetre_, _Sulphur_, _Charcoal_. Usual composition, 12 8 2 3 Very quick, 4 1 0 0 Particular } 0 13 3½ 4½ composition, } 0 4 ½ ½

The composition is to be moistened with a solution of camphor, &c. in brandy. To every pint add one ounce of gum arabic, and half an ounce of camphor. Gum water retards the combustion of the match.

Fifteen pounds of this composition will make ten thousand tubes.

M. Cadet, (_Archives des Découvertes_, i, p. 412) has connected with the match a preparation of chlorate of potassa, which is inflamed by sulphuric acid.

We have already spoken of the use of chlorate, formerly called hyper-oxymuriate, of potassa, in this way. See _chlorate of potassa_.

M. Cadet's invention is as follows: In a glass tube or tube of elder, is enclosed a match covered with a mixture of chlorate of potassa and sulphur; above which is fixed a small glass bulb containing sulphuric acid. This bulb has a small stem of glass similar to that of the candle cracker, to stick it by into the composition. This match is placed above the vent or touch hole, and retained there by a socket of lead. A spring, to which a small hammer is attached, is fixed to the gun, and is extended and kept in that position by a hook or bolt. When this is pushed, the spring is unhooked, and by recovering itself gives a blow with the hammer which breaks the glass ball, and the acid falls directly on the composition. This is then inflamed and the fire is communicated to the match, and from the match to the gunpowder.

A small portion of sugar mixed with the chlorate of potassa and sulphur, will ensure the composition to inflame with more certainty; although M. Cadet mentions only the hyper-oxymuriate and sulphur. If some of this composition, after the priming fuse is charged, be put in the cup of the fuse, a drop of sulphuric acid will inflame the fuse.

_Sec. III. Of Quick Matches._

The _etoupille_ of the French is the same as quick match, which is used to communicate fire in particular in military works, to priming tubes and other fuses. We have noticed in a former article the preparation of the matches of communication used in Fire-works, and the mode of forming leaders for the purpose of conveying fire to the different parts of a fixed or moveable piece. It will be sufficient, therefore, to notice the preparation of what is usually called quick match. These matches are made, according to Bigot, of five strands of fine cotton thread, soaked twenty-four hours in strong vinegar, and sometimes in brandy. They are then put, for twelve hours at least, in a liquid paste, made of meal gunpowder, and spirits, in which gum arabic and camphor are dissolved, in proportions to be given hereafter. To make them imbibe this completely, they are pressed with a pallet knife. They are then taken out and drawn gently between the fingers to discharge the excess, spread upon a table, and when half dry, dusted with meal-powder. The match is rolled by hand to make it round, hung upon a frame, furnished with pins, to dry, and afterwards cut into lengths of two and a half feet and tied up in bundles.

_Materials necessary to make ten thousand Priming Tubes._

Cotton thread, 5 lbs. Meal-powder, 3 -- Vinegar, 5 quarts. Brandy, or other spirits, 3 ---- Gum arabic, 3 ounces. Camphor, 1½ ----

When matches are required to communicate fire slowly, sulphur and beeswax, or rosin are added to meal-powder, in proportion to the degree of slowness required. The cotton, in this case, must have been soaked in water instead of spirits.

Cotton, 1 lb. 12 ounces. Saltpetre, 1 -- 8 ---- Spirits of wine, 2 quarts. Water, 2 ---- Isinglass, 3 gills. Meal-powder, 10 lbs.

The cotton is then taken out and laid in a trough, where some meal-powder, moistened with alcohol, is thoroughly wrought into it. This done, the cotton, being in strands, is taken out separately, and drawn through meal-powder and hung upon a line to dry.

If worsted in the place of cotton is employed, the proportions then are,

Worsted, 10 ounces. Meal-powder, 10 pounds. Alcohol, (spirits of wine,) 3 pints. Vinegar, (white wine,) 3 ----

In the preparation of quick match, the following method is sometimes pursued; _viz._ soak the cotton well in a hot solution of saltpetre; then remove it and lay it in a trough with some mealed powder, moistened with spirits of wine, which is to be worked in by the hand. It is afterwards drawn through meal-powder, and dried upon a line or reel.