The history of a lighter:
Tobacco was first discovered during the Sixteenth century or otherwise known as the New World. The second it hit the market anywhere the next thing on everyone’s mind was how they needed a source of fire for it. Originally people took pistols and changed them and used them along with some steel and flint to get a spark. It was not until the year of 1903 when a man by the name of Carl Auer von Welsbach who created a hand held version of the lighter that worked with the assistance of what is known as a striking wheel.
Tobacco was first discovered during the Sixteenth century or otherwise known as the New World. The second it hit the market anywhere the next thing on everyone’s mind was how they needed a source of fire for it. Originally people took pistols and changed them and used them along with some steel and flint to get a spark. It was not until the year of 1903 when a man by the name of Carl Auer von Welsbach who created a hand held version of the lighter that worked with the assistance of what is known as a striking wheel.
Years went on and as time passed not much changed until the year of 1931 when a man named George G. Blaisdell saw how hard his friend was working to light his cigarette. His friend had a lighter that worked but it was awkwardly shaped. George looked into and found out that it was an Austrian product; he then pursued it and got the American rights for it to be distributed and it is what we now know as the Zippo lighter. He is the one who made the design more comfortable and improved the compartment around the flame to make it a bit more windproof.
Interesting enough he went with the name Zippo because he liked the word zipper which happened to be a new creation around the same time as well. The creation of this lighter was remarkable but the timing was awful; the great depression almost made his company go bankrupt. Once the soldiers found out how well his lighters worked in the field and with the wind that’s all the soldiers used, which came in handy for several other reasons because the soldiers used the lighters to start fires to keep warm and more. It took no time at all for Zippo to be the name of the best cigar lighter or for it to be used by all.
Interesting enough he went with the name Zippo because he liked the word zipper which happened to be a new creation around the same time as well. The creation of this lighter was remarkable but the timing was awful; the great depression almost made his company go bankrupt. Once the soldiers found out how well his lighters worked in the field and with the wind that’s all the soldiers used, which came in handy for several other reasons because the soldiers used the lighters to start fires to keep warm and more. It took no time at all for Zippo to be the name of the best cigar lighter or for it to be used by all.