Gustaf Erik Pasch, a Swedish chemistry professor,…
1843 CE
The safety matches are mainly the work of two Swedish chemists; Jöns Jacob Berzelius, inventor of fthe modern chemical notation, had discovered that the dangerous white phosphorus in matches could be replaced with the more benign red phosphorus, but had not been able to produce a match reliable enough for everyday use.
Pasch, a student of Berzelius, had managed to construct the match by both replacing the white phosphorus with red, and moving the phosphorus from the head of the match to a specially prepared striking surface.
Pasch is granted a patent on the safety match in 1844.
Manufacturing is started at "J.S. Bagge & co:s Kemiska fabrik" (J.S. Bagge & Company's Chemical Factory) in Stockholm, but runs into difficulties due to the quality of the striking surface.
Another problem is that the production of red phosphorus is prohibitively expensive, making the final matches very costly.
Because of this, Pasch will be unable to commercially exploit his invention and production will soon cease.
It will not be until John Edvard Lundström and his younger brother Carl Frans, who will take the Pasch design and improve on it that, the safety match will became commercially successful a decade later, around 1855-60.
Lundström's safety match will receive an award at the “World Exhibition” in Paris 1855.
Pasch will die without getting rich from the invention that will be the fuel of the Kreuger empire.
He is, however, successful in his role as professor and a member of many prominent societies.
Locations
People
Regions
North Europe
View →Subregions
