Bryant and May collection of fire-making appliances.
- Made:
- 1861-1979 in Fairfield Works
- maker:
- Bryant and May Limited
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© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum
The Bryant and May collection of fire-making appliances.
Bryant and May Ltd was for many years a company world-famous for the manufacture of what was once one of the most familiar of fire-making appliances – the box of matches. From 1861 billions of matches were made at a factory, the Fairfield Works, in Bow, east London until in 1979 the work was transferred to Liverpool (factory since closed). In its earlier years the company developed an interest in the history of fire-making and eventually opened a large private museum in its offices at Bow. The collection was initially formed through the efforts of a dedicated private invidual, Edward Bidwell, and was supplemented in 1927 by additional exhibits collected by J H Daniels. The museum was cared for by Miller Christy, another private collector who brought his own knowledge and enthusiasm to it. Christy compiled an extensive printed catalogue of the collection in the mid-1920s which was published by Bryant and May Ltd in 1926, a supplement following two years later. During the 1930s selected items from Bryant and May’s museum were displayed at the Science Museum and this led to the whole collection being transferred in 1937.
The collection comprises about 1200 separate items. The time span is from the Stone Age until today, and they come from many countries and cultures across the globe – ranging from North American Eskimo fire drills to Hungarian and Japanese fire steels. Among the more primitive means of making fire are a wooden tinder box and home-made sulphur-match holder of crude English make, both about 200 years old. Although probably the commonest types they are intrinsically worthless and few have survived. At the other end of the scale of complexity is Berry’s Instantaneous Light Box, patented in 1824. This shows up the difficulty before the introduction of electricity of obtaining light quickly during the hours of darkness. The device relies on the action of vitriol (sulphuric acid) on a match-head coated with potassium chlorate, which creates flame. Henry Berry designed an ingenious compact mechanism using a cord and pulley to carry out the required movements with the hand staying well clear. At the heart of the collection is a vast number of friction matches of all main types: Lucifers, Congreves, Fusees, Vestas, ‘strike-anywhere’ and safety matches. It includes a rare example of a friction match made by the original inventor, John Walker of Stockton-on-Tees, in 1826.
Sheets of amadou or "German tinder"
Piece of the fungus
Tinder made of agave flower stalk
Cedar-wood, finely pulverized; as used by some Indian tribes
Charred rag tinder. Britain.
Sketch of a Fire-drill in Use
Model of Fire-drill and Hearth (length 15 1/4 ins and 13 1/4 ins); as used by natives of Sitka
Fire-drill and hearth
Fire-drill and hearth
Fire-drill and hearth
Fire-drill and hearth
Fire-drill and hearth
Fire-drill and Hearth (lengths 15 1/2 ins and 13 ins); hearth shows many pits
Photograph, getting fire with a Fire-drill
Fire-drill and Hearth (lengths 16 1/4 ins and 14 1/2 ins); drill of cane; hearth shows many pits
Photograph of a native of Kivu making fire
Fire-drill and hearth
Hearth for a fire-drill
Fire-drill and hearth
Fire-drill and Hearth (lengths 12 1/4 ins and 15 ins)
Fire-drill and Hearth (lengths 13 3/4 ins and 14 ins)
Fire-drill and hearth
Fire-drill and Hearth (lengths 19 ins and 14 1/2 ins); Murray River
Fire-drill and Hearth (lengths 18 ins and 17 ins)
Two Fire-drills (lengths 16 1/2 ins) and hearth (15 1/4 x 2 1/2 x 7/8 ins); drills
Photograph of an Indigenous Australian using a long fire drill
1908
Fire-drill and Hearth (lengths 31 ins and 32 ins)
Fire-drill and hearth
Photograph of two Natives of India (Yanadis of Nellore) making fire with a simple Fire-drill
Model of drill and hearth
Photograph of two natives of India (Kanikars of Travancore) making fire with a simple fire-drill
Model of drill and hearth
Photograph of three Natives of India making fire with a simple Fire-drill; two holding the hearth in position
Fire Drill and Hearth - Uganda
Fire Drill and Hearth - Nyasaland.
Sketch of a Thong Fire-drill in use.
Photograph of two natives of India (Badagas of the Nilgiri Hills) making fire with a Thong Fire-drill
Thong fire-drill and hearth, Port Clarence, Alaska
Photograph of Drill
Drill, Hearth, and Drill-bow
Handpiece (length 7 1/4 ins) of wood
Thong (length 5 ft 10 ins) of thick leather for rotating a Fire-drill
1893
Sketch of Pump Fire-drill in use.
Photograph of two natives of India (Paniyans of Malabar) making fire with a simple fire-saw
Model of saw and hearth
Hearth (length 7 ins) and Sawing-thong of split rattan
Fire-saw and Hearth (lengths 10 1/2 ins and 16 ins)
Hearth (length 15 ins) of soft wood and Sawing-thong (17 1/2 ins) of split bamboo
Two Strips (length of each 26 ins) of split rattan
Fire-saw and Hearth (lengths 16 ins and 7 3/4 ins)
Fire Hearth in form of a Ceremonial Shield - Australia
Photograph of two Maori people using a fire-plough, Aotearoa, New Zealand
Photograph of a fire-plough and hearth
Fire-plough and Hearth (lengths 18 ins and 17 ins); hearth oval in shape
Cast of Nodule of Iron-Pyrites and Flint Flake; originals (now in the British Museum) found by Canon Greenwell
Photograph of two Nodules of Iron-Pyrites
Nodules of Iron-Pyrites
1926
A collection of various examples from Great Britain
Flint Flake
Flint from Vlora, Albania
One of a group of various worked flints made at Valona
One of a group of various worked flints made at Valona
One of a group of various worked flints made at Valona
One of a group of various worked flints made at Valona
One of a group of various worked flints made at Valona
One of a group of various worked flints made at Valona
One of a group of various worked flints made at Valona
A very large Strike-a-light (length 2 3/4 ins) of the Albanian type
Various Strike-a-lights of hard flinty stones
A Block of Obsidian
Flint (a small rough lump of chert; length 1 in)
Flint
Flint, finely worked round edge
Flint
Flint, steel, and tinder, used by the Batang-Lupar Dyaks of the Kapuas River, Borneo, 1912
1912
Roughly-worked gun-flint
Flint
One of a series of eighty-one fire-steels
One of a series of eighty-one fire-steels
One of a series of eighty-one fire-steels
One of a series of eighty-one fire-steels
One of a series of eighty-one fire-steels
One of a series of eighty-one fire-steels
One of a series of eighty-one fire-steels
One of a series of eighty-one fire-steels
One of a series of eighty-one fire-steels
One of a series of eighty-one fire-steels
One of a series of eighty-one fire-steels
One of a series of eighty-one fire-steels
One of a series of eighty-one fire-steels
One of a series of eighty-one fire-steels
One of a series of eighty-one fire-steels
One of a series of eighty-one fire-steels
One of a series of eighty-one fire-steels
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Details
- Category:
- Firemaking
- Object Number:
- 1937-682
- type:
- fire making appliances
- credit:
- Gift of Wilkinson Sword Limited
