CA1109264A - Matches with fuel and particulate or fibrous filler - Google Patents

Abstract

S P E C I F I C A T I O N

Method for the Manufacture of Matches ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE

A method for the manufacture of matches which comprises applying to a match splint, before the formation thereon of the match head, a surface coating of an aqueous dispersion comprising i) a low melting point solid fuel e.g. paraffin wax, ii) a finely divided particulate or fibrous filler and iii) either a water-immiscible volatile solvent for the fuel or a water-soluble or water-dispersible adhesive, or a mixture of the two; and thereafter drying the coated splint to deposit thereon adjacent the end thereof, on which the head is to be formed, a surface coating comprising a mixture of said fuel and said filler, and, if present, said adhesive.

Description

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r~8 invent,on rel~tes to the ma~ufactuxe of matches.
~xiction matche~ con~0ntionally compIise a match stem or aplint impregn~ted or coated wlth ~ filel, e.g. paraffin wax a~d carrying a head form~d from a match head composition whioh is i~liteble by striking on a ~uitable ~nrface.
Match splints have to meet a num~ax of ~iffex~nt require~ents in order to be conmlarcially acceptable. Pbr example, they have to be s,ufficien-tly rigid to permit tha match to be Btr~Ck whilqt holding the match soms way away from the match head~ the~r ~e to have a degree of tough~ss~ qo that they do not break easily, they ha~e to have quf~icient porosity to ~orb a~d retain the ~ax or other ~uel which is u~ed to fuel the flame~ ~nd moreovex a porosity whicn ~5 permits the fuel t~ migrate through the p-,res during the bul~ ng process to ~uel the ~la e, but without allowing dreplets of fuel to drop from the burni~g m~i;æh, and they must a~so preser~e a lax~e me,asure of their strengt~ and tonehness throughout t~e burni~g pxocess ~ BO that hot or possibl~ still burn~g ember~ do not bre~ or drop -' o~f.
hough non-wooden 3plint9 ha~e ba~n uEad ~ld ara usad exten-si~ely in certain speoial ~pplicatio~s, e.g. st~ips of oard, parti-culf~rly in the so~called bcok macches, a~d wa~. lmpre~nated paper I ~pllnts~ and although many pxopo6al~ have been m~d- for 3ynthetic or non-wooaen splintF, wooden F,plint6 a~a s',;ill extensively used in the matoh industry beoause of theix u~ique combinatio~ of ri~idit~v.
tou~hros~ and porosity. Econonio pressure~ in the tLmber i-ndustr~
e,re,, howefver, creating a demamd ~or a ohe,ap F,ubsti~ute for th~s wooden match splint, a demand wbich ha not ~c, far sati~ ao'corily bean met by ~is~ci~S propoFal3 ~r æyntheJcic or aubstitut;e woode~ ~,plints.
i~he variOUE, propoaals for synthetic or æub~titute wooden matoh splinta inolude:

