Safety match
Cerilla de seguridad
- Date
- 1844-1855 · confidence high
- Place
- Jönköping, Sweden
- Credited to
- Johan Edvard Lundström (1855); Gustaf Erik Pasch (1844 patent); red phosphorus by Anton Schrötter (Vienna, 1845)
- People
- 👤 Gustaf Erik Pasch1788–1862👤 John Edvard Lundström1815–1888
- Field
- Tools
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
A match that kept the red phosphorus (on the box's striking surface) separate from the oxidiser (in the head), so that it would only ignite when struck on its own box. It eliminated poisonous white phosphorus and accidental ignitions.
Pasch patented the idea in Stockholm in 1844 but red phosphorus was too expensive; Anton Schrötter obtained red phosphorus in Vienna in 1850 (not 1845); Lundström mass-produced it in Jönköping and showed it at the 1855 Paris Exposition.
What it led to
- The Swedish match industry (Jönköping, Swedish Match) and the Kreuger monopoly
- The ban on white phosphorus (the Berne Convention, 1906)
- The end of 'phossy jaw' among female workers
- A universal, cheap household product
Built on
- Phosphorus1669
- Friction match1826-1827
- Irinyi's noiseless match1836
- Schrötter's red phosphorus (1845)
- Pasch's patent (1844)
Made possible
- Automatic match-making machine (Lagerman, 1892)
- Advertising matchboxes