Repeating matches, a lost wonder of 1933

In January, 1933, Popular Science reported on a "repeating match" that could be lighted up to 100 times. Like the secrets of the pyramids and the the ancient technique for finding happiness while scrubbing in a field for root vegetables, the details of this technology have been lost to the mists of time.

If you borrow a match from the gentleman pictured at the right, he is likely to want it back! He is one of the users of a new repeating match recently produced in England. The match may be struck and relighted more than a hundred times. A small box, coated with a special composition used as the striking surface, serves as a holder for the repeating match when it is not in use. The device is much thicker than an ordinary parlor match and gives a correspondingly larger flame.

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Update: Spoilsport Hens points out, "Not really lost in the mists of time."

Update 2:
Emily sez, "My friend returned from a year spent teaching in China last summer, and brought me this bitchin' Mao Tse-tung reuseable match. Everyone I showed it to seemed temporarily amazed by it. I used it for a few months before it stopped working. On the side
it says it's made by the Nanyang Yanju Co, LTD. As you can see from the picture, you take the little match stick out from the top, and then strike it on the side. I believe it's just your basic flint and steel."