Zippo petrol lighter
Encendedor de gasolina Zippo
- Date
- 1933 · confidence high
- Place
- Bradford, Pennsylvania, United States
- Credited to
- George G. Blaisdell
- Field
- Tools
What it is
A metal lighter with the wick inside a windproof chimney, a hinged lid and a petrol wick. Blaisdell developed it from an Austrian model and gave it the name Zippo.
The Austrian Pira lighter (1920s) was Blaisdell's model; Zippo's patent dates to 1936.
What it led to
- wind-resistant lighting anywhere
- mass use in the US military in the Second World War
- disposable gas lighters