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License. The rights purchased by a lunch box manufacturer to make and sell a lunch box featuring a registered TV, movie character, or series. Under the agreement, in addition to an advance, the manufacturer usually pays a five percent royalty to the licensor for every kit sold.

Licensee. The lunch box maker who buys a license to manufacture a kit featuring a registered character or series.

Licensor. The TV or movie production company that owns the registered character or series featured on a licensed lunch box.

Lithography. The process whereby colorful graphic images are printed on paper, metal sheets, or vinyl for making into lunch boxes.

Logo. The emblem or design representing a company on letterhead or company products. KST featured their "THERMOS" logo on the face of many of their lunch boxes.

Lox-On^TM Stopper. Aladdin bottle stopper. Positive seal, superior insulation.

Lunch box. The generic or common term used when describing lunch kits.

Lunch Box Pad. The finest example of all web sites devoted to the lunch box hobby. Started by Bryan Los in 1998, LBP has grown from a single web page, to a rich world of over 200 pages of eye candy and information. Lunch Box Pad has been featured in numerous print and internet media sites, most notably America Online.

Lunch kit. The tin, steel, plastic, or vinyl container for holding lunch. The proper term used when describing a lunch box, as used by the original lunch box manufacturers. See also "Lunch box."

Lunch pail. The tin, steel, plastic, or vinyl container for holding lunch. The term is usually used by those born before 1940. See also "Lunch kit."

Merchandising. The practice whereby the images of popular media characters are attached to consumer goods to increase sales.

Munchies Bag^TM. A zippered, vinyl bag with strap handle, made by KST.

Neck. See "Collar."

Original art. The tempera or acrylic paintings that are the basis for lunch kit lithography. Usually double-sized, a separate image is created for the face, back, band, and bottle of each kit.

Original papers. The original manufacturers documentation that accompanied the lunch box when first purchased at a retail outlet. The documentation usually has instructions on proper use of the lunch kit, and may also contain advertisement flyers.

Pail. Term given to a lunch box by those born before 1940. See also "Lunch pail."

Paileontology. Term coined by boxer Lee Garner to describe the collecting and study of lunch pails (adapted from paleontology-- the study of ancient life).

Panoramic band. Invented by artist Bob Burton, a lunch box band with art featuring a continuous view, such as the log wall of Boonesboro on Aladdin's Daniel Boone box.

Polly Red Top®. Type of stopper used by American Thermos in the 1950s for their 10 oz. bottles. The stopper produced a pressure seal when inserted into the neck and secured by the cup.

Pop-Top ^TM Stopper. Type of stopper used by Aladdin. A pour spout would pop up and allow for pouring as well as the ability to insert a straw into the bottle.

Press plate. The engraved metal device used to apply the color image to a sheet of paper or metal in lithography. Usually there is one press plate for each of the four colors (yellow, red, blue, and black).

Production sheet. The flat, usually 3' x 3' lithographed sheet of metal to be cut and stamped into a lunch box and bottle sleeve. Initially painted white, the sheet is inked and baked at 350 degrees for ten minutes, for each of the four colors. It is then varnished, stacked, and sent to the kit manufacturers.

Proof sheet. Cut out of a trial production sheet, a proof sheet is an individual side of the steel lunch kit (such as the front or band) sent to the manufacturer for approval before mass production lithography begins. Examples were saved by the lithographer for reference. Some of these examples exist to this day, and sometimes can be found in public/private auctions and on the eBay auction site.

Quik-Lok^TM Cup. Used by Aladdin for their insulated bottles, the cup locks on or releases off the collar with a quarter turn. No threads to collect dirt.

Rarity. Each lunch box and thermos is rated on a scale of 1 to 10-- with 1 being most common and 10 being most rare. Many factors contribute to an item's rarity, including production run, age, popularity, demand, and collectability.

Replacement filler. See "Glass filler."

Rim. The edge of a lunch box running around the front and back sides. The rim is usually lithographed a solid color, but boxes such as Fraggle Rock, Star Wars, and The Osmonds are exceptions.

Rim wear. Abrasion and chipping of paint on the rim. See also "Shelf wear."

Roughnecks^TM. KST's line of thermos bottles.

Saddle. See "Band."

Seam. Area of the lunch box or bottle where the material, usually steel, is joined to form the complete body. For lunch boxes, the seam is usually located on the bottom band, except for some early boxes. For bottles, the seam is located at the back of the bottle, on the opposite side of the main graphics.

Shelf wear. This is wear to the lunch box, usually, but not limited to the edges (edge wear). This wear occurs while the lunch box is on store shelves, and the box is being moved and/or other boxes are coming into contact with it. Most shelf wear is very minor.

Shur-Grip^TM. Universal's line of vacuum bottles for their lunch kits.

Sleeve. The steel tube into which the glass filler is inserted to form the traditional vacuum bottle (thermos). For character kits, the sleeve is usually lithographed with the same theme as the lunch box.

S-litho. A contraction of steel litho. After 1945, all lunch boxes were actually made of steel, not tin.

Softie^TM. Aladdin's vinyl lunch box line.

Steel/glass (bottle). The traditional vacuum bottle with a lithographed metal sleeve and glass filler.

Stopper. See "Cap."

Sweet Seal®. A variety of vacuum bottle stoppers used by Aladdin in the mid-1950s. The stopper was made of rubber, replacing the older cork version. Contents stay "sweet and clean," says Aladdin in a 1955 ad. A big concern for parents was that the cork stoppers absorbed odor.

Theme. The main subject or content the lunch box and thermos display.

Thermax^TM. Landers, Frary and Clark's name for their generic vacuum bottle.

Thermos. A generic term for the container used for carrying liquids, often included with lunch kits. Originally registered to the American Thermos Company, the name, like Kleenex, became a household word for any vacuum bottle.

Thermos Company. Most recent incarnation of former American Thermos and KST companies. Thermos Co. still produces lunch boxes today, including new metal boxes released 1998.

Tin litho. Term applied to decorated metal before 1945. After 1945, lunch boxes were steel litho or "S-litho."

Tray. A pressed tin tray designed to hold cake or pie. Common in pails from the Depression era.

Vactronic^TM. Aladdin's testing process for their seamless vacuum insulated fillers. Performance tested for maximum efficiency.

Vacuum bottle. The metal/glass container for liquids, known also as a thermos bottle.

Vinyl. A flexible, plastic sheeting (used for shower curtains) stretched over cardboard and heat-sealed to become a vinyl lunch box. Vinyl boxes debuted in 1959 and were discontinued in the early 1980s by the "Big Two." Vinyl boxes were much less durable than their metal or plastic counterparts. Because of their tendency to degrade over a short period of time, vinyl boxes in mint condition are hard to find, and often sell for great prices when up for sale or auction. Not to be confused with the rigid injection-molded plastic boxes of the 1970s and 1980s.

Wall. Any formation of lunch boxes, arranged to showcase a collection on a vertical surface-- as in "wall of boxes." Lunch boxes arranged on shelves is the most common way to form a wall. Thermos bottles may or may not be presented in the display.

Information courtesy The Official Price Guide to Lunch Box Collectibles.
Additional information provided by Lunch Box Pad.

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