The Scripto Pen Company originated as the M. A. Ferst Company in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1923. The company's name was changed to Scripto, meaning "I write" in Latin, in 1924. Scripto produced and sold mechanical pencils and pens, and in 1955, added refillable butane lighters to their product line. In late 1964 and early 1965, Scripto Pen Company faced a major labor strike, in which Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. participated along with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. The president of the company at the time of the strike, James V. Carmichael, negotiated with the International Chemical Workers Union, Local 754, to resolve the strike and reach a settlement.

In 1974, Scripto partnered with the Japanese firm of Tokai-Seiki to sell their disposable lighters. Tokai-Seiki became Tokai Corporation and purchased Scripto in 1984. The company's name changed again in 1988 to Scripto-Tokai, and the headquarters moved from Atlanta to California with manufacturing operations in Tijuana, Mexico. The company discontinued all of its pencil products after the move. In 2006, the company's name changed to Scripto USA. As of 2012, the company is grouped with Calico brands under the parent company of Tokai World. The company's focus is solely on pocket and utility lighters, and they no longer produce writing instruments.