In 1936, Baofa Hardware Factory, founded by Dong Guibao at No. 103 Baoshan Road, Zhabei, Shanghai, produced simple oil-cotton lighters based on imported samples. It later closed down due to the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War. In 1938, the number of factories producing lighters and lighter parts gradually increased to 16, employing more than 320 people, and all produced oil-cotton lighters. Among them, Rongshuanghuo's Rongsheng Hardware Factory, opened at No. 23 Gaozhaoli, Xinzha Road, was the largest. There are more than 100 employees and more than 1,000 Japanese lighters. But at that time, foreign goods were dumped at a low price and it was difficult to compete with them. In early 1936, there were only three or four lighter factories left in Shanghai.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the lighter industry began to recover, and production increased year by year. In 1952, the output increased to 206,000 pieces, and in 1954 it rose to 429,000 pieces. In 1956, when the entire industry was a public-private partnership, there were 16 factories with 450 employees and an annual output of 847,000 pieces. In 1958, 16 factories merged into the Shanghai Lighter Factory, a public-private partnership. This year, the output of Shanghai lighter industry reached 1.539 million. At that time, the supply of imported lighter calcium carbide was interrupted, which restricted the development of lighter production. At the end of 1959, Shanghai Lighter Factory technician Jiang Bohou and technician Tan Shanzheng successfully trial-produced domestic lighter calcium carbide (zinc, magnesium, iron and other alloy materials with metal cerium as the main body), which was put into production in 1960. After 1963, lighter calcium carbide was handed over to Shanghai Yuelong Chemical Factory for continued production and supporting the lighter industry.
In 1965, Shanghai Lighter Factory began to produce gas lighters. In the same year, it used self-made equipment to successfully trial-produce a 35-gram butane gas storage tube for gas lighters. In the 1970s, Shanghai Lighter Factory successfully trial-produced piezoelectric ceramics and produced electronic lighters based on this, changing the single structure of friction ignition between steel wheels and calcium carbide that had been used for many years. In the late 1980s, battery lighters and induction lighters were also put into production successively, forming a series of lighter products in five categories, including gasoline cotton, gasoline cotton-free, gas, battery and electronic, and three grades of low, medium and high, including electronic igniters and ignition for gas stoves. device.
At the end of 1990, the Shanghai Lighter Factory (Lingming Lighter Parts Factory produces parts) affiliated to Shanghai Daily Hardware Company produced 35 varieties of lighters, with an annual output of 46.577 million pieces, and an export sales ratio of 32.84, accounting for 10% of the total. There are 1,474 employees, the original value of fixed assets is 15.716 million yuan, the net value is 10.51 million yuan, the factory area is 24,390 square meters, and the tax profit is 1.102 million yuan. In the same year, YSG gas lighters were assembled with Japanese parts and were mainly engaged in assembly operations. The output in 1990 was 1.06 million pieces. In addition, there are some township enterprises and self-employed individuals who specialize in purchasing parts to assemble lighters.
2. Process
The lighter is composed of nearly a hundred parts such as the casing, fuel tank, ignition device, fire cover, upper and lower covers, and intake and exhaust components. The main processes are stamping, cutting, soldering, surface treatment and assembly.
The early production of shell parts was marked, cut and hammered by hand. In the 1950s, Rongsheng Hardware Factory and others switched to mechanical cold stamping technology. In the 1970s, the application of continuous composite molds and cold extrusion processes was promoted, one mold and one punch was changed to one mold and multiple punches, and manual feeding was changed to mechanical automatic feeding. In addition, the processing of copper parts has basically achieved semi-automation and automation, but most of the assembly processes are still manual.
Before the 1960s, the surface treatment of iron casings used the traditional process of two-shot and two-plating, while the surface treatment of aluminum casings used a single-color oxidation process. In 1965, Zhu Yazhang of Shanghai Lighter Factory and Zhao Yunwen of the Research Office of Shanghai Light Industrial Products Import and Export Company successfully trial-produced a new multi-color anodizing dyeing and decolorization process after more than a hundred experiments, making the lighter shell colorful and bright. Later, Shanghai Lighter Factory developed new processes such as chemical polishing, screen printing and chemical etching. In 1978, a new process of one-step full-bright nickel plating and chromium plating was adopted for the electroplating of copper and iron casings. Since the 1980s, imitation gold electroplating and imitation bronze plating have been developed.
In 1974, Shanghai Lighter Factory changed the electrodes on the two end surfaces of piezoelectric ceramics from manual silver plating to vacuum silver plating, which improved product quality and increased output by nearly four times.
3. Technical equipment
Before the founding of the People's Republic of China, the lighter industry equipment was rudimentary. By 1958, each factory had only 27 electric punches, 103 pedal presses, and 122 metal cutting machine tools. In 1960, the employees successfully modified 35 special-purpose semi-automatic and automatic lathes and 16 special equipment for steel wheels by themselves. In the 1970s, precision single-axis longitudinal cutting automatic lathes were introduced from Switzerland and Czechoslovakia, and 53 domestic precision automatic lathes were purchased to form a large-scale production of copper parts. It also introduced a 400-ton EX-40 horizontal press punch from Japan to improve product accuracy. In 1974, Li Datai, Zhou Huijun and others from Shanghai Lighter Factory made their own special equipment to produce a 70-gram butane gas storage tube assembly line, forming an annual production capacity of 1.8 million butane gas storage tubes. In order to increase the variety of lighters in the 1980s, Shanghai Lighter Factory imported disposable plastic gas lighter production lines from Japan and made its own engraving machines, screw milling and polishing machines, automatic throwing machines, steel wheel gear milling machines and butane gas storage tube automatic filling machines. equipment. In 1990, Shanghai Lighter Factory had 1,338 units (sets) of various types of special equipment.