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;v Pat.^r.ts ~os~ 959575~ ~,647,04a ~rJd 3J185~5~2 all of ~rhich ~ cloue p~per ox bo~ra 8plint9 stifiened b~J impregna-tion with resinous or plastic~ materials of variouE3l~ind~;
- Japanese Patent ~ublications NosO 7~-21 042, 74-21 043 and 74-21 0~4 which disclose pla~tics match aplints coMprising a plastio~ bini~!r in combination with various filler~;
Japanese Patent Publioation~ Ilos. 7~-38 ~6 ~nd 7~-59 157 which ai~close matoh~ticks formed from a moulded cellulose `~ material;
~~ 10 U~Ko Patent NoO 862~9~2 which clisclo~es match ~plints composed ,., -- .
~, of an extruaed combu~tible mixhlre of finely divided ve~etable ma~erial eOg. paper pulpg wood pulp, sawdust ~ith a ~rnthetic -~ , mater.ial ~uch as cellulose acetate, with or without additional ~ .
agglutinants, impxegnating a~ents aad ~illers; ~na j 15 U.K. Patent ~o. 882,713 which discloses match sp~ints composed , of rm ou'er combustible ~hell a~d an inner at least p~rtly i combustible core, the shell and the core both beLng for~ed from j oombustible mater~als such as wood pulp, papsr, sawdust, if ~ neces~ary with an a~lutinant such as starch or glue ~rhich bi~ds ¦ 20 the particulate material together to form a substantially rigid, sel:~-supporting structure.
The pxesent invention differs from the foregoing proposals in divorcing the functions of rigidity and porosity aMd s based on the i ~urprising discove~y that if a mixture o~ low melting point sol-d fuel e~g. paraffin wax and a finel~ divided particulate or fibrous f~ller, additionall~ containing either a volatile solvent for the fuPl or ~ water-soluble or water-dispersible adhesive or a mixture of the two, i~ applied as an aqueous di~persion to the surface of the mat~h etem, which may be no~-combustible and substantially non-porous, and allo~Jed to d~y tb.~reoh nrior to .fn2~ation o.~ 1;hQ me~t.^h head9 a match

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iB obta~ ea.wr~ n b~ w~ at ~ controllea rate7 and ~Soreover bv,-~n3 without -the format.ion of d~ople'v~ of` molten WQX. r~US~ the preaen ; inventl,~ provide~ for co~trolled fuelli~ of the fleme divorced from the poro~it3r of o~her~ise of the ~te-~ itselt`. This i~ention there-fore opens up the possibili.t3~ of u~ing a wide xange of cheap natural or synthet:.c materials as match sp'lint~ which have hitherto been ruled out becell~e the poro~ity charactcristics of the mate~al have not been acceptable even though suitable in other respect6.
In accordance with the present inventicn therefore, there i~
provided a method for the manufacture of match splinl6, which com-prise~ applying to the splint, for e~ample~ b~ dipping, paillt~ng or sprayin~, ~n aqv.eous disper~ior!. compri~inSr i) a solid low ,mr,:lting point,solld fuel, e.g. a hydrocarbon fuel such as para~fin Wa~3 ii) a finely divided particulate or fi~roll6 filler, and iii) either a water-immisoible solven-t for the fuel or a water-so~ubl~ or water-diæpersible adlesi~a or both and allowinO~ the dispersion to dry I thereon, thereby to form a surface coating comprisillg the fuel and ,~ the filler,in ad~ixture and o;r,tionally containing said adhesive7 said coating extending alon~ at lea~t a portion of the leng~th of the splint adjacent one end thereof. ~lhereafter, the head c~n be fo~med on the ~ coated splint in a con~entional ma~ner, e.~. by dipping the coated .
, end of the splint in a~ aqueous match~head composition7 there~y to form a bulb of the friction ignitable match head co~po ition on the ,j .
,~ end of the splint.
'~he particulate or fibrou~ material used in the coating layer ¦ ma,y be of a combus~ible or non combustible material and may be porous or ~ubsta~tially non-porou~. Porou~ fillers ~re howevcx prefexred e.g. ibrou3 filler materials such as chopped nswsprint, cotton, jute, cardboer~ and chopped synthetic fibre. ~ne prefexred i 30 particulate filler is ungelatinized ~tarch~ but other fillers, e.g~

