Text | On Yun Xuan
Edit | On Yun Xuan
A philosopher once said that the steam engine may not have played as important a role as drilling wood for fire.
Indeed, being able to master fire is a great progress in human civilization, which has allowed human beings to move away from danger and be more self-sufficient in heating and food, so how did the ancients make fire?
In history, the most primitive way to make fire is to drill wood to make fire, it can be said that the discovery of fire by human beings is completely a gift left by nature to human beings.
In the beginning, people were not Xi using fire to grill food, but because lightning struck wood, causing trees to catch fire, and humans had a whim when extinguishing the fire, so they threw the food in and tried it.
It was once recorded in the ancient book "Han Feizi" among the five beetles, because ordinary people generally eat raw food, whether it is vegetables, melons and fruits or meat, which is very harmful to the stomach in the long run.
But at this time, people began to Xi the use of fire to grill food, which can not only remove the disliked smell of food, but also be good for the body.
In the process of drilling wood to make fire, it was the Suiren clan who first applied this method, and it was because of them that people began to master the fire by themselves.
And this method has not been forgotten by humans, until today, when surviving in the wild, drilling wood for fire is still a very important method.
For example, Bell, a wilderness survival expert, spent time in the wilderness by himself, in addition to the various fire-making equipment he brought, he would also show how to use wood to make fire.
Although this method has been proven to be correct, it is still difficult for the vast majority of inexperienced ordinary people to do, and it can also hurt the skin of their palms.
In ancient times, in fact, some tools that could be used to make fire were also invented, the simplest is to use matches and fire inches, which made people's lives easier at that time.
For example, matches, in the mainland, the earliest record of matches is during the Northern and Southern Dynasties, which was invented by a palace maid of the Qi Kingdom.
And this invention is relatively simple, the main thing is to dip some sulfur on the wooden stick first, or tie a lot of sulfur on the wooden block, such a method can be.
When you need to make a fire, you only need to put these wooden sticks close to the flint and hit them back and forth a few times, and there will be sparks immediately, so as to achieve the purpose of making fire.
Because of the simplicity of this way of making fire, it was introduced to Europe as a gift at the time, and it was well received by them.
Of course, the Europeans slowly polished on the basis of these simple matches, and finally made their own matches.
In 1827, there was an Englishman named Walker, who improved on the Chinese improvised match, replacing the sulphur with antimony trisulfide and potassium chlorate, which were dipped on the wooden sticks.
In this way, there is no need to get close to the flint, and only need to rub the sandpaper to ignite the wooden stick, which became the source of the invention of modern matches.
Compared with Chinese matches, this kind of match will be more likely to catch fire, but there is also a certain problem, that is, the wooden stick will have the risk of spontaneous combustion, and then after more than 20 years, someone has a new attempt.
This time it was a Swede, and the method he used was to fix sulfur and potassium chlorate together on a wooden stick, which had a certain chemical basis in it, and he separated the oxidant from the reducing agent through this behavior.
In this Swedish invention, he chose to dip a small amount of red phosphorus and smear it on a matchbox, which is indeed safer and less prone to spontaneous combustion.
By the time of the Qing Dynasty, this kind of fully evolved match was once again transmitted back to China, and at that time it was still called a foreign product by many people, but this statement is wrong, because the birthplace of matches is actually in China.
And because the price of this match is very cheap, it was quickly accepted by the Chinese, but because the Chinese factory at that time did not have the conditions for production, so many people still call matches foreign fire.
And this kind of match has also gained a wide range of popularity in Europe, and in the fairy tale of the little match girl, you can find that it was almost a tool in the hands of Europeans at that time.
Of course, in ancient China, there was not only the existence of matches, but also the existence of fire inch, which was almost a relatively large match, because there was no electricity in ancient times, if you need to see the road at night, you need to be inch.
The production of this kind of fire inch strip is not difficult, first the whole fir strip is soaked in sulfur for several days, and then taken out to dry for later use.
When it's time to use it, light the wood, which is like a larger version of a candle that can illuminate the night of the ancients very brightly.
This thing was already sold in the market during the Northern Song Dynasty, and it was called Guangnu at first, and then it was renamed Huocuntiao.
Some people may wonder if this kind of wood that can burn for a long time looks very similar to modern matches, could this be the source of modern matches?
Actually, this is not the case, because the fire cannot suddenly burn on its own, it still needs an opportunity to ignite, it may be an improved version of the match, but it should not be called the source.
This method of making fire can be called an ancient black technology, why do you say that? Because the fire of the fire fold is very magical.
In costume dramas, basically the male and female protagonists take a fire fold out, blow it gently, and there is a flame immediately, which is very convenient whether it is used at home or outside.
So what is the principle behind the ignition of the fire fold? This has a special term in chemistry, called re-ignition.
It means that something could have continued to burn and was temporarily extinguished due to lack of oxygen, but if there was oxygen, it could return to the burning state.
Don't look at the principle of the fire fold seems to be very simple, but in fact, in the overall production process, it is indeed very complicated, which also leads to the fire fold becoming a symbol of the ancient magnates.
If you want to make a fire fold, you first need to soak and beat the white potato vines, then add cotton, reeds and other things, then continue to soak and beat, and finally add sulfur, saltpeter and other flammable materials.
After this raw material is made, it must be placed very carefully in the bamboo tube to create an oxygen-deficient environment, so that he has no way to burn.
It only takes such complex steps to be sold to the wealthy, so that they can rekindle and become a tool with a single blow.
And the last one is more like a tool, in fact, this kind of tool was discovered very early, according to historical records, some people have already started to use it in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and the price is cheap, more suitable for ordinary people.
This kind of thing is the fire sickle and flint, which has also become the main way of making fire in ancient times, there is such a record in the Water Margin, at that time the fire sickle and flint were considered to be one of the most important fire tools.
Of course, there are two other things that can be weighed alongside the fire sickle and flint, and these two are used to support combustion, that is, fire velvet and fire coal, which can be combined to allow the ancients to realize the freedom of making fire.
The reason why the fire sickle is called this name does not mean that it looks like a sickle, but that there is a steel structure around the fire sickle, and it is easy to hurt the hand, so it is necessary to install a sleeve for him.
Flint is different, its scientific name is flint, and it is a gray or even black stone that is common in nature, and it looks similar to that of pebbles.
In the process of making a fire, it is only necessary to hit the flint very vigorously with a fire sickle to produce sparks, but this kind of sparks are generally not enough.
At this time, it is necessary to use velvet to turn sparks into open flames, burn them a little bit, and then lead them to the fire coals before they can be used by humans.
Relatively speaking, there is a possibility of failure in this process, and it even needs to be blown manually to increase the fire, so the poor people in ancient times were still relatively poor.
For these fire tools, whether they are easy to use or not, they have helped the Chinese people to eat hot meals and live a warm winter for thousands of years.