Shapsel’s matches were wooden sticks with a head from a mixture of sulfur, potassium chlorate, and cinnabar.

The first self lit matches were invented by Shapsel in 1812.

They were still very imperfect, but with their help you can get the flame much easier than with the flint.
In sunny weather, such a match was lit up by double-convex lens, while in other cases, in contact with a drop of concentrated sulfuric acid.

It is clear that they were not widely known.

Matches with heads, lit by light rubbing, should become more practical.

However, sulfur did not fit this purpose.

They searched for another flammable substance and then noticed white phosphorus, discovered by German alchemist Brand in 1669.

Phosphorus is much more flammable than sulfur, but there were also some problems with its use.

At first the matches were lit with difficulty, since phosphorus was burnt out too quickly and there was not enough time to inflame the kindling-wood.

Then it began to be applied over the heads of the old sulfuric matches, suggesting that sulfur will inflame quicker from phosphorus than wood.

But these matches were lit difficult too.

It went smoothly only after the substances capable upon heating to produce oxygen needed for inflammation, were added to the phosphorus.

It is now difficult to say who was the first to create a good recipe for a flammable mass of phosphorus matches.

Apparently, it was Austrian Irini.

In 1833, he proposed an entrepreneur Remer the following method of match production: “We must take some hot glue, the best gum arabic, throw in a piece of phosphorus and shake strongly a bottle of glue.

This description made it possible for Remer to open match factory.

However, he knew that keeping matches in the pocket and striking them on the wall were inconvenient and then he made up his mind to pack them in boxes, which side had a rough paper. The match was lit by scratching this paper.

Toxic phosphorus was a big disadvantage of phosphorus matches.

Later this problem was solved.

New matches had an even yellow flame.

They had no smoke, nor odor, which had been earlier.

Bether’s invention did not interest manufacturers initially.

New “safe matches” were produced by Swedish brothers Lundstrem in 1851.

Therefore, the matches without phosphorus were called “Swedish” for a long time. As soon as safe matches were widespread, the production and sale of phosphorus matches were banned in many countries.

To cut the long story short the process of the creation of matches was long enough though the same significant as metal forming for example for the whole society.