A lighter is a portable device which uses mechanical or electrical means to create a controlled flame, and can be used to ignite a variety of flammable items, such as cigarettes, butane gas, fireworks, candles, or campfires. Some lighters use a consumable chemical fuel, others use electricity from a battery. A chemical-powered lighter typically consists of a metal or plastic container filled with a flammable liquid, a compressed flammable gas, or in rarer cases a flammable solid (e.g. rope in a trench lighter). These have a means of ignition to produce the flame, and some provision for extinguishing the flame or else controlling it to such a degree that users may extinguish it with their breath. Electric lighters come in two varieties. One type uses generates hot plasma with an electric arc. The other type uses a resistive heating element; these were first formally used by Friedrich Wilhelm Schindler to light cigars, and have since been incorporated into cigarette lighters attached to automobile auxiliary power outlets.
History
The first lighters were converted flintlock pistols that used gunpowder. In 1662, Turkish traveler Evliya Çelebi visited Vienna as a member of an Ottoman diplomatic mission, and admired the lighters being manufactured there: "Enclosed in a kind of tiny box are tinder, a steel, sulphur, and resinous wood. When struck just like a firearm wheel, the wood bursts into flame. This is useful for soldiers on campaign." One of the first lighters was invented by a German chemist named Johann Wolfgang Döbereiner in 1823, and was often called Döbereiner's lamp. This lighter worked by passing flammable hydrogen gas, produced within the lighter by a chemical reaction, over a platinum metal catalyst, which in turn caused it to ignite and give off a great amount of heat and light.
The development of ferrocerium (often misidentified as flint) by Carl Auer von Welsbach in 1903 has made modern lighters possible. When scratched, it produces a large spark that is responsible for lighting the fuel of many lighters, and is suitably inexpensive for use in disposable items. Using Carl Auer von Welsbach's flint, companies such as Ronson were able to develop practical and easy-to-use lighters. In 1910, Ronson released the first Pist-O-Liter, and in 1913, the company developed its first lighter, called the "Wonderlite", which was a permanent match-style of lighter. During WWI, soldiers started to create lighters out of empty cartridge cases. During that time, one of the soldiers came up with a means to insert a chimney cap with holes in it to make it more windproof.
The Zippo lighter and company were invented and founded by George Grant Blaisdell in 1932. The Zippo was noted for its reliability, "Life Time Warranty" and marketing as "Wind-Proof". Zippos still use light petroleum distillate, or naphtha, as their fuel source (of which they sell their own brand). In the 1950s, a switch occurred in the fuel of choice from naphtha to butane, as butane allows for a controllable flame and has less odour. This also led to the use of piezoelectric spark, which replaced the need for a flint wheel in some lighters and was used in many Ronson lighters. Around the end of the 20th century, most of the world's lighters were produced in France, the United States, China, and Thailand.
Operation
Earlier lighters mostly burned "lighter fluid", naphtha, saturating a cloth wick and fibre packing to absorb the fluid and prevent it from leaking. The wick is covered by an enclosed top to prevent the volatile liquid from evaporating, which is opened to operate the lighter, and extinguishes the flame when closed after use. Later lighters use liquefied butane gas as fuel, with a valved orifice that allows gas to escape at a controlled rate when the lighter is used.
Older lighters were usually ignited by a spark created by striking metal against a lighter flint. Later, piezo ignition was introduced; a piezoelectric crystal is compressed on pressing a button, generating an electric spark. In naphtha lighters, the liquid is sufficiently volatile, and flammable vapour is present as soon as the top of the lighter is opened. Butane lighters combine the striking action with the opening of the valve to release gas. The spark ignites the flammable gas, causing a flame to come out of the lighter that continues until either the top is closed (naphtha type) or the valve is released (butane type).
A metal enclosure with air holes, designed to allow mixing of fuel and air while making the lighter less sensitive to wind, usually surrounds the flame. The gas jet in butane lighters mixes air and gas using Bernoulli's principle, requiring air holes that are much smaller and further from the flame. Specialized "windproof" butane lighters are manufactured for demanding conditions, such as shipboard, high altitude, and wet climates. Some dedicated models double as synthetic rope cutters. Such lighters are often far hotter than normal lighters (those that use a "soft flame") and can burn in excess of 1,100 °C (2,010 °F). The windproof capabilities are not achieved from higher-pressure fuel; windproof lighters use the same fuel (butane) as standard lighters, so develop the same vapour pressure. Instead, windproof lighters mix the fuel with air and pass the butane–air mixture through a catalytic coil. An electric spark starts the initial flame, and soon the coil is hot enough to cause the fuel–air mixture to burn on contact.
Other types
Jet lighter As opposed to lighters of the naphtha or standard butane type (whether refillable or disposable), which combust incompletely and thus create a sooty, orange "safety" flame, jet lighters produce a blue flame that in some cases is almost invisible and invariably burns at a far higher temperature. The spark in such lighters is almost always produced by an electric arc (as seen below), but some jet lighters burn with incomplete combustion. It produces a distinct "roaring" noise. Typically "torch" lighters have one to three flames (lined up), but some newer models may have up to five jets. This style of butane lighter is typically used for lighting a cigar.
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