Episode 1 of 2
Marketing as Friction Lights
- When
- 1827–1829
- Where
- Stockton-on-Tees
Walker marketed his invention as 'friction lights' or 'attrition lights,' explicitly avoiding the term 'Lucifer' or 'match,' selling them for one shilling per tin.
Walker originally listed the product as 'sulphurata hyperoxygenata frict.' but renamed it 'friction lights' by September 1827. He sold a few hundred sets between 1827 and 1829 at prices of 1 shilling 2 pence for 100 matches or 1 shilling for 84 matches, including the tin.
Sources
- John Walker (inventor) Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-30
- Match Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-29
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.