October 24, 1836 —
(Please follow along on your flow charts — this will be on the test.)
Mankind wasn’t fully mankind until it learned how to set things on fire. That happened a very long time ago and enabled such hallmarks of early civilization as cooked meat, heated homes, and flaming heretics. Only in the past few hundred years has humanity learned how to start fires quickly and easily.
In 1680, Irish scientist Robert Boyle discovered that rubbing phosphorus and sulfur together caused them to burst into flames — such was his reward for a lifetime spent rubbing phosphorus against things to see what would happen.
In 1827, seizing upon the Irish invention with a zeal usually reserved for Irish real estate, an Englishman named John Walker invented “sulphuretted peroxide strikeables,” which were like matches except they were three feet long and as likely to explode as ignite.
A variation on this firestarter was introduced in England in 1828 and patented by Samuel Jones. It was called the Promethean, and consisted of a glass bulb filled with sulfuric acid. The bulb was coated with potassium chlorate, sugar, and gum, then wrapped in paper. To ignite the Promethean, one broke the glass bulb against one’s teeth. Dentists loved it, but the public remained wary.
Germans began manufacturing small phosphorus matches in 1832. Like so many other German inventions, however, these tended to ignite with a series of explosions that spread fire around one’s feet. They also exploded when stepped on. This dampened their popularity among the arson-averse public.
Finally, on this date, a U.S. patent was issued to Alonzo D. Phillips for the manufacture of friction matches, which he called Locofocos.
The Haus of Dcaligari 