Make $6336.75 a month selling tiny fire extinguishers

Presto Merlite Fire Extinguisher (Click on thumbnail for enlargement) I found this ad in a 1960 issue of Popular Science.

I wish I could talk to Charles Kama, a man from Texas who made over $1000 a month ($6336.75 in today's money, according to The Inflation Calculator) selling the miniature Presto fire extinguisher, manufactured by Merlite Industries.

The retail price of the extinguisher was $4.95. Let's assume Kama bought them from Merlite industries for half price. In order to make $1000, he'd have to sell 404 units per month, or about ten per hour 20 per day, assuming a 40-hour work week. It's possible that he was a middleman, selling them to drugstores and the like, but if that's the case, he'd have to have sold more than 400 per month.

It's more fun to think that he sold these by driving around Texas with a case of extinguishers in the trunk of his Buick, stopping at bars and ice houses to demonstrate the effectiveness of the device. He'd place a rag in an ashtray, pull a can of lighter fluid from his pocket, and squirt it onto the rag. Before the proprietor had time to object, Kama would ignite the rag.

All eyes would be on him as the flames rose from the rag. But before the proprietor had a chance to squirt out the tiny inferno with a soda water hose or beat it out with a work glove, Kama would produce the Presto and put the fire out in the blink of an eye. Then he'd hand the Presto to the proprietor and tell him it was his to keep. This would soften him up sufficiently to allow Kama to then give his sales pitch. With the right crowd, he might sell his daily quota on the spot.

If anyone knew Charles Kama and how he actually sold these extinguishers, please let me know, and I'll share the story with everyone here.

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(Click on thumbnails for enlargement) You can't buy the Presto today, at least not new. They show up on eBay from time to time, however.

Is it possible the incredible "from lipstick to ocean liner" industrial designer Raymond Loewy designed the Presto? According to Loewy's website, Merlite Industries was one of his clients. The end caps of the Presto, which look like blunted versions of the hats Devo wore in their "Whip It" phase, are Loewy-esque, but the fragile-looking valve doesn't look like something Loewy would go for. (This pencil sharpener is a good example of Loewy's design aesthetic. Note the sturdiness of the crank.)