Wireless Cigarette Lighter (Feb, 1930)

Wireless Cigarette Lighter
A NEW cigar lighter attached to the automobile dash board is pressed until a red glow appears and can then be removed.

  1. Devak says: August 11, 201111:01 am

    Its really amazing how many people used to be totally obsessed with smoking. Of course the tobacco companies wanted it that way and many still do. I remember these lighters. They seemed a bit scary and dangerous.

  2. Toronto says: August 11, 201111:19 am

    We had a “modern” one in a ’63 Chev that used to pop right out onto the seat or floor. There’s nothing like a red-hot piece of metal rolling around on a vinyl bench seat!

  3. Hirudinea says: August 11, 201112:07 pm

    Now I can charge my iPhone in 80 years!

  4. Mike says: August 11, 201112:59 pm

    Devak, if you are going to blame big tobacco, don’t forget to blame big auto for putting accessories in their cars to attract customers to their product.

  5. George says: August 11, 20114:43 pm

    I just bought a 2011 car and it has no ash trays or lighter. How long has this been going on?

  6. Devak says: August 11, 20114:46 pm

    @ Geo….long time. Maybe ten years.

  7. Mike says: August 11, 20116:45 pm

    George, I have seen trays but they were not called ash trays, more of a place to stick money. The lighters have all been changed to outlets. I am surprised they still use lighter jacks, I would think they would have switched over to standard wall outlets. (with inverters of course)

  8. Toronto says: August 11, 201110:34 pm

    Mike: I’m morally opposed to inverters in cars. I mean, you’re converting the alternator’s AC to DC (and voltage limiting it.) Then you suck it into the inverter, which converts it back to AC. You plug in your computer’s adaptor, and it coverts it back into DC to charger the Lithium batter. Some of the power the computer draws from the battery is briefly converted to high-frequency AC again to the transform to other voltages and re-rectify it to DC for some components.

    We need a world standard DC voltage for chargres. 12v seems obvious. Knock off even one layer of inefficiency and get a 10% or better improvement.

  9. G. L. Tyrebyter says: August 11, 201111:43 pm

    This Lighter looks like a precursor to the more modern ones. It looks like it doesn’t have the bimetallic release spring. This has a little window that shows the heating element is red hot. If you forgot to check it, it looks like it would either burn out or cause a fire.
    Until the 80′s ashtrays were everywhere. Many people smoked. Back then, a car without an ashtray and lighter would be like having a car without a radio. Movie and plane seats usually had ashtrays in the arm rests in the smoking section. Most people had ashtrays and lighters on their coffee tables. Restaurants had ashtrays and matches on the tables. I guess the younger generations are amazed about the ubiquity of ashtrays as I did about spittoons.

  10. Scott B. says: August 12, 20115:59 am

    Poor kids today — they’ll never know the joy of cleaning out those little removable receptacles, stuffed with old butts, in the doors of their dads’ Oldmobile…

    Speaking of ubiquitous car accessories, why do modern cars have a dozen cup-holders, but no one has thought to make a small, removable trash bin a standard feature?

  11. Devak says: August 12, 20116:05 am

    Why does a car that seats maybe four or five people have ten cup holders?

  12. LightningRose says: August 12, 201111:32 am

    Devak, one cup holder is for the chaser. ;)

  13. Devak says: August 12, 20111:27 pm

    @Rose:…..I never thought of that. You’re right, as usual.;)

  14. Fred says: August 12, 20112:26 pm

    @G. L. Tyrebyter- I can remember people smoking on Trailways and Greyhound buses when
    I was a kid.

  15. Devak says: August 12, 20116:53 pm

    I remember guys smoking in the military barracks at 6 AM. It was a nightmare.

  16. Harry says: August 15, 20112:07 pm

    I used to fly a1979 Cessna 152 that had a lighter and ash tray. Lighting up with 19.5 gallons of aviation gasoline on either side of your head (in the wing tanks) just didn’t seem like a good idea.

Submit comment

You must be logged in to post a comment.