There are a number of products that cannot be dispensed with. Bread, sugar, salt - unchanged basic necessities. For them, as well as for matches, the population has a demand now and always will be. Although there are a large number of lighters on sale today, matches have been and will continue to be the most popular way of producing fire. This article will tell the reader about the manufacturing process, the materials and equipment used. It will also explain which tree matches are made of.
Types of Matches
Not all people know that, in addition to the usual (which are in every house) matches there are about a hundred of very different types. They differ in size, composition, color and degree of combustion. From what tree matches are made, it will be said below, but for now we will describe the most common types:
- thermal - these matches can be soldered because they emit heat in large quantities;
- storm - burn in the wind, under water (hunting, wind);
- signaling - burn with a flame of different colors;
- decorative - a gift look of matches having a colored head;
- gas and fireplace - special long matches for kindling gas stoves and fireplaces;
- photographic - create an instant flash.
The most popular type on sale, of course, household.
Production technology
What tree are matches made of? For production, aspen and pine are used. The structure of the match is quite simple: the head and the wooden base. But manufacturing involves many stages.
To begin with, the basis of the match is made. What tree is better to make it from? Practice shows that most companies and factories use aspen. But pine is also famous as a good tree for matches.
Wooden blocks are cut into small saw cuts, the bark is removed from them. More than half of the wood is used to make match straw. The further process depends on the species. In the manufacture of a square cross section, the veneer method is used, in the production of a round one, a stamp method.
In the first case, tapes are made. Their width is equal to the length of the match. Further, in a special machine, the ribbons are chopped into straw. After it is cut into individual matches. The special machine has a height of 7.5 meters and a length of 18 meters. In an eight-hour day, it produces approximately 10 million copies.
In the second version, the bars go straight to the car. There, using ready-made dies, blanks are cut.
Then the base goes through five baths: the match is impregnated with a fire-fighting solution, then one end is treated with paraffin. After the glue is applied in two layers - it forms the head completely. Then it is covered with a special layer that protects from external influences.
After these procedures, the matches are dried in a tumble dryer, after which they are polished, sorted by length and cross-section, completely eliminating marriage.
Equipment
From what tree matches are made and the process of their manufacture, we have already found out. Now let's move on to the issue of raw materials and equipment.
The full cycle of the production line for the manufacture of matches includes: an inclined cutting machine, a special dryer for billets, a choosing machine, an automatic polisher, a mixer of chemical elements, a phosphorus carrier, a box manufacturer and so on.
Raw materials
Required raw materials: technical potassium dichromate, copper sulfate, paraffin wax, pine or aspen round timber. Even a small workshop in which matches are made must be serviced by staff of at least ten people. Among them are several technologists, two or three line operators, auxiliary workers (much without them in production), a shop manager and a loader.