Jasper County Democrat, Volume 4, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 June 1901 — LUCIFER MATCHES. [ARTICLE]

LUCIFER MATCHES.

Invented by a German Convict In a Prison Celt According to a German paper, the inventor of lucifer matches was a political prisoner, who perfected his idea in 1833 within the walls of a state prison. Kammerer was a native of Ludwigsburg, and when sentenced to six months’ imprisonment at Hohenasberg; he was fortunate enough to attract the notice and to gain the favor of an old officer in charge of the prison, who, finding he was studying chemistry, allowed him to arrange a small laboratory in his cell. Kammerer had been engaged in researches with a view of improving the defective steeping system, according to which splinters of wood, with sulphur at the ends, were dipped into a chemical fluid in order to produce a flame. If the fluid was fresh, the result was satisfactory; but, as it lost its virtues after a time, there was.no general disposition to discontinue the old-fashioned system of using flint and steel. After many failures, Kammerer began to experiment with phosphorus, and had almost completed his term of imprisonment when he discovered the right mixture and kindled a match by rubbing it against the walls of his cell. On coming out of prison, he commenced the manufacture of matches. Unfortunately, the absence of a patent law prevented his right from beingsecured, and on Austrian and other chemists analyzing the composition, imitations speedily made - their appearance. In 1835 the German states prohibited the use of these matches, considering them dangerous. When they were made in England, and sent to the continent, these regulations were withdrawn, but too late to be of any benefit to the inventor, who died in the madhouse of his native town in 1857.—Golden Days.