,' ground peat, sawdust, t~lc and china cla,v ma,v also be u~ed.
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` . '. ' -` " -,' In tl-!e case o~ thc- pre~erred fibrou~ i:illers~ ~vch as choppca ; ~ew~pxint, cotton rag or jute, fibre leng~.. hs may range _rom 0~1 to ; 1.0 mm and diameters from 5-80 llm, out the~e ~Limen~ion~ are not ~- cr.itical. Likewise, t;he particle sifie nf the part;iculate materialF
is not cxitical and m.ly range from 1 - 200 IJm.
In order to di~perse the ~uel in the aqueous medi.~n, a ~ur~ac-tal~t, usually an anionic or noxl-ionic surfactant, ~11 u~uall~ be xequired, as will reaaily be apparerl~ to the skilled reader.
, ~ variet~ of solid, low-meltin~ point, water-diqpersible fuals j 10 may be used, but usual-y9 and as i9 customary in the art, the ~uel of choioe will be a ~ydroc~rbor.~a~ e.g. paaaffi}l ~ax of m.p. _n tke :cc~nge ~5~70 C. ~ong ohain ,t.a'Jt~ acid~ (14 - 20 carbon. atom~) e g ~ stearic acid, may c~lso be used, optionally in admixture with p~raffin-,~ wa~. A particuJ.æly Dreferred fuel is a ~i,Y'tUl'e of paraffin wax ~ld stearic acid, sin~e it .s fourld t11at the.pressnce of such a long ohain ~atty acid subs,tantially increases the subsequen" adhesion of the match head to the ~plin-t. Mixtur~ ratios of lon~ chai~ fatty ,acid to para.~in wax may range from 10-90 to 90alO~ preferably about j 50:50. 0-ther methods of promoting head adhesiorl a~e available7 e~g.
¦ 20 by roughening the surface of the splLnt before dipping in -the match ~¦ head composition or b~ buildi-n~ up the head by a multiple, e.~.
double9 ~ipping process.
¦ ~he third essential eo~ponent of the a~ueous dispersions used ~¦ in this .invention, apart from water, is a water-immisciblc ~ola-tile ¦ 25 Eolvent for the fuel or~ alter~atively, a wate~-soluble or water-~! diBper8ible adheEi~e. The water-iDmiscible volatile sol.~ent$ which may be a liquid h~drocarbon ~u.ch as x~lene, or a petroleum distillate e.g. kerosene or white spirit, ~e~es aæ a coale~cinO agent for the disper~ed fuel partiGles during the drying process theraby to ohtain a coherent coating of "he fuel on the splintO Al-tern~,;i~el~ thele ': : . '- ' .:

Z~4 can be used a l.7ater-dispersible or wat~3r-~oluble adhesive ~o serve as a ~inder for the deposited ruel par1;icles and the finely di~rided fibrous or partic~late fil?~r.
The -type of adheaive is not critic~., althou~h ~lhesives ~iving ; 5 of~ ~oxlous odours on burning sl1ould b~ ~voided. ~later-based adhe~ives such as starch or modified ~tarch a~hesive~9dextrins a~d oarboxymethyloellulose are prefexred, or'inorganic ~:ilicates depend-ing~qn the material of the .ore a~d on the ¢ompo~ition of the particles or fibrous material ~orming the surface layer.
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If desired7 a coa'escing agent9i~. the wa~er-immiscible volatile ,l ~olvent9 can be used in con,junc~ion with a water-soll1ble or wate~-dis-', persible adhesive.
,~ Coa-'ing wei~ht alld thickne3s will be determi~lea by a nt~mber of ~, factors eOg. the dimensions of the splint and the type of coating :,i , . :
~, 15 material9 bub more partictlarly the type and amount of fuel t~hich is to be applied. On a splint of con~entional match dimensions, such ~ as, fore~ample a l.9 mm square, ¢oating weight3 will prsferab~y be ;~ .
such as tQ provide about 15 mg of fuel per cm of the coated ~plint ¦ ' length. Howc~er7 it i~ a particular eattlre of this invention tha~
high fuel loadings can be obtained provided that a ~ufficie~tly high ~¦ proportion of filler i~ pr~sent to prevent drop foxmation d~rin~ the burning procés~.
me léngth OI the splint covered ~ the 3urfar~e Goating will be ~¦ ~ariable dependin~ on the dimen~ion3 of the ~te~ itselî, -the thiGkne3s of the coating and the quanti.ty of wax or o-ther fuel that it iB
de~ired to provide on the 3plint. 'J~he coating m~y exte~d the whole - length of the. 3plin-t or only along part of itB length adjacent one end~ e.g. the len~th of ~plint covered by the coating ma~r ollly be - 1 - 2 cm on a ~plint of convenl;ional length of 3 - 4 cms.
A varie1iy of material~ ma~ be u3ed a~3 the splin-t. p~ovided that , .

