March 23 - Thursday's Challenge is "ENERGY"
- 1680 that an Englishman named Robert Boyle
discovered that phosphorus and sulfur would burst
into flame instantly if rubbed together - In 1836 in the United States, Alonzo D. Phillips
of Springfield, Massachusetts, obtained a patent
for "manufacturing of friction matches" and
called them locofocos - Joshua Pusey invented book matches in 1889.
He was a well-known lawyer in Pennsylvania.
One day he was invited to a dinner party
by the Mayor of Philadelphia. He dressed in his best clothes,
and all was fine-except for one thing.
The big box of wooden kitchen matches he was carrying
to light his cigars, stuck out of his vest
so much that he felt embarrassed.
Why did matches have to be so bulky?
He wondered! Why couldn't they be
made out of paper instead of wood?