Ronson Consumer Products Corporation was formerly based in Somerset, New Jersey. It was a producer of lighters and lighter accessories.
1954 logo
1903 Art Metal Works Advertisement
1912 Art Metal Works Hood Ornaments Advertisement page
1931 Ronson De-Light Lighter Advertisement pages in Color
A lighter is a portable device which creates a controlled flame, and can be used to ignite a variety of flammable items, such as cigarettes, butane gas, fireworks, candles, or campfires. A lighter typically consists of a metal or plastic container filled with a flammable liquid, a compressed flammable gas and in rarer cases a flammable solid i.e. rope in a trench lighter, a means of ignition to produce the flame, and some provision for extinguishing the flame or merely controlling it to such a degree that the user may extinguish it with their breath. Alternatively, a lighter can be one which uses electricity to create an electric arc utilizing the created plasma as the source of ignition or a heating element can be used in a similar vein to heat the target to its ignition temperatures, as first formally utilized by Friedrich Wilhelm Schindler to light cigars and now more commonly seen incorporated into the automobile auxiliary power outlet to ignite the target material. Different lighter fuels have different characteristics which is the main influence behind the creation and purchasing of a variety of lighter types.
An ignited lighter
Disposable lighter
A Döbereiner's lamp
Two Zippo lighters, one open, one closed