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they ha.re ~;he :L~9UiSi~ StreOgrt~l ~.nd ~,Oli~InC13.',9 e.~';. wlJod9 ~la~, metal, plS~5 ;lcs. Xowe.~rer, 2.3 alre~dy pointed out, i t. -Lf3 a pa~
cula3c advant~e o. thi~ in~entior~ thqt the porosity OL' khe spli~t il3 :in~mat2rial ~nd tl)a., su.hsta.ntially no~E,orou~ m~teri~l~ can b~ -5 used, or ~aterials l;rhich lua~y not h3.~e the requiste radi~J 9 ap, well a~3 ~cial porosi.ty, l,th:ich har3 hil;herto been s?f~enti~ in matcll Dpl.inkf3 to pe:rmit the impre~ ;ted fuel to mi~,rate both 8~iall,^~ ahd radiall~r of the splint duri~g -the burning proceDs in order to provide ~ f3tead~r flo~,r of :E~uel to the fla~ne, iihereby en~urin,3~ a ,3~lb sts~tially cons-,a~t Xl2me height. Ef3peciall~ preferrad b,y ~eason of ow C0~3t ~lr9 CorQpo~ .ite mQterial c:omp:rising a fi~Drous fi7 1er 33~;.ch a~3 chopped ne~!rsprint9 cctSon wa~t3e or jul;e~ in admixture wit~
adhesive or re~3in binder which can be e2truded or othex~ e shaped into eplin-t3 of the appropria:~e leng~th.
In depo3~iting the fue1/filler co3 ting on the ~3p~ .Lt9 the aqueous aispersl~n l,ril~ genera;Lly contaiIl, on a voiume basi~3, 20-75D~o water, preferably 20-30~; 15-3~J ~uel~ pref`erably 20-~0 '; and 10-605b fill~3r~
preferably 2C-50~ th3 c:~33e of dispexsions empleyin~ a volatile solvent, this will generall~ be u~ed in amount~ ~p, o 2~90 by wei~lt, baaea on the wei~ht of the fuel, preferably 10-203~o. In the case of disper~ionf3 employing ~ adh0sive, this will generally b0 used in J amouIlt~, o~ a volum0 ba~is, OI 1~10,~, preIerably 1-5f~. Surfe~tant concentrations will generall~r be in the ran~e 0~1 to .~.0~0 by volume, prefera~ly 0~1 to l.O~o. Particularly useful îolmul~;tlons e~plo~in~
a) an adhe~ive ~d b~ a volatile solvent are aE3 follow8~ the percen-tar~33 a~e on a vol)~e ba3is:
25% pa;raffirl wa~ 37% paraffin ~ax 25% water 3r~o w2.ter :~0 3~tarch r~l a~- e3~ive 1~% mai~e ~larch (~iller) ~ 47% flbrov.~ flller 15/o 1!rhite spirit l~o ~L~ri`~t~nt* ~o surfactc~llt~
*~r~ ionic ~.xfactant conta:ining ~0~' acti-v33 in~redient, ~oc3.i~13i al~-l n~;D~ll;b.alen~ ?~ e '~he a~ueo~ diF~i)f.~.)..on containi.ng "he fuel, the f.iller and the ~olve~, or c~lhS~i.ve m-~y be applied to the ~plint by any ~ita731e techuLi~ue e.g. by painti.ng or 8pra~ing7 but most u~v.~ and con~
veniently by dipping~ 'rhe quc~tlty appli.ed ~ill va~y w;dsly depending on the poro~ity of the ~plint, the overall d;~en~ioncl and the type of fuel. ~or the conventlona.lly r~lzed ~a~ch ~lin~, e.~. 2.~ x 2.3 mm 1.n cro~ ect:ion~ the amount oi paraffin wax - applied mc~y ~uitably range from 5 mg to 40 mg of wax par oentimetre.
of coating len~kh, pre.ferabl~ a~out, 15 mg6 ~ollowin~ applicatio~ of the coating, the match head compo~ition may be appl.ied in a conYentiona~. m~ner~ r~uch a~ by dipping. The ~: :
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compositiQn~ a~d te¢hrique~ o~ doing thi~ are ~uite conventional and form no part of -this in~e~-tlonO ~hey therefore clo not need to be ' described ~brther.
typical match manufactured ln accordan¢e ~Jith tbi~ inventiGn is lllustrated in the accompanying drawing.
~l ~he ma-tch compri~es a splint 1 aecordirJg -to this ~vention haYi~g a head ~ foxmed thexeon of a conventional match head composition hich may either be o~ the safety or strike al~rw~A~ere t~pe~
~he splint itself comprise~ a rigid core or stem 3 which exte~d3 ~ ~he l~ngth of the ~p'li~t a~d the end of which is embedded in the match ;7 head compo~ition. '~he c~re 3 i~ of any suitabl~ rigid and tough1 material, e,g. wood , ,dlastics, glas~ or ~ compo~i~e ~a~el al such i ' as sa,wdust9 chopped ne~/sprint~ chopped cotton ragO jute or any other ~, 25 wa~te fibrous material bonded with a ~uitahle bonding ~ent e~
¦ ~ ~tarch or a ~ynthetic plastic~ resin, and extr~ded or othexwise ~h~ped to provide a, ~u~tably ~ized ~ore.
i A paxtisularly prefe~red materi~l for the core is a ~ood substi-tute compo~ition comprisil.g a bler~d of h~dxophilic and hy~rophobic fibres bonaed together ~nd oriente~ cilon~ ca cvmmon axi~ in this case~

