Ronson Consumer Products Corporation was formerly based in Somerset, New Jersey, USA. It was a producer of lighters and lighter accessories once known for its stylish and dependable cigarette lighter line, and the advertising slogan, "You're a winner - with a Ronson!"
The Ronson brand is now owned by Zippo Manufacturing Company, Bradford, Pennsylvania.
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The Ronson lighter company started as The Art Metal Works in 1886 by Louis V. Aronson, a gifted man who at 16 years old received a U.S. patent for a commercially valuable metal plating process he developed. "His experiments, which he has been conducting since his early youth, resulted in 1893 in the discovery of a process for electrically producing tinplate. Much money was expended upon improving the process... and has been of great practical value to the whole industry." [1] Retaining its rights, he sold the patent and used its proceeds to open the Art Metal Works in New York City.[2] The following year he moved his factory to Newark, New Jersey. Soon the company was producing a variety of high quality lamps, book ends, statues and other decorative items, prized today for their detail in the collector marketplace.
Aronson had established himself as a safety-match development pioneer with his inventions of the Non-Toxic Match and the All-Weather Match in the 1890s. "Another discovery of Mr. Aronson was the wind-match, for which he applied for a patent December 29, 1896. His inventive genius had found a chemical combination which insured combustion in the highest wind, a boon to the tourist as well as to the explorer and the hunter. The patent was granted October 26, 1897, and a testimony to its merits is shown by the following letter written by the former scientific chemist to the Royal Society of Great Britain in response to an inquiry of some capitalists as to the chemical and commercial importance of the match: "In regard to the match patent by Louis V. Aronson, which patent is dated October 26, 1897, the number of which is 592,227,[3] I beg to state that during the progress of this invention and application for patent, I carefully examined, as chemist, the various steps described therein, and have carefully considered it both commercially and chemically. My conclusions are that the process of manufacture is a simple one, the product a superior one, and the patent a broad and complete one, and can, therefore, recommend it fully and well to you. If properly placed on the market, I feel convinced that it will make a great success, as the article certainly fills a long-felt want and has not any of the objectionable features of the wind-matches heretofore placed on the market. "(Signed) MARTIN E. WALSTEIN."
In the investigations conducted for the purpose of improving this Windmatch, Aronson discovered the method for making a non-phosphorus match. This had been the goal of endeavor for chemical investigators in the industrial world for a long time, the necessity for that ingredient being the cause of that dreaded disease known in the match-making industry as "phossy jaw."
The Belgian government had offered a prize of 50,000 francs, or $10,000, in a competition open to the whole world. This offer had stirred up scientists and chemists to redouble their efforts to produce such a match, and many came very near to eliminating this poisonous phosphorus from the match. The prize was, however, awarded to Mr. Aronson, he being adjudged the only one to produce an absolutely non-phosphorus match, and to have complied entirely with the conditions of the contest. "This triumph for American production is hoped will in time secure a generous reward to the discoverer, since negotiations are in progress with some of the largest manufacturers in the world for the rights for its production and sale."[4]
When, in time, technological advances were developed to allow for the manufacture of a safe flint material in 1906, Aronson's ambition for an automatic pocket lighter soon became a reality.
Under his leadership, the Art Metal Works began designing prototypes, and patented several generations of Igniting-Apparatus until finally arriving at the Banjo Lighter. Ronson received an exclusive patent, in 1926, for a new automatic style of lighter that worked with one hand and Ronson marketed it under the slogan "A flip - and it's lit! Release - and it's out!"
Ronson's new lighters were an overnight success worldwide and soon the company offered a variety of lighters for all tastes.[5]
In 1913, Louis Aronson applied for a patent for a Liter (lighter), which was approved. In 1926 he released a new "automatic operation" Banjo lighter, which offered both ignition and extinguishment in a single push. It was a great success, demand shortly exceeding supply, spurring Aronson to patent it and design other products around the invention, which were marketed under the Ronson brand name.[6]
As with the Art Metal Works output, many well-built and stylish early Ronson lighters demand high prices in the collectibles marketplace.[7]
During World War II, Ronson plants were switched to 24-hour ammunition production, though Zippo lighters were available to U.S. GIs[8].
American-made Sherman tanks were nicknamed "Ronsons" by German tank crews for their propensity to catch fire when hit by German tank shells.
After the war, Ronson turned to producing lighters, then branched out into domestic goods such as electric shavers and cooking appliances. The company expanded to include England and Australia.
In the early 1980s, high costs and the advent of cheap disposable lighters forced closure of its production facility at Leatherhead in England. Now, a European branch at Long Buckby in Northamptonshire in the UK sells a range of stylish and exclusive butane lighters consistent with the firm's legacy, along with the usual disposible and refillable lighters and requisites.
Ronson appliances in Australia, after being sold by the parent company, were eventually sold by a corporation unassociated with the original lighter manufacturer, and have subsequently both gone out of business.
In February 2010, Zippo acquired certain assets of Ronson (lighters and lighter fluid products) in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. As a Zippo brand, Ronson is based at Zippo headquarters in Bradford, PA.[9] The acquisition did not include the Ronson Aviation subsidiary.
Today Ronson remains a strong brand in the U.S. and Canada. Ronson pocket lighters are available in both disposable and refillable versions. Several models of multi-purpose lighters and a touch-utility lighter are also marketed. Ronsonol lighter fluid and Multi-fill butane fuel have a sizable market share in North American markets.[10]
The Ronson brand is sold in the U.K. by a separate company.[11]