Unusual Lighters

[Volvo_ST1]

This lighter by The New Method Company was made in the USA in the 1950s. It is a catalytic lighter that uses a tiny ball of platinum black which is suspended on fine wires in the igniter cap.

To use the lighter, you pull off the cap. You dip the igniter into the hollow wick tube. The platinum black reacts (oxidation) with the methanol fumes and heats the platinum wires, which in turn ignite the methanol fumes.

This lighter will run only on pure methanol. Methanol with additives fouls the platinum black. Heet in the yellow bottle works as fuel.

This type of lighter probably didn't catch on, because methanol fumes were very toxic, and because the flame was not very visible. You might set your beard on fire while trying to light up. Not that I wear a beard-unless I'm in disguise. I do like to burn things, though. Oops, said too much.

It's an interesting conversation piece for any pyromaniac. I will over time post videos showing some of my favorite lighters. Flickr will let me post only two videos per month, so you don't have to worry about eyestrain.

Short Video

 

[eljefino]

That thing has STYLE! It would look good next to a stainless martini shaker.

 

[Volvo_ST1]

I just noticed a terrible typo in the video title!

 

[Volvo_ST1]

I fixed, it but the URL changed. Here, is the new link for the video:

The New Method Company Lighter

 

[renegade_987]

That's neat!

 

[Volvo_ST1]

Next is a Swiss Thorens Single Claw lighter, which was made first in 1920. That petrol lighter sports impressive precision engineering. The lid is springloaded. When the lid is closed, the lid is cocked. On the front of the lighter is a push button with a screw-lock feature. Without the screw-lock the lighter might pop and fire while in a pocket! There was actually a version made without screw-lock safety. When the release button is pushed, the lid flips open. A lever with a hook on one end, the "single claw,"grabs one of three pins that are attached to the flint wheel. While the lid flips open, the claw rotates the wheel, which rubs against a flint that is in a springloaded flint tube above the flint wheel. The sparks ignite the lighter. In the lid is a sprinloaded snuff cap, which ensures a tight seal with the wick tube when the lid is closed. The fueling port stopper contains a cartridge that holds two spare flints.

I don't know how old this lighter exactly is, but the single claw model was replaced by a less nice double claw version in the late 20's. That lighter still works flawlessly. All parts are replaceable. This is definitely one of may favorites.

Thorens Single Claw Lighter

 

[Volvo_ST1]

I figured there were some people on these forums that appreciated mechanical engineering and neat gadgets. Maybe y'all (I had to use that contraction at least once) like a cheap Bic?

 

[greenaccord02]

Not at all, I'm just not sure what to say. My dad used to carry a WWI style trench lighter, which is pretty neat in it's own right.

Not nearly as cool as the New Method style, though.

I do prefer Bics because they also serve as a bottle opener.

 

[Volvo_ST1]

Your modern replica lighter is loosely based on an Austrian military IMCO lighter, which was also copied by French and American lighter makers. These lighters are often called trench lighters, but the real ones were made by soldiers out of spent shell casings.

I have several US-made Bowers (out of Kalamozoo, Michigan) lighters, which were mechanically improved knock-offs of the IMCO lighter. The Bowers lighters were standard military issue from either the lat '20s or early '30s and well into the '40s.

Here are two of my Bowers lighters. The left one is NOS, made from blackened steel, the right is made from nickel-plated brass. I use the latter all the time (I don't smoke, but... anyway...). The black version is the older model. I don't know if the later model replaced the earlier, of if both versions were produced till the end.

It's a shame they don't make those lighters anymore. The closest you can buy to a classic military style petrol lighter nowadays is an IMCO Triplex Super 6700, which is the slightly modernized version of a lighter IMCO began making in 1936.

 

[Volvo_ST1]

Here's a still of lighter number one. You can see the little ball of platinum black that is suspended on platinum wires. Those wires sre much thinner then a human hair, and I have no way of measuring their thickness.

After lighting the methanol-soaked wick it is advisable to run the ignitor, wire and ball, quickly through the flame to burn off impurities. Otherwise the next attempt at lighting up may fail.

These lighters are rare now. They tend to sell upward of $40 dollars if in good condition. With original box they get expensive.