9Z~4 , tha axir OI '~he ~ ci~, tem9 .i.n a r~atrix. of ~r:e~ul~ur sta-rch and a hydropi-~llc poly~er b-ind~r ana containi~g ~l aaditio2~ p -to 6% ~y weight (~y solids l)a~) of` a cross~lir~;in~ agent c~pable of Cti~lg i21 an acid catai~r~ed :L~eaotion with the starch corr.ponent of the ~atrix ~nd tile~eby to insolubiliY.e the ~tarch~
; rnhe f:ib~e blt`- d 5021~titUte~ from 30~~6 by wei~lt~ d ~ solid~
basis, of tha total cor~position w~l-th the 1~-dropilllic fi~res cons~ri-tuting the major proportion, pre.i'erabl~J 90-99.~' by wei~ht of the blend. r~he preferred fibrous ble~d i~ a ble.id of waste cellvlo6ic

3 10 fibres ~ch a~ chopped paper9 n~wspr.int, baga3se, at.-~aw, ~a-~dust or cot;ton wit~ 8~ ~hetio h~ropho~ic fibrea s-uah sa polyolefin9 pûl~ile7 or polyester ~ibrea~ r~he preferred hyarophilic ~inders ar~ na~ural 1 polymers ~uch aa ~lvten, zein~casein and sol~ble starch or solu-bilized ~tarch derivatl~es inoluding mecha~icall~ da~a~ed starch 1~ granulesO Preferred cross-li~ lng agents are fo~mald-n~Ae and paraformaIde~yd~ in ~mo~untc of ~rom 1~ by weightO ~he preferred matrix for the fibre blend comprises a gxanu]ar starch and a natural hydrophili~ polymer deri~ed fr;~ a ¢ommon souxce preferably from æ
cereal flour or a root crop flour.
~djacent the head end of the matoh~ the surface of the core is coated wi-th a coating 4 formed by dipping the splin-t3 before fo~m~
tion of the head~ in an af~eou.q di~per~ion of the uel9 e.g. paraffln ¦ uax7 and the filler, e.g. china cla~, ~nd ¢on-taining either a water~
`~ immifJcible volatile ~olvent, e.g. wbite spirit~and/or the adhesive9 e.g. ~ta~ch, I ~atches produccd in aocordance with thic i~ventio~ have a~van-~! tagec of cheapn0~s as the~ can bo produced largely from ~rast~ ma~fri21 by gimple ma~s production techni~ue~. ~Ioreove-r, by suitable selectio~
of the material~ u~ed ~1 the coatin~ ~uel upt~ie can be clo~ely ~o controlled to give optimum bur~ing characteristics e.g. '~ei~lt of - - 9 ~

