when were lighters invented

Lighters were first invented in the early 19th century. The earliest lighter known as Döbereiner's lamp was invented by German chemist Johann Wolfgang Döbereiner in 1823. This lighter used hydrogen gas and a platinum catalyst to create a flame. Before that, there were flintlock pistol-based devices in the 17th century that acted as primitive lighters by igniting tinder. Modern lighters as we know them began evolving in the early 1900s with the development of ferrocerium (a flint-like material) by Carl Auer von Welsbach in 1903, which enabled practical and easy-to-use devices. Mass-produced pocket lighters became popular in the 1920s and 1930s, with the Zippo lighter invented in 1932 achieving notable fame. Disposable butane lighters appeared later, such as the Bic lighter in 1973.