Also known as: slow-match, match.
| Function | Keeps and carries a source of fire |
|---|---|
| Construction | A loosely twisted cord soaked to burn slowly |
| Handling | Carried in a linstock |
| Status | Older method; kept as a reserve means of firing |
Keeping fire
Slow match was a length of loosely twisted cord, treated to smolder steadily so that a source of fire could be kept and carried about a battery. Held in the fork of a linstock, its glowing end could be applied to a primer or a portfire to fire a gun.
By the Civil War the friction primer had made the slow match largely unnecessary for firing, but it was still kept as a reserve means of ignition and for lighting portfires and fuzes.
On this site
Sources & further reading
- United States Army, Ordnance Department. The Ordnance Manual for the Use of the Officers of the United States Army. 2nd ed. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1862.