flarne and b-u~ning t~-ne without de-tr.i.mer;t to other f~CtC'J-.7S S~l.C~h as rigiciity~ stren~h ar~.d tGuc;h~e&s of the core.
Of cour,se, a vaxiety of additives ~onventionil ill the Match ; making ar-t D.~a~ be aaded e.ither to the core or to the coatin~ or to the fuel. for el~ecific purpose~. ~ox example, fire retardantq ma,Y
be incorporated in t~e core or i.n the coatirlg~ to reduce af-ter glo~r, metal sal-ts can b~ added to give coloured fla e~, and dyes or other colouxants ma~ be usea to.ccolour c~ or all of the components of the match, and microcr~stalline or other w~xes o~ Qolymers ma~ be added to the paraffin wa~ or other fuel to moaif,y the propertie~ thereof g. viscosit~ a~d me~ting poirlt a~lcl hardne.s3, as mc~y ~e de,sired~

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Claims (9)

1. The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:-In a method for the manufacture of matches which comprises applying to a match splint a head of a composition ignitable by friction on a surface and a solid, low melting point fuel, the improvement which comprises applying the fuel to the splint by coating the splint, before formation of the head thereon, with an aqueous dispersion containing i) the fuel dispersed in the aqueous phase, ii) a finely divided, particulate or fibrous filler, and iii) a water-immiscible volatile solvent for the fuel, and drying the coated splint to deposit thereon a surface coating comprising a mixture of said fuel and the finely divided filler.
2. 2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the filler is chopped newsprint, cotton, jute, cardboard or chopped synthetic fibre, or a finely divided particulate ungelatinised starch.
3. 3. A method according to claim 1, wherein the volatile solvent is a hydrocarbon solvent present in said dispersion in an amount of up to 25% by weight based on the weight of the fuel.
4. 4. A method according to claim 1, wherein the fuel is paraffin wax.
5. 5. A method according to claim 4, wherein the fuel is a mixture of paraffin wax and a long chain fatty acid having a chain length of from 14-20 carbon atoms in weight ratio 90:10 to 10:90.
6. 6. A method according to claim 1, wherein the splint is formed from a wood substitute composition comprising a fibrous filler and an adhesive or resin binder.
7. 7. A method according to claim 6, wherein the splint is formed from a blend of hydrophilic fibres, in major pro-portion by weight, and a minor proportion by weight of hydro-phobic fibres bonded together and oriented along a common axis in a matrix of granular starch and a hydrophilic polymer binder, and containing up to 6% by weight (dry solids basis) of a cross-linking agent capable of reacting in an acid catalysed re-action with the starch component of the matrix.
8. 8. A match comprising a match splint, a combustible head formed from a match head composition ignitable by striking the head on a surface and a solid low melting point fuel, wherein the fuel is carried on the surface of the splint as a surface coating comprising the fuel in admixture with a finely divided particulate or fibrous filler.
9. 9. A match comprising a splint, a combustible head formed from a match head composition ignitable by striking said head on a surface and a solid low melting point fuel, wherein the fuel is provided on said splint by coating the splint, before formation of the head thereon, with an aqueous dispersion containing i) the fuel dispersed in the aqueous phase, ii) a finely divided, particulate or fibrous filler, and iii) a water-immiscible volatile solvent for the fuel, and drying the coated splint to deposit thereon a surface coating comprising a mixture of said fuel and the finely divided filler.