Platinum-methanol lighter

Opened platinum-methanol lighter from around the 1930s. A fine platinum wire as a catalyst is stretched in the aluminum frame below the lid.

The platinum-methanol lighter is a pocket lighter in which a storage container filled with methanol can be ignited using a platinum wire as a catalyst . The lighters appeared at the beginning of the 20th century and were popular until the 1930s.

Layout and function

A platinum-methanol lighter consists of two metal containers closed with a common lid. The larger of the two containers is lined on the inside with wadding and is filled with methanol as fuel. When the lid is closed, methanol vapor is formed in this container. The smaller container serves as a protective container for the catalytic converter. A very thin wire made of platinum, stretched in a frame attached to the lid, serves as the catalyst .

The container lid is removed for ignition, the platinum wire carrier is then inserted into the larger container, whereupon the methanol vapor-air mixture is catalytically converted. The platinum wire heats up to a bright glow, which sets the methanol vapor on fire and the catalyst can be removed.

The activation energy of the exothermic reaction

${\displaystyle \mathrm {CH} _{3}\mathrm {OH} +3/2\ \mathrm {O} _{2}\longrightarrow \ \mathrm {CO} _{2}+2\mathrm {H} _{2}\mathrm {O} }$

is reduced by the catalyst to such an extent that the reaction takes place spontaneously.

A lighter usually had to be refilled after a few days, as the methanol vapor slowly escaped through leaks in the container lid.

Web links

• Demonstration and explanation of a “Self Starting Lighters” on YouTube

Individual evidence

1. ^ John C. Bailar: The Methanol Lighter . In: Journal of Chemical Education . 47, No. 4, April 1970, p. 272. doi : 10.1021 / ed047p272.1 .