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.
Six months had passed by when George told his friend Jim Warren about his invention. The two friends wondered what they could do to get people interested. It was obvious to Jim’s girlfriend who simply said, “Stop talking about it, start knocking on some doors, and get it done!”
As partners, George and Jim took a class on how to start a company and develop a new product. They were 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. George’s new mantle quickly proved to be one of those rare products.
Jim and George combined their last names, Warren and Kinzel, to become Warkinz Industries, Inc. They patented and trade marked their new product as the Quick Clip® mantle. To get sales going for the Quick Clip® mantle, they bought tie-on mantles from another manufacturer and attached their own wire to form an easy to use clip.
No distributor was interested in the new product, so George drove countless miles from bait store to bait store selling small quantities of the new clip-on mantles wherever he could. George soon realized that no one was better able to sell the Quick Clip® mantle than he was. Soon he introduced the product at trade shows.
It was at such a trade show where George first introduced the Quick Clip®, that the Warkinz booth and surrounding exhibit hall were so packed that police came down to investigate. At a nine day trade show, the Warkinz booth supply of Quick Clip® mantles was exhausted in just 3 days, and George had to have more flown in to finish the show!
With all of the clip-ons that George himself had sold to bait stores and through trade shows, other types of retailers took notice and interest started to spread. While industry giants, including Coleman, said the item would never work and George heard of laughter being a typical competitor’s response to the Quick Clip® mantle, he forged on knowing that his product would revolutionize the industry.
At this point, orders started pouring in and Warkinz began to manufacture its own mantles. George always insisted that Warkinz mantles would be the finest in the industry, burn bright and last a long time. Today’s Warkinz mantles are safe and thorium free. Warkinz mantles are used around the world by countless outdoorsmen, campers, sports enthusiasts and others who rely on gas mantle lighting for their homes and recreation.
Warkinz Industries, Inc., now a well known and respected name in the industry, has expanded its product line over the years to feature high quality gas mantles of various designs for indoor and outdoor gaslights and outdoor lanterns.
Warkinz mantles can be purchased through retailers and online at nationalmantle.com.