Now you see it - Now you dont!
By John Cornelius

Several years ago I found a lighter at a flea market that was in near mint condition. At the time, this alone made it an unusual and exciting find. Flea markets nearby then more resembled yard or junk sales than collectible shows as one finds today. So, most of the lighters I found were “worn” in some manner and there were few of them since they were not perceived as valuable.

The lighter was wrapped in a leather “like” covering and had what appeared to me a logo for some nondescript company. Otherwise it seemed like many other lighters that had been made in Japan in the 1950’s. I took it home and placed on a shelf. A few weeks later I noticed that the company’s logo had disappeared. Of course, I was intrigued and briefly a bit mystified. The lighter had been filled with fluid when I purchased it, so I refilled it and there I was staring at, not a logo, but an “OK” with a meaning that had now become quite clear. It’s a fluid level indicator in which the letters seem to appear like magic as the lighter is filled. The effect is accomplished by a material that changes color from white to green as it absorbs the fuel, while the letters have been treated so as to be non-absorbent.



The lighters are marked on the bottom “ Hilton Lite Corp. San Francisco REGULAR” and are stamped “Japan”. The only reference that I have otherwise found to the company is regarding having joined an unsuccessful lawsuit filed in 1952 by the Japan Lighter Manufacturer’s Association, charging that Ronson was monopolizing the automatic lighter market in the US.

On the left is that lighter I found several years ago. I do not know what it might have been called at the time other than Regular, but I will dub it here as the “Magic Fuel Eye” lighter.

Is this lighter the inspiration for the Japanese made Evan’s Eyeliter, a butane lighter from the mid-1960’s?

This article is the property of the OTLS Lighter club.
Reprinted from an official OTLS newsletter with permission.