Gustaf Erik Pasch

Gustaf Erik Pasch (born Berggren) (September 3 1788 — September 6 1862) was a Swedish inventor and professor of chemistry at Karolinska institute in Stockholm and inventor of the safety match. He was born in Norrköping, the son of a carpenter. He enrolled at Uppsala University in 1806 and graduated with a masters degree in 1821. Pasch is mostly known for the safety match, but he was also involved with making waterproof concrete for the Göta Canal, manufacture of bank notes and growing of silk worms. He married Augusta Fredrika Vilhelmina Berg in 1827.

Safety matches

On 16th November 1839 English Chemist John Hucks Stevens registered three Patents for safety friction matches with United States Patent and Trademark Office

1. For preserving them from accidental ignition 2. For improvement in the composition of matter for friction-matches 3. For friction-match for retaining fire

Such was the success of this Safety Match that other companies were copying his label with minor alterations in order to gain quick and easy entry into the market for their inferior goods and In April 1840 John Hucks Stevens London Branch, J. STEVENS’s LUCIFERS and SAFETY LIGHTS Manufactory, 18 Worthington-place, Minerva Street, Hackney Road East made an announcement advising the public of this imposition. To combat this he also introduced a new label for his Safety Lights, containing his fac-simile and address and which he also registered at Stationers’ Hall

The safety matches were mainly the work of two Swedish chemists; Jöns Jacob Berzelius, who invented the modern chemical notation, discovered that the dangerous white phosphorus in matches could be replaced with the more benign red phosphorus, but wasn't able to produce a match reliable enough for everyday use. Gustaf Erik Pasch, a student of Berzelius, manages to construct the match by both replacing the white phosphorus with red but also moving the phosphorus from the head of the match to a specially prepared striking surface. Pasch was granted a patent on the safety match in 1844. Manufacturing was started at "J.S. Bagge & co:s Kemiska fabrik" (J.S. Bagge & Company's Chemical Factory) in Stockholm, but ran into difficulties due to the quality of the striking surface. Another problem was that the production of red phosphorus was prohibitively expensive making the final matches very expensive.

Because of this, Pasch was unable to commercially exploit his invention and production soon ceased. It wasn't until John Edvard Lundström and his younger brother Carl Frans, who took the Pasch design and improved on it that the safety match became commercially successful a decade later.

Later life

Pasch died without getting rich from the invention that would be the fuel of the Kreuger empire. He was however successful in his role as professor and a member of many prominent societies. From 1846 to 1861, Pasch published the annuals of the Swedish silkgrower society. From 1827 to his death he was the secretary of "Kungliga Patriotiska sällskapet" (The Royal Patriot Society).

References