The automotive cigarette lighter was once a familiar feature in cars, especially during the middle of the 20th century. Also called a car or vehicle cigar lighter, it was a small metal cylinder fitted into a dashboard socket. Inside was a spring-loaded heating coil, while the outer knob was designed to withstand high temperatures. The device became popular from the 1930s through the 1960s, when smoking in cars was common.

The first practical automotive cigarette lighter is credited to Joshua M. Morris, who patented an electrically heated lighter designed for vehicles. Its basic operation was simple: the driver pushed the lighter into the dashboard socket, sending electricity through the internal coil. The coil quickly became hot, and once it reached the necessary temperature, the lighter automatically popped back out.

Drivers would then remove the hot lighter and use it to ignite a cigarette or cigar before returning it to the socket. This small feature reflected a time when smoking was widely accepted and was considered an ordinary part of everyday life, even inside automobiles.

By the middle of the 20th century, cigarette lighters had become factory-installed equipment in many cars and trucks. They were not only useful for smokers but also represented one of the early electrical convenience features built directly into vehicles. As automotive technology changed and smoking became less common, the lighter itself gradually disappeared from many modern cars.

The most important legacy of the device is the socket it left behind. **“Although originally intended for smoking, the design of the cigarette lighter directly influenced modern vehicle power sockets still used today.”** The familiar 12-volt outlet found in many vehicles evolved from this older system and is now used for charging phones and powering accessories. Today, original cigarette lighters are often preserved in vintage cars and restoration projects as reminders of mid-century automotive culture.