Louis V. Aronson

Louis V. Aronson
1915 Louis V. Aronson
Born	December 25, 1869 (1869-12-25)
Died	November 3, 1940 (1940-11-04) (aged 70)
Occupation	American businessman

Louis Vincent Aronson (December 25, 1869 – November 3, 1940), inventor and businessman, founded The Art Metal Works, which evolved to manufacture Ronson lighters.

Louis Vincent Aronson was an American inventor, industrialist and philanthropist who is best remembered as the inventor of Ronson lighters. "He was a son of Simon and Jennie Aronson, who were natives of Prussia. He was born December 25, 1869, in New York City, and there his boyhood was spent."

“As a Christmas present,” he said in later years, “I always felt I ought to qualify by making the world happier. If I have done so, even in the slightest degree, I am so much the happier myself because I had the luck to be born on Christmas Day. My parents used to tell me that a Christmas Child should carry the Christmas spirit with him all the year, no matter what his religious faith might be."

Aronson was an exceptionally gifted young man who graduated from public school at the age of 12 before entering a New York Technical School specializing in metallurgy, practical metal working and mechanical drawing. At the same time, he set up a laboratory in the basement of his parents' home where he experimented with plating processes and turned out money-making items while he devised ways of metalizing common items, in a durable finish of matte gold, including flowers, butterflies, animal claws and baby shoes.

Aronson demonstrated a natural ability for designing which was honed at the technical school and served him well throughout his life. He excelled and completed the School’s four year academic program in three years. When he graduated in 1886, at the age of 16, he was qualified as an Expert Metallurgist, Draftsman and Designer, he also had a high level knowledge of Chemistry. He returned to the school five years later as an instructor in metallurgy for several years before devoting all his time to his own company. When he was 24 years old, he sold the rights to a commercially valuable metal plating process according to Urban Cummings book Ronson, The Worlds Greatest Lighters, Wick Lighters 1913–2000. While retaining full use of his invention, young Aronson sold the patent rights for $5000 and used the proceeds to open his own company named the Art Metal Works.

Louis V. Aronson gained public recognition when he won an award in 1893 from the Belgian government for the creation of the first non-toxic match, and young businessman Aronson received 50,000 Francs, equaling $10,000 in U.S. dollars. In 1897 he received a U.S. patent (592,227) for a match design (called the Wind-match) that would light in windy conditions or when wet. He continued working on his match designs including inventing the “Birds Eye” or “Kitchen” match that had a dual-tip design in 1903; this was an important safety improvement because friction matches of the day would sometimes light accidentally especially when stepped on or while in one’s pocket. He realized that placing a small friction ignition chemical on the tip instead of the entire match-head greatly limited accidental ignition. This style of match is still in use today.