PLAN B analog blog

Chris,


There's a story behind this.  The big part of it being Zero is no
longer associated, hasn't been since 1991. But until rather recently
they kept the Halliburton name in their title after Erle Halliburton,
the guy who  commissioned the first case a long long time ago, before
the second world war.  But when the current war broke out and the name
was on everyone's lips for different reasons as an engineer at Zero
explained to me, the luggage company's business tanked, so they
dropped it completely.  Matter of fact, their company history was sort
of re-written to intentionally dissociate themselves.  Check out the
difference in the company history listed on the Zero site and in
Wikipedia:

Company history as listed in Zero's webpage:

ZERO Manufacturing, Inc.'s capabilities and many of its products as
manufactured currently, had their beginnings in a small metal shop in
southern California named Zierold Metal Corporation. Many people had
difficulty pronouncing the name Zierold, so in 1952, after being
purchased by Jack B. Gilbert, the name was changed to ZERO. Known as
ZERO Corporation, the company grew to include facilities and
operations in several locations around the United States.

In 1991, ZERO Corporation expanded, relocating its main operations
center in North Salt Lake, Utah. In 1998, ZERO transferred its plastic
case manufacturing capability from Monson, MA to the North Salt Lake
facility. By 2002, the assets and capabilities of the Utah operation,
along with the rights to use the ZERO name were acquired by ZERO
Manufacturing, Inc.

Today, the company currently operates under the name of ZERO
Corporation, with ZERO Manufacturing, Inc. as a wholly owned
subsidiary. As the leading manufacturer of both aluminum and plastic
enclosures, ZERO exceeds customer's expectations by offering
unparalleled protection and creative custom designed manufacturing
solutions for any type of case, enclosure, or standardized product.


Company History as listed in Wikipedia:

Zero Halliburton is a company which manufactures hard-wearing travel
cases and briefcases, mainly out of aluminium. was originally a metal
fabrication company called Zierold Company, which in 1946 changed its
name to Zero Corporation. In 1952 Zero, which until then had no
relation to Halliburton, bought the luggage division of Halliburton,
the Texas oilfield services company. On December 29, 2006, Zero
Corporation sold its consumer division to ACE Co. Ltd., a Japanese
luggage manufacturer. Today Zero Halliburton is a wholly owned
subsidiary of ACE Co. Ltd. of Osaka and Tokyo.

Erle P. Halliburton, the founder of Halliburton, had commissioned the
aluminum case in 1938 from aircraft engineers because other luggage
could not endure the rough travel through Texas oil fields in a pickup
truck. In addition to being more durable than a leather or cloth case
due to its rigidity, the aluminium case seals tightly against dust and
water.

The aluminum cases have appeared in over 200 Hollywood movies and
television shows,[1] often as a MacGuffin, and in professional
wrestling, most notably used by Steve McMichael and Irwin R. Schyster.
In addition to aluminium, Zero Halliburton cases are available in
polycarbonate and texalium (an aluminium-coated fiberglass).[2][3]
Famously, the Nuclear Football (the briefcase, used by the United
States President, to order a nuclear attack) is a modified Zero
Halliburton case.



--- In PLAN_B_analog_blog@yahoogroups.com, "Christopher Jacob
Recording Device" <I.AM.USING.THE.INTERNETS@...> wrote:
>
> I've been curious for a while now but are these cases made by the same
> Haliburton I'm thinking of or is there a less infamous company with
the same
> name?
> 
> hoping this doesn't stir up a flame war or anything just my curiosity
> speaking.
> Chris
> 
> -- 
> "War will end when people refuse to fight"
> --Anonymous
>