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Founded by Julius Franz Meister in 1907, the Julian Meister Co. (JMCO/IMCO) began as a button and metal goods factory in Vienna. Bernhard Silberknopf became a company partner during 1911. The factory began manufacturing lighters after World War 1. The first lighter model, the "Imko Feuerzeug" was patented in 1920 and several other models were produced during the early 1920s based on this patent.

Hans Silberknopf patented the design for the famous "Ifa" Sturmfeuerzeug in 1925. IMCO produced other several models based on this patent. The design was copied by multple U.S. and Japanese companies during the 1930s and 1940s and countless replicas have been produced. Frequently deceptively characterized as "trench lighters" by replica manufacturers and resellers, many collectors do not realize this type of lighter did not exist during World War 1.

Bernhard Silberknopf became managing director of IMCO in 1926 and Hans, his son, became partner. Hans Silberknopf became sole owner of the company in 1931 and patented most of the IMCO lighters designs introduced between 1925-1938. Fearing Aryanization, Hans Silberknopf committed suicide on April 13, 1938 about a month after Adolph Hitler deployed German soldiers into Austria. Silberknopf left the company to its workers, the new owners were Alfred Racek and Johann Raganitsch. Racek bought-out his partner in the mid-1960s and continued to run the IMCO until the late 1980s. Racek sold the company to the Haas family in 1988, who continued to run the factory until it closed in 2012.

During the mid-1930s, IMCO Mfg. was founded in New York by Julius Kohn. Information about the U.S. company is very sparse. There is evidence it worked cooperatively with the Austrian company but the U.S. company was separately owned and operated. (EB)

This historical synopsis is thanks to research by William Broesan.