Note 5 — Chapter XIX · PHOSPHORUS AND THE OTHER ELEMENTS OF THE FIFTH GROUP

In the so-called ‘safety’ or Swedish matches (which are not poisonous, and do not take fire from accidental friction) a mixture of red phosphorus and glass forms the surface on which the matches are struck, and the matches themselves do not contain any phosphorus at all, but a mixture of antimonious sulphide, Sb2S3 (or similar combustible substances) and potassium chlorate (or other oxidising agents). The combustion, when once started by contact with the red phosphorus, proceeds by itself at the expense of the inflammatory and combustible elements contained in the tip of the match. The mixture applied on the match itself must not be liable to take fire from a blow or friction. The mixture forming the heads of the ‘safety’ matches has the following approximate composition: 55–60 parts of chlorate of potassium, 5–10 parts of peroxide of manganese (or of K2Cr2O7), about 1 part of sulphur or charcoal, about 1 part of pentasulphide of antimony, Sb2S5, and 30–40 parts of rouge and powdered glass. This mixture is stirred up in gum or glue, and the matches are dipped into it. The paper on which the matches are struck is coated with a mixture of red phosphorus and trisulphide of antimony, Sb2S3, stirred up in dextrine.