Döbereiner's lamp

Döbereiner's lamp, also called a "tinderbox" ("Feuerzeug"), is a <a href="/facts/Lighter/1RmolVYz">lighter</a> invented in 1823 by the <a href="/facts/Germany/paluuWBX">German</a> <a href="/facts/Chemist/N09K7Bdm">chemist</a> <a href="/facts/Johann_Wolfgang_D%C3%B6bereiner/pKdvmjpt">Johann Wolfgang Döbereiner</a>. The lighter is based on the Fürstenberger lighter (invented in Basel in 1780; in which hydrogen gas is ignited by an electrostatically generated spark). Döbereiner's lamp was in production until ca. 1880. In the jar, similar to the <a href="/facts/Kipp%27s_apparatus/rQ7ed2cL">Kipp's apparatus</a>, <a href="/facts/Zinc/80b1qgk3">zinc</a> metal reacts with dilute <a href="/facts/Sulfuric_acid/Wom6fymJ">sulfuric acid</a> to produce <a href="/facts/Hydrogen/BoYHjl0J">hydrogen</a> gas. When a valve is opened, a jet of hydrogen is released onto a <a href="/facts/Platinum_sponge/DFoW24bQ">platinum sponge</a>. The sponge catalyzes a reaction with atmospheric oxygen, which heats the catalyst and ignites the hydrogen, producing a gentle flame.

The Döbereiner's lamp is considered as the first commercial application of <a href="/facts/Heterogeneous_catalysis/ju7E0bab">heterogeneous catalysis</a> and was commercialized for lighting fires and pipes. The world's largest manufacturer of these lighters was Heinrich Gottfried Piegler from Schleiz in Thuringia (Germany). It is said that in the 1820s over a million of the "tinderboxes" were sold.

In Great Britain examples of the lighter are exhibited in the <a href="/facts/Science_Museum,_London/1mwwq0oj">Science Museum</a> in London, in Germany in the <a href="/facts/Deutsches_Museum/mJjeyT05">Deutsches Museum</a>, the old pharmacy at <a href="/facts/Heidelberg_Castle/srGqx0Eu">Heidelberg Castle</a>, the Kulturhistorisches Museum Schloss <a href="/facts/Merseburg/9xo6E5kL">Merseburg</a>, the Municipal Museum in <a href="/facts/Braunschweig/qv0TQYzz">Braunschweig</a>, the <a href="/facts/Goethe-Nationalmuseum/4SynXeYA">Goethe National Museum</a> in Weimar, the Museum Gunnar-Wester-Haus in <a href="/facts/Schweinfurt/wGUT02pU">Schweinfurt</a>, the Astronomisch-Physikalisches Kabinett <a href="/facts/Kassel/uw1m2263">Kassel</a>, the Regional Museum <a href="/facts/Bad_Lobenstein/y0FhS74e">Bad Lobenstein</a>, the Municipal Museum <a href="/facts/Zeulenroda-Triebes/CcsYch8a">Zeulenroda</a>, the Stadtmuseum <a href="/facts/Gera/jm5U7Fo9">Gera</a>, the Mineralogical Collection in <a href="/facts/Jena/c1NwhRon">Jena</a> and at the Museum Bayerisches Vogtland in <a href="/facts/Hof,_Bavaria/CvXk9h75">Hof</a>.

Döbereiner's lamp open-in-new

Döbereiner's lamp