THE WARKINZ QUICK CLIP® MANTLE
George Kinzel got the idea for the Quick Clip® mantle while ice fishing. Because of the bitter cold, George found it extremely difficult to tie a mantle, especially with his cold fingers in the dark of night. George knew there had to be a better way and he thought that a clip instead of tie strings might be it.
George took a class on new product development, and was told that putting a new product on the market without name recognition was a million to one shot, and only a product of great value to the user could beat those odds. Quick Clip® quickly proved to be one of those rare products.
At a trade show where George first introduced the Quick Clip®, the booth and the surrounding exhibit hall were so packed that police came down to investigate. At a 9 day trade show, the Warkinz booth supply of Quick Clip® mantles was exhausted in just three days, and George had to have more flown in to finish the show!
Patented in 1991, Quick Clip® has changed the way mantles are installed on gaslights and lanterns all over the world.
OUR HISTORY
How did Warkinz Industries, Inc. all begin? It all started with an idea.
As an avid outdoorsman, George Kinzel often used gas lanterns with mantles. George got the idea for a clip-on lantern mantle while ice fishing. Because of the bitter cold, he found it extremely difficult to tie the strings of a gas mantle to secure it to a lantern burner tube, especially with his cold fingers in the dark of night. George knew there had to be a better way and thought that some sort of metal clip instead of tie strings might be the answer. He made his first “Clip-on” mantle using a paperclip and showed his new invention around, but didn’t sell any.
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