It started on one summer evening in 1932, during a dinner dance held inside the Bradford Country Club, on a hill within the outskirts of Bradford, Pennsylvania. Participating the dance was George G. Blaisdell, who after that became known as "Mr. Zippo." Blaisdell was one of individuals scouting for a new way to make money.

All this time, he had yet to bump into anything at all promising. Blaisdell, who was growing fed up with the dance and idle talk of politics, ran out onto the terrace to have a smoke. There, he saw an associate of his needing to light a cigarette, removing of his pocket an unsightly brass lighter that was patently tawdry. The unappealing lighter was really out of place in the hand belonging to the perfectly attired gentleman. The sight of the man attempting clumsily to open the lighter's lid was so comical that Blaisdell basically did start to laugh. "You're all dressed up. Why not get a lighter that looks decent?" blurted Blaisdell. His friend must have thought it absolutely was none of Blaisdell business. "It really works!" he expressed, defensively. Those two words, "It truly does work!", whirled in George Blaisdell's head that night. In these times, everyone really should be searching something that is low-priced, yet sturdy and durable, he thought. No, that's not so; those things will always be desired, not only for in bad times. This lighter business is ensuring!

Blaisdell instantly obtained the sole U.S. rights belonging to the Austrian lighter manufacturer. To further improve its appearance, Blaisdell chrome-plated the lid from the lighter and raised the price to a single dollar. He couldn't sell any, he discovered that there was faults in the lighter. Blaisdell was driven to produce an innovative lighter that would not fail easily to light.

Abandoning the faulty Austrian lighter, Blaisdell rented a corner within the second floor of the Rickerson & Pryde, Inc. building on Boylston Street. Blaisdell paid up $10 1 month in rent, hired three individuals, and began to develop an exciting new lighter. He and his team used a strong electrical hot plate for soldering. Everything from the punch press to the welder was second-hand gear. The entire price of his equipment was $260 at that time. The very first thing Blaisdell did was to make the lighter smaller sized in order to fit in the palm of one's hand, and he integrated a hinge to hold the lid to the bottom, so that it is an integral part of the lighter. This enabled anyone to open the lighter only using 1 hand. Blaisdell then put in a wind hood surrounding the wick, he implemented the hood style of the Austrian lighter and named this new product "Zippo".