The way the lighter in the article works is both analog _and_ electro-mechanical.
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/analog
> of or relating to a mechanism, device, or technology that represents data by measurement of a continuous physical variable, as voltage or pressure.
Did you read the article? The cigarette lighter represents data (pops out) based on measurement of a continuous variable (temperature)
There is nothing representing the temperature. IE, to meet the definition of analog it would need something like a thermometer resistor where the resistance is used by some electronics to turn off the main heater.
A resistor is not "analog circuitry"
> the resistor is its own temperature sensor
No, the clasp that holds the spring down is a bi-metallic strip that bends when it reaches a temperature. This is not "analog" because there is nothing for it to represent.
The article is merely a case of calling something old "analog" without knowing what the word means.
Look up the definition.
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/analog
> of or relating to a mechanism, device, or technology that represents data by measurement of a continuous physical variable, as voltage or pressure.
>Relating to or operating with signals or information represented by a continuously variable physical quantity, such as voltage, spatial position, etc., which in the case of measuring instruments can be displayed on a dial or other fixed scale. Also: designating a signal represented in this way.
But the bimetal strip represents the data that is the temperature of the coil and the coil represents the data of the current. We can use both as sensors and we do, the bimetal strip was ubiquitous in thermostats until the rise of the digital thermostat and still used, resistors as sensors are still common and used all over the place in electronics.
Yes: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Flameless-Cigarette-Lighter-USB-R... :-)
Uhm, how is this analog? Perhaps "electro-mechanical?" Is there such a thing as a "digital cigarette lighter?"
It's not like the electric circuit is an analog of the act of lighting a cigarette; as opposed to what we commonly use the word "analog" to mean that something in the system is an analog to what's being recorded or processed. (IE, in analog tape the magnetic signal is an analog to the real signal, or in analog TV the signal is an analog to the brightness of the picture at a specific moment in time.)