Zero Halliburton, stylized as ZERO Halliburton, is a company that manufactures hard-wearing travel cases and

briefcase A briefcase is a narrow hard-sided box-shaped bag or case used mainly for carrying papers and equipped with a handle. Lawyers commonly use briefcases to carry briefs to present to a court, hence the name. Businesspeople and other white collar ...

s, mainly of

aluminum Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It has ...

. 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 Erle Palmer Halliburton was an American businessman specializing in oil field services. Early life Halliburton was born on September 22, 1892, near Henning, Tennessee, the son of Lou Emma (Cothran) and Edwin Graves Halliburton. When Halliburton ...

, the American founder of

Halliburton Halliburton Company is an American multinational corporation responsible for most of the world's hydraulic fracturing operations. In 2009, it was the world's second largest oil field service company. It has operations in more than 70 countries ...

, had commissioned the aluminum case in 1938 from aircraft engineers because other luggage could not endure the rough travel through Texas oil fields. 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 The cinema of the United States, consisting mainly of major film studios (also known as Hollywood) along with some independent film, has had a large effect on the global film industry since the early 20th century. The dominant style of Ame ...

and television shows, often as a

MacGuffin In fiction, a MacGuffin (sometimes McGuffin) is an object, device, or event that is necessary to the plot and the motivation of the characters, but insignificant, unimportant, or irrelevant in itself. The term was originated by Angus MacPhail for ...

. In addition to aluminum, Zero Halliburton cases have been available in carbon fiber,

polycarbonate Polycarbonates (PC) are a group of thermoplastic polymers containing carbonate groups in their chemical structures. Polycarbonates used in engineering are strong, tough materials, and some grades are optically transparent. They are easily work ...

, polypropylene, and Texalium (an aluminum-coated

fiberglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass cloth ...

). Famously, the

nuclear football The nuclear football (also known as the atomic football, the president's emergency satchel, the Presidential Emergency Satchel, the button, the black box, or just the football) is a briefcase, the contents of which are to be used by the presid ...

, the briefcase which the President of the United States can use to order a nuclear strike, is a modified Zero Halliburton case, although enclosed in a black leather 'jacket' to make it appear less militaristic in diplomatic situations.

References

External links

Company history at Zero Halliburton Web siteZero Halliburton Shop
Luggage manufacturers {{manufacturing-company-stub