Zippo/Case Museum

Bradford, PA
Woodhaven Acres

Yesterday we left Richfield Springs, New York in the morning.  It started sprinkling a couple of hours later but it didn't get windy and it didn't rain hard.  We didn't have reservations and every time I suggested we find a RV park, Bill said he was fine.  We ended up driving all the way to Bradford.  Lucky for us we got the last site here.  Notice I don't drive on those days were visibility is bad.  

The park only have 30 sites and I'm sure they never have any rigs as tall as us.  I understand we're in the forest, but someone needs to trim the trees along the road.  

I thought Bill would enjoy the Case Knives so we headed over to the Zippo/Case Museum today.  It took us a lot longer as there is a bridge on highway 770 being repaired and we had to take a long detour.  

I loved the museum already and we haven't even entered yet.  Even the light poles look like lighters.

Bill loved the Zippo Chrysler that was sitting outside.

Now if you're a regular blog reader, you know we love visiting museums.  This one is a must see.  Did I mention that is free, except for your purchases in the gift shop?

We enjoyed the video on the history of the Zippo lighter and the Case Cutlery.  Can you imagine starting a business during the depression?

How about having a lifetime guarantee on your product?  It's still the same today as when George Blaisdell began the business.

A Zippo lighter has the windproof shield and stricker like this.  These were everywhere and when you moved it, there were examples of lighters made during a certain time period.

There were stories about the lighters.  One of those stories told of a man being shot during the war.  The bullet hit his lighter and left him uninjured. 

The military was very important to Zippo.  Special lighters were sent out to important military personnel.  Ernie Pyle was sent regular shipments of lighters to hand out to the GI's. 

There were copies of letters that were received from people that had received a gift of a lighter.

I remember all the advertising about Zippo's.  My Dad had  Zippo's with all the squadron insignia's.  

  During the war, Zippo quit production of the lighters to the general public and just made lighters for the military personnel.  

The museum was like walking through the history of the United States.  There was a lighter made for every important event or person.

These lighters show the condition that some are returned to the factory.

It was lunch time, but you can see all the baskets for the post office.  The number one problem with the old lighters were the hinge.  

There was also a video on how Case knives are made.  

Case had a large collection of their knives.

It's amazing how many different styles of cutlery there are.

They did also make military knives.

This lighter was the 500 millionth lighter produced.  June 5, was the birthday of founder George Blaisdell and the anniversary of 500,000,000 lighters in 2012.  Did I get the right number of zeros?

I was surprised that Canada has a plant in Niagara Falls.  I also learned all the many different countries in the world that now manufacture Zippo lighters.

This maze had a lighter that opened, a flame that came on, bells that rang.  I could watch those balls going around until it made me dizzy.  

Did you know they make a windproof grill?

Of course, the gift shop had quality items for sale.  It sort of took away the "free" for the museum tour. 

Notice Bill's flame on his shopping bag?

I loved the Zippo vehicles that were parked outside.

Here's Bill's new pocket knife.  He thought the color would keep him from misplacing it.

We stopped at a neat sporting goods store that we passed earlier.  It had some great buys on Red Wing's.  Bill is ready for cold wet weather now.

I had wanted to check out this museum on our way back to the RV park.  

It was the Penn Brad Oil Museum.  We walked in and there wasn't anyone at the desk to take our admission.  I asked Bill if he wanted to skip it and he said yes.  We've visited the big one in Midland and some other little ones before. 

Turtle Safely.........