History and Story Behind Inventions: Matchbooks

About the story behind the invention of matchbooks, history and biography of Joshuea Pusey.

INVENTION: Book Matches

INVENTOR: Joshua Pusey, U.S.

YEAR: 1892

HOW INVENTED: Pusey, of Lima, Pa., conceived the idea of book matches and took out a patent. More than a half century before, a friction match had been invented that was a single match. Earlier, the only friction match was one of sulfur folded inside sandpaper and quickly yanked out to ignite it. But it was Pusey who put matches in small folding books. Four years after his invention, he sold out his patent to the Diamond Match Company, of Barberton, O. The book matches did not catch on until 1896, when they finally caught fire because a brewery ordered 10 million matchbooks to use for advertising.