IV. Quality
In 1961, Shanghai Lighter Factory first formulated corporate standards, requiring that the steel wheel and calcium carbide should be rubbed 20,000 times, and the ignition rate can still be maintained above 90; The Rockwell hardness of the end face is 60° (±2°); the thickness of the second layer of electroplating zinc and copper is more than 9 microns, and the thickness of the chromium coating is more than 0.25 microns; the electrochemical color can withstand friction up to 2,000 times in a single line without obvious whitening or bottoming. Since 1979, the Ministry of Light Industry has issued lighter quality standards. In order to ensure that the products meet the standards, the company has successively purchased spring tension and compression testing machines, precision leak detectors, photoelectric analysis balances and optical titration thickness gauges, etc., to achieve scientific testing equipment. In 1979, the Shanghai Lighter Factory’s 1105 oil-cotton lighter won the second prize in the national quality competition, the 711 gas lighter and the 461 gas lighter respectively won the quality product certificate from the Ministry of Light Industry, and the 302 desktop lighter won the title of outstanding new product from the Ministry of Light Industry.
5. Raw materials and sales
The main raw materials for producing lighters are cold-rolled steel plates, tinned steel plates, strip steel, copper rods, copper sheets, aluminum plates, aluminum sheets, and bearings Steel, steel wire, solder, calcium carbide, butane gas and ABS plastic, etc. Among them, calcium carbide is supplied by Yuelong Chemical Plant, and butane gas is supplied by Shanghai Refinery and Shanghai Petrochemical General Plant.
In the early days, most lighter shell materials were brass skin and raw aluminum. Since the 1950s, cold-rolled sheets, tinned steel sheets, aluminum sheets, etc. have been used. A few high-end lighters are also made of copper. Before 1956, raw materials were mainly purchased by themselves. After the public-private partnership, they were mainly distributed by the superior company, and the remaining parts were purchased by themselves. Except for tin-plated steel plates and ABS plastics that still need to be imported, localization has basically been achieved.
Before the founding of the People’s Republic of China, lighters were sold by factories themselves. In the early 1950s, it was ordered by the Shanghai Department Store Purchasing and Supply Station. After 1956, underwriting was implemented. In 1986, it was changed to ordering, and the factory also resumed its own sales.
In the early 1940s, lighters produced in Shanghai were sold to Hong Kong and Nanyang. There were still exports after the founding of the People's Republic of China. The export volume was 400,000 in 1958, and increased year by year thereafter, reaching 10.65 million in 1968, 15.279 million in 1980, and 13.934 million in 1985. In addition to being sold to Southeast Asia, Europe and the Middle East by the Shanghai Light Industrial Products Import and Export Company, the export channels are also sold to neighboring countries through border trade. In the early 1980s, the rise of disposable plastic gas lighters in the international market had a great impact on the export business of Shanghai Lighting Factory, which mainly exported oil-cotton lighters. The domestic market is flooded with imported mid- to high-end lighters and lighters assembled by township and village enterprises and household industries. The prices are low and the competition is very severe. In 1990, Shanghai Lighter Factory sold 37.4 million lighters of various types, of which 11.412 million were exported, accounting for 30.5%.
6. Rebirth
In 1999, after the bankruptcy of the Shanghai Lighter Factory, the elite in the factory reorganized and established Shanghai Jinyan Lighter Co., Ltd., which witnessed the development of Shanghai city and the rise and fall of the lighter industry. "Baidu Bridge" as a trademark.
In order to adapt to the situation, the company made adjustments to its business development, moved production to Nantong City, Jiangsu Province, established Tongzhou Lighter Manufacturing Branch in Nantong, and added a printing workshop at No. 888 Suide Road, Jiading District, to provide services to hotels and advertising industries. Printing and making lighters, and considering safety, it has established a professional lighter logistics system to safely store and distribute lighters. Jinyan Lighter Company also set up Shanghai's first professional lighter exhibition hall at No. 586 Taopu Road, Putuo District, Jinyan Lighter Company It is also one of the few professional lighter companies in Shanghai that has VAT qualifications.
In 2010, Jinyan Company cooperated with the Poverty Alleviation Team of the Jiangsu Provincial Committee to invest and establish Suining Jinyan Lighter Co., Ltd. in Dashe Village, Qiuji Town, Suining County, Xuzhou City. Suining Jinyan covers an area of ??20,000 square meters. Standard factory building, with its own injection molding capabilities, it is one of the most professional lighter manufacturers in China.
"Baiduqiao" lighter was selected for the 2010 Shanghai World Expo, creating greater glory for Shanghai lighters