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Zippo

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A Zippo Lighter is a refillable, metal lighter manufactured by Zippo Manufacturing Company. They are frequently collected and hundreds of different styles and designs have been made in the seven decades since their introduction.BOOBS!!


A Chrome Zippo Lighter

Zippo lighters are typically rectangular in design with a hinged flip-top lid. Unlike plastic lighters (such as those made by the BIC Corporation) that are used and thrown away, Zippo lighters are refilled with lighter fluid, which primarily contains naphtha. (They will also work with any flammable liquid, e.g., gasoline, kerosene, rubbing alcohol, or even 151 proof rum.) By sliding the inner component out of the outer shell, its owner can pour lighter fluid into the rayon packing that holds a wick. Both the wick and the flint, which produces the spark to ignite the wick, are replaceable.

Zippo lighters gained popularity as “windproof” lighters—able to stay lit in harsh weather. They became popular in the United States military, especially during World War II—when all Zippo lighters produced went to the Allied war effort—and during the Vietnam War. Additionally, Zippo lighters are known for the 'forever' guarantee they carry: if a Zippo lighter breaks, no matter how old or how many different owners, the company will replace or fix the lighter for free. The only part of a Zippo lighter that carries no warranty is the finish on the outside of the outer case and lid.

The way a Zippo lighter is constructed makes it very hard to extinguish by trying to blow out or wink out the flame. The proper way to extinguish the lighter is to close the top half, which starves the flame of oxygen. Rapidly closing the top lid produces a loud and easily recognizable clicking sound for which Zippo lighters are known.

Current Zippos carry a MSRP between $12.95 up to more than $3,500 USD, depending on the rarity and materials used in the given item. The highest price paid was $18,000 USD at a Tokyo swap meet in 2002.

History

George G. Blaisdell founded Zippo Manufacturing Company (located in Bradford, Pennsylvania) in 1932, and produced the first Zippo lighter in early 1933, being inspired by an Austrian cigarette lighter of similar design. It got its name because Blaisdell liked the sound of the word "zipper" (according to John Ratzenberger's television show Made in America and the Zippo Manufacturing Company's website), and also felt that the sound of the lighter opening resembled the sound of a zipper. On March 3, 1936, patent no. 2032695 was granted for the Zippo lighter.

Since 1933, over 400,000,000 Zippo lighters have been produced. After World War II the Zippo lighter became increasingly used in advertising by companies large and small through the 1960's. Many of the early advertising Zippo lighters are works of art painted by hand, and as technology has evolved, so has the design and finish of the Zippo lighter. The basic mechanism of the Zippo lighter has remained unchanged.

Zippo lighters have become staples in the movie business, often seen being used by characters of different movies (e.g. Reservoir Dogs, X-Men 2, Dogma, etc).

Zippo has recently expanded its product line to include a variety of utility-style multi-purpose lighters, known as the Zippo MPL. These lighters are fueled with butane.

A museum called Zippo/Case Collector's Club is located in Bradford at 1932 Zippo Drive. This 10.000 square foot building contains rare and custom made Zippo lighters, and is the only place that sells the whole Zippo line. The museum also contains an enormous collection of Case knives.

Zippo Dates

From mid-1955 Zippo started year coding their lighters by the use of dots (.). From 1966 until 1973 the year code was denoted by combinations of vertical lines (|). From 1974 until 1981 the coding comprised of combinations of forward slashes (/) and from 1982 until June 1986 the coding was by back slash (\).

In July 1986, Zippo began including a lot code on all lighters showing the month and year of production. On the left of the underside was stamped a letter A-L, denoting the month (A = January, B = February, etc). On the right was a Roman Numeral which denoted the year, beginning with II in 1986. Thus a Zippo stamped H XI was made in August, 1995. However in 2000, Zippo altered this system, changing the Roman Numerals to more conventional Arabic Numerals. Thus a Zippo made in August 04 was stamped H 04. There is an urban myth that Zippo lighters are made by convicts and that the date code identifies the prisoner who made it.

Zippo boats

During the Vietnam War, modified LCM-8s were equipped with flamethrowers and nicknamed "Zippo boats." Supposedly, this was because the ignition system on the flamethrowers were so unreliable that the crew had to use their Zippos to ignite the fuel manually.

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