Who Invented the Match?
Invention of Match: In 1680, an Irishman named Robert Boyle discovered that if you rubbed phosphorus and sulphur together, they would instantly burst into flames. He had discovered the principle that was the precursor of the modern match. Following this discovery, various other methods were tried. Some involved using gaseous hydrogen, but all were cumbersome and dangerous. The next discovery was by an Englishman. In 1827 a pharmacist called John Walker produced ‘sulphuretted peroxide strikeables,’ which were a yard long, and then developments followed reasonably quickly. John Walker’s invention was copied by Samuel Jones of the Strand, and it was Jones who first sold it as a Lucifer, in around 1829. There was a rather dangerous match invented in 1828 called a Promethean. It had a small glass bulb with sulphuric acid, and the bulb was coated with potassium chlorate, sugar and gum, wrapped in a paper spill. You break the glass bulb with your teeth to ‘strike’ this match. Charles Darwin u
