Ronsons

Magick, on May 04 2014 - 02:02, said:   Ronson lighters are interesting, in that the design was the first mechanical lighter, and predates the more well known "Zippo" type. The Ronson lighter was first designed in 1897, and entered production in 1911.     From 1926 to 1930, they were marketed under the slogan "A flick and it's lit. A snap and it's out."  In 1930, this was simplified to "A press and it's lit."  In 1932, Ronson designed a new type of lighter which used a press system as opposed to the wheel striker. This type became very popular, though it was slowly eclipsed by a second version, which came into more prominence in the late 50's when the fuel became cheaper to produce.  The second version did away with the liquid fuel, and instead made use of butane.  This design is the one which came with the original advertisement which stated that it "lights first time, every time."  Not surprising, considering the butane was not affected by being subjected to rain or wind. However these lighters were not overly popular. If anything, their cost was prohibitive more than anything.     At the time, one of these early butane lighters would have cost roughly twenty dollars.  That would equate to roughly 298.00 dollars today. The fuel, which only lasted about a week, was five dollars a can, or close to seventy dollars today. Needless to say, the average person couldn't afford to buy them.  They may have heard the ads somewhere, as it was a popular radio advertisement (or so Ronson themselves claim) but it wasn't until 1957, when the lighter was redesigned and reintroduced as the Veraflame that prices were lowered...somewhat.  A Veraflame in 1957, which I might add is a "table" lighter, would run the average person ten dollars, or about eighty-four dollars today. Fuel was down, now that it was easier to produce, and the materials were not critical to the war effort, with prices ranging in the two to three dollar range, or sixteen to seventeen dollars per can.     With the introduction of the Veraflame, Ronson phased out much of their "traditional" wheel type striker models, aiming for a higher end market. As a result of this, they also consolidated their advertising slogans to the existing slogan from the previous butane lighters, taking the "Lights first time, every time." slogan for the new all butane line. This was carried over into their smaller wheel striker line, and continued until the mid 1980's as the company entered a downturn in sales.   What ultimately hurt Ronson was simply the cost. People buying lighters were moving away from the more flashy, expensive variants; and instead were seeking something cheaper which could do the same job. Zippo and Bic entered the market full force, with Zippo having always been a cheaper alternative to Ronson, and Bic a new bakelite, and later plactic, cheap entry into the market.  In the end, Ronson really could not compete with the cheaper variants, and while they did attempt to do so to some degree, producing inexpensive butane lighters in the 80's, by that point it was really too late.  Ronson tried branching out, and survived primarily on Ronsonol, (lighter fluid), until 2010 when they were bought out by Zippo.