Item HT 16883 Cigarette Lighter - Marconi Wireless Telegraph, Model of Disc Discharger, 1912

Summary

This cigarette lighter is made in silver with a marble base, in the form of a Disc Discharger. It is signed Marconi's Wireless Telegraph Co. Ltd and hallmarked London 1912. These lighters were presented to all male delegates of the 1912 International Radiotelegraphic Conference as souvenirs. The female delegates were presented with silver perfume bottles.

The Spark-gap transmitter is a device for generating radio frequency electromagnetic waves. These devices served as the transmitters for most wireless telegraphy systems for the first two decades of radio (1885-1906). This rotary spark gap discharger consists of toothed disc which revolves between two fixed electrodes. When the studs are opposite the fixed electrodes, the spark jumps from one electrode to the disc stud, current passes through the disc and the spark jumps across the second gap to the other fixed electrode.

Physical Description

The souvenir is inside a brown leather (?) presentation box. The top of the box has an inscription in gold lettering. The inside of the lid is lined with satin and the lower casing is lined with velvet. The lid is split diagonally with a material hinge. The inside of the lid has another inscription: The box can be kept closed using a metal press lock. The lighter is made of silvery metal on a brown bakelite(?) base with marbled flecking in red and green. The lighter has a black operating kob and one end of the spark mechanism has a removable cap attached to the main body by a chain. On one part of the lighter is inscribed. On the same side is what appears to be a hallmark

Significance

The 1912 International Radiotelegraphic Conference in London was only one of many conferences held in the early days of radio communication to discuss the use of radio for example with regard to safety of life at sea and its military uses. These conferences established and amended the conventions regarding the use of radio. This souvenir allows the Museum to deal with the international context in which radio communication developed in Australia. The conference itself was held a few months after the Titanic disaster, which occurred a two months before the establishment of the Australian coastal radio system in Australia and in particular Melbourne Radio.