The Tuff and Durable Zippo Lighter has Been a Friend and Tool for Military Men and Women

George G. Blaisdell invented the Zippo lighter in 1932, and got his idea after learning a bulky Austrian made pocket lighter. Blaisdell was an oil drilling engineer who saw a market for a good looking lighter that would operate even in harsh conditions. He created the first Zippo lighter in Bradford, Pennsylvania. It got its zippo moniker since Blaisdell liked the sound of the word zipper

A Zippo Lighter is a refillable, brass lighter. They are highly collectible and hundreds, if not thousands of varying custom zippo lighter fashions have been made in the seven plus decades since their debut. From Engraved Zippo lighters, to an army zippo lighter to a Truck Zippo, to a Custom-designed collector Zippo lighter.

Zippos are almost always rectangular in configuration with a easy open hinged flip top lid . Unlike single use colored plastic lighters that are used and chucked out, Zippos are filled again with a Naphtha based liquid zippo lighter fluid. By removing the inner element out of the external shell, its owner can pour lighter fluid into a cloth wadding that holds a wick. The flint, which brings on the spark to light the wick, is refillable.

It is cost effective and super dependable. Refilling a zippo is much cheaper than purchasing disposable flame sources.

Zippos are considered windproof lighters, and are will stay lighted in almost any wind condition. They grew to become popular in the United States army and navy, especially in the second world war zippo Lighter a military zippo lighter was standard gear for all of men in the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines. At that time, all Zippo lighters produced went to the Alied forces war effort. In fact, at that point, because brass was needed for weapon systems, the guts of zippo lighters were manufactured in stainless steel. After the war had ended, Zippo reverted to the old brass design.

Nearly 200,000 Zippo lighters were possessed by U.S. military people in the Conflict in Vietnam. There is a story told where, a Zippo lighter held in a shirt pocket blocked a bullet from going into a soldiers heart.

In addition, Zippos are known for the lifetime guaranty they have: if a Zippo falls apart, no matter how old, the company will replace or fix the lighter for free.

Zippo now faces two hard challenges. Zippo has wonderful name recognition, stemming from its function as standard GI issue during The Second World War, and the Conflict in Vietnam, but the generation that possessed Zippo lighters into combat is rapidly decreasing. The second problem is that cigarette smoking is lessening.

Even so, Zippo has weathered the storm, as collectors have been the route to substantial growth. After all, cigarette smokers could choose only one or two zippo lighters--each of which carries a lifetime warrantee. Plenty of 1940s-vintage Zippos still surface for repairs at the Zippo headquarters, which has repaired antique zippo lighters discovered inside the stomachs of fish and old zippo lighters punctured by bullets. Collectors, notwithstanding, often buy many at a time, give them away as gifts, and lure their friends to turn into collectors. Many zippo collectors have thousands of lighters in their zippo lighter collection and keep on purchasing.

Collectors can amass all of their preferred sports teams including the National football league, Major league baseball, and the National basketball association as well as motorsports and fishing Zippos.

It's a fact that more than 90% of American citizens recognize the Zippo brand, and 30% of Zippo's clients are collectors. While a basic brushed-chrome Zippo runs $10.95, Collectible Zippos typically range from $35 to $75, and some as much as $3,000.

Since 1933, over 400,000,000 Zippos have been manufactured. After World War II the Zippo became more and more used in advertizing by companies both large and small through the sixties. Even though new Zippo lighter designs are always appearing, he basic interior mechanism of the Zippo has fundamentally stayed the same.

Zippo lighters have risen to icon status, which yields the kind of free publicity money cannot acquire. Rolling Stone Keith Richards, who smokes while performing, keeps a Zippo within an arms reach of his guitar. Movie celebrities from Bruce Willis to Harrison Ford have needed Zippos to light fuses, burn documents and papers and even to spark cigarettes.

Zippo is branching out in other ways, too, with Zippo pens, belt buckles, and money clips, Zippo watches all with a lifetime warranty.

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