Source: Wikimedia

Have you ever struggled to light a match or hold a flame on a normal lighter outside? Most people have, and like most everyone else, the process can be frustrating even in the lightest of breezes. That is where our next American made product comes into play.

George G. Blaisdell introduced the Zippo lighter to America in the year 1933.  Mr. Blaisdell got the idea after watching a friend use an Austrian-made lighter that worked in the wind, due to the design of the lighter’s “chimney.” In 1932, he began to work on a new design for the Austrian lighter and a year later the “Zippo” lighter was born.

During World War II, the company stopped all personal manufacturing to produce military goods only, resulting in a growth in popularity of the lighters among the troops. They also began fashioning their lighters from steel instead of brass. Since the war, Zippo’s popularity has only increased, and those lighters owned by the soldiers of the second World War and the Vietnam War have become sought after collector’s items and souvenirs.

Today, nearly eighty years later, the Zippo brand offers a variety of different lighter products including their original Zippo, and three newer, butane filled lighters.