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Knapsack Matches

United Machine and Supply Co., New York, c. 1902, 11" (including the small knobs on top). This is an elegant Rube Goldberg-inspired model that I'm kinda surprised ever made it to the market. The 8-sided body houses 6 columns that hold canisters of matches---more about the canisters below---around the perimeter of the machine's body, with a lot of empty space in the middle. This design spreads the machine's stock more horizontally than do the designs of most other vendors, which typically stack matches into fewer but taller and closely-spaced columns. The Knapsack approach produces a much larger footprint than those of most other match vendors, which I can't imagine was a selling point for the machine.

All but a few match vendors have simple designs that require the customer to insert a penny and then push or turn something to move a thin cardboard box of wood safety matches to the exit point (see Northwestern Sellem and Pix Safety Matches as examples). The Knapsack has a clockwork mechanism that does Oh So Much More. It works like this: The customer inserts penny, which trips the mechanism to release a canister from the column in front. When the last canister is dispensed from that column, the machine somehow knows the front column is now empty and it rotates the entire bank of columns 60 degrees so that the next column is then positioned in front. Is that cool, or what? I've not tried to figure out how the machine knows the last canister was just dispensed from the front column, and I won't try to figure it out because it would probably mean removing the top, the glass panels, and the posts between the glass panels, and I don't want to risk screwing something up. I've learned the hard way from experience to leave well enough alone, and if ain't broke then don't break it.

Removing the tall metal panel on the machine's right side allows access to the stacks for refilling and to the winder nub for rewinding. That panel can be removed by first removing the short slanted panel below it, where the key is sticking out. When the short slanted panel is in place it locks the tall panel in its place. Removing the short slanted panel also reveals a deep storage area under the floor of the mechanism, where the long winder can be safely tucked away between refillings.

About those canisters: Except for the Knapsack, all match vendors I know of sold wood safety matches in small boxes made of thin cardboard, or sold cardboard matches contained in a thin cardboard matchbook. The latter type is the kind in use when I was a kid, the kind that requires you to tear off a small match from a cardboard spine. It's the kind that had advertising on it, which often gave clues to private eyes in 1940s crime movies (Close-up of a matchbook being held by a man's hand, with voiceover: "Nelly's Bar, huh? Maybe I'll pay them a visit tomorrow, see what they know about this dame." Fade to next scene.). In contrast, the Knapsack sold wood safety matches in tin canisters embossed with the Knapsack name. I don't know the business rationale for that, but it certainly added a layer of complexity and cost to their inventory. I've been told that 2 sizes of Knapsack canisters exist, but I haven't confirmed it. The machine can handle only one size, so if Knapsack made 2 sizes then one of them must have been used for another purpose.

So wrapping this up: Compared to other match vendors, the Knapsack is much more complicated, undoubtedly was more expensive to buy, requires more counter space, and locks the vendor into using Knapsack matches in tin canisters that were also probably more expensive to buy. I suspect the phrase "Sounds great, I'll take 2 dozen of 'em" was not one ever heard by a Knapsack salesman. Given the commercial disadvantages, I suspect this model had a short life so it's not surprising that it's listed as rare in Silent Salesmen Too. I've seen or heard of enough of these to question that, but only mildly. I don't dispute it, but I'm not 100% sure it's Officially Rare. Examples are quite scarce, though, and if they're not Officially Rare then I'm sure they border on that designation.

The example pictured above is 100% original except for the following:

• Two of the 7 glass panes are replacements. They are the pane directly in front and the pane directly in back, which you can see here. I can tell they aren't original because the original panes have some small specks of white missing from the letters and some feathering at the edges, whereas the letters on the replacements are bolder and 100% solid with well-defined edges. You can see those differences closer-up here. The fonts differ between the front pane and the panes adjacent to it, but it's possible that the font on the front pane accurately reflects the font on the original pane it replaced. I say that based on the Knapsack pictured on the right side of Silent Salesmen Too, page 246. The 3 panes visible in that picture all appear to have visible wear, and hence be original, but the font on the front original pane differs from that on the 2 adjacent original panes. The fonts on those 3 original panes are the same as those on the 3 respective panes in the machine pictured above, although the font is thicker on the replacement pane above. The replacement pane on the back of the machine pictured above has the same design as the original panes adjacent to it, so I'm thinking that maybe perhaps possibly the font on the panes that picture a canister differ by design from the font on the pane without a cannister, with the latter being used only once on each machine, in the front.

• The octagonal lid and the curvy spout in front (through which the canisters fall) are either replated originals or original pieces made of a material that doesn't show its age to the extent that nickel plating does. It's also possible that the lid is a replacement, but I doubt the curvy spout is because it's stamped with a serial number which I don't think would have been done to a replacement. I bring up these possibilities only because the other plated surfaces are in great condition for their age but there's no question they're old, whereas the finishes on the lid and curvy spout are perfect and don't show the age that the other original plated parts do. If the lid is new then it's either nickel- or chrome-plated steel or is stainless steel and isn't plated. I don't know how to distinguish between those options so I have to leave it there for now.

• I've been told by several Knapsack-knowledgable collectors that few, if any, known Knapsacks have all 7 of their original glass panes undamaged. Some of the Knapsacks have 7 original panes with at least one being cracked or broken, and the other Knapsacks have at least one replacement pane.

• I've seen a couple of Knapsacks in person or in pictures that had pretty rough finishes on their plated bits, and I've also seen one or 2 that have very nice intact finishes, similar to the finish on the original parts on the machine pictured above.