John Walker sold the first friction matches he invented
On this day · 7 April 1827
On April 7, 1827, English chemist John Walker recorded selling the first friction matches, lit by a quick drag across folded sandpaper.
On April 7, 1827, the English chemist and druggist John Walker recorded the first sale of a humble invention that would change daily life: the friction match. The entry survives in his own day book, kept at his “Chymist and Druggist” shop on the High Street in Stockton-on-Tees.
Walker had stumbled onto the idea by accident. While mixing chemicals, he scraped a coated stick to clean it and watched it burst into flame. He refined the formula into what he called “Friction Lights”, tipped sticks that ignited when drawn through a folded piece of sandpaper.
The first buyer was a local solicitor, who paid one shilling for 100 lights plus tuppence for a tin case.
Curiously, Walker never patented his match, dismissing the profit as beneath him. Others did, and within a decade friction matches were a worldwide commodity, leaving the inventor famous but unenriched.
Sources & references
2 referencesWell-established. Corroborated by 2 independent sources.
