How to Date a Vintage Stove

The Willys MB JEEP The Willys MB jeep used a small aluminum or pot metal tag that was riveted with 2 rivets to the inside frame horn on the frame box reinforcement where the front most leaf spring shackle mounts. Ford jeeps did not have this ‘box’. The Willys Frame Tags came in two sizes. The Early style was small and only contained the serial.

Most lighters fabricated between and can be identified by style and model and the patent or patent-pending marks. The appearance of the word “Zippo” in .

Click here to view additional historical photos of the Waltham factory. Their vision was to form a watch company that could produce high-quality watches at a lower cost using interchangeable parts. With financial backing from Samuel Curtis, of small-arms manufacturing fame, the watch production began in , and the first small group of watches were finished in late The first watches produced went to officials of the company, and it was not until that the first watches were offered for sale to the public.

Problems were encountered with the new production methods. The company was exploring innovative new ideas in watch manufacturing, such as using jewels, making enamel dials, and producing plates with a high-level of finish which required extensive tooling and resulted in a great financial burden. They also found that even though they were using interchangeable parts, each watch was still unique and had its own set of errors to be corrected.

It took months to adjust the watches to the point where they were any better than other widely available timepieces. Customer Department at the Waltham Watch Company In , the factory building was completed and the company began doing business under the name “American Horologe Company. In , as Abraham Lincoln was elected President and the country found itself in the throes of the Civil War, the American Watch Company was faced with serious financial problems.

By , business had come to a standstill and bankruptcy seemed inevitable.