Lighter

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. A 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); 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. Alternatively, a lighter can be one that uses electricity to create an electric arc using the created plasma as the source of ignition or a heating element can be used in a similar vein to heat the target to its ignition temperatures, as first formally used by Friedrich Wilhelm Schindler to light cigars and now more commonly seen incorporated into the automobile auxiliary power outlet to ignite the target material. Different lighter fuels have different characteristics, which is the main influence behind the creation and purchasing of a variety of lighter types.

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.^{[citation needed]}

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.^{[citation needed]}

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". Most early Zippos used naphtha as a fuel source.^{[citation needed]}

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.^{[citation needed]}

Around the end of the 20th century, most of the world's lighters were produced in France, the United States, China, and Thailand.