Zündhölzer#
Matches: The production of matches consisting of a short, slender piece of wood tipped with an igniting mixture containing toxic yellow phosphorus started in the early 1830s. In Vienna, S. von Roemer (1788-1842) started the production of matches in 1832. The yellow phosphorus not only caused numerous explosions in factories but was also the main cause of a serious occupational disease, phosphonecrosis or "phossy jaw". A. Schroetter von Kristelli discovered the non-toxic red phosphorus in 1847 but it was not until 1912 that yellow phosphorus was prohibited. The main production sites were in Deutschlandsberg and Stainz ("Pojatzi"), Graz, Klagenfurt ("Sirius" from 1920 onwards), St. Poelten (1921-1925 "Orion"), Hallwang near Salzburg, Vienna ("Pollack") and Linz ("Union"). All important factories were merged in the "Solo. Zuendwaren- und Wichsefabriken AG" in 1903. Deutschlandsberg, the last Austrian match factory, discontinued production in 1982.