cigarette lighter

Cigarette lighter (insert)

Cigarette lighter plugged in and pulled out

A cigarette lighter or cigar lighter is usually installed in a motor vehicle and is used to light cigarettes . It consists of an on-board power socket and the actual lighter (insert) that stays in this socket . The positive pole is in the middle, the housing (or the side contacts) is connected to the vehicle ground. When you press a button on the back of the lighter, a metal spiral is made to glow by an electric current, which can then be used to light cigarettes, for example.

The standard SAE J563 defines the polarity (ground outside) and the exact dimensions.

functionality

For the user, the cigarette lighter consists of a protruding, moving part. This is pressed into the housing by a spring force and an electrical contact is established. A wire wound in a spiral starts to glow due to the high current flow. A bimetal switch heats up and interrupts the circuit after a while by activating a lock and the moving part jumps back into its rest position. The user can now pull the entire lighter out of the socket and press the still glowing wire spiral against the object to be ignited - usually a cigarette or cigar. Due to the heat capacity of the coil, ignition is possible even after several seconds.

history

Electric cigar lighter from an article in the gazebo from 1897.

The cigar lighter for household and catering use was invented and patented by Friedrich Wilhelm Schindler in the early 1880s . In the 1890s, these devices were also listed in product catalogs in German-speaking countries as "cigar lighter" and later as cigar lighter.

In the United States , the first cars were fitted with cigarette lighter around 1925. The origin of the devices themselves lies in decorative objects for the smoking table; in restaurants and pubs z. B. used wall-mounted devices. Thus, the cigarette lighter is a further development of the cigar lighter.

To minimize the risk of fire, the smoking room on the Hindenburg airship was equipped with an electric cigar lighter. Lighters and matches were forbidden to passengers.