'Got a match? If you've ever wondered how long guys have been using that old line, a good guess is probably somewhere around 180 years.

Match making, if you will, was made possible by the discovery of phosphorous in 1669. In 1680, an Irish physicist named Robert Boyle (the same guy who founded Boyle's Law for you physicist types out there) coated a small piece of paper with phosphorous and a small piece of wood with sulfur. When he rubbed the wood across the paper, it generated a flame.

But it wasn't until 1827 that serious match making began. The English chemist and apothecary John Walker discovered that by coating the end of a stick with antimony sulfide, potassium chlorate, gum and starch, and letting the sticks dry, he could later use them to light a fire via friction. Walker sold his invention, which he called "Congreves" after a primitive rocket.

The London druggist Samuel Jones's "Lucifers" were a direct copy of Walker's invention. But Jones did the one thing that Walker had failed to do: He got a patent. The patent was granted on this date in 1836. And he got rich. Unfortunately, the early "lucifers"-the name became generic-had serious design flaws. The ignition process was extremely violent and the flame unsteady. They also stank to high heaven. A Frenchman named Charles Sauria added white phosphorous to remove the odor. Unfortunately, those involved in the manufacturing of the new design began suffering from bone and jaw disorders-phossy jaw.

Safety matches were patented in 1855 by the Swede Johan Edvard Lundstrom. The matchbook was invented in 1889 by Joshua Pusey. And in 1910, the U.S. company Diamond Match patented the first completely nonpoisonous match.

Why are matches called matches? The word supposedly derives from the Middle English word macche, meaning wick.

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