Century old Flashlights?

So a friend gave me these two gems he found in an abandoned house.
He found them in an old house that was abandoned since the 1950’s, and about to be torn down. He found these two lights sitting on a beam in the attic of the old house when there were cleaning it out. He knew i collected lights, so he though i would be the best home for these classics. Fortunately there were no batteries in them. (which would have long since leaked out and likely destroyed the lights. To my amazement when i tested 2 C-cells in them they both worked!
One is a vintage Eveready, and the other from Yale Electric. I have no idea of the year, but they are definitely old.
They both have glass aspheric lenses.

well obviously

you need to pop 2 x 26650 in there and a custom drivers/pills to run the xhp and MT-G2 to bring these lights up to date.

Or?

That’s a cool find!

Or something more realistic? :bigsmile: With those old lights you kind of have to build a whole new light within the shell to get good thermal properties. Would work much better with a 3w or 10w led than a 30w or 40w led. Then again… I guess there’s enough room in there to put a lot of thermal mass, isn’t there?

That's pretty awesome. I've been watching ebay for vintage flashlights, put a few bids in but habent been able to score one cheap enough yet. Love antiques!

They could easily up-graded to an XML, driver and 18650/26650, but would have to limit the amps as there is not much room in the head for heat-sinking, But i’m not sure if i want to alter them as they are original and work.

I was thinking you could sleeve the entire body and integrate the heatsink into that sleeve.

Yea it’s pretty cool that they still work.

The light with the smooth body looks like the 1220634 Portable Electric Light at this link:

http://www.prc68.com/I/FlashlightPat.shtml

It’s a long page, but search for “1220634” on the page.

I agree. If they were all rusted away from dead batteries you could modify them, but if they work it would be a shame to change anything. I did braid the old rusty spring of my 1928 light, but that is all.
Do the old bulbs work?

The original bulbs in them still work. (i will take a photo later of them working.

Interesting. It looks like the same light. They state it’s era date is 1917.

please don’t mod or destroy this beauty in any way. its rare nowadays to get
immortal incan bulbs. better put safts or energizer lithiums in there. I know
one day this will save you when the great emp comes :smiley:

You could sell them for a good amount $$$ then use the money for something you will use more…

Ebay

Every once in a while you see some very old ones there and unique too. Always wanted to mod one, but there's no heat sinking and usually there's enough wear that they just wouldn't look good modded, so I've never done one, but I've seen members here and on CPF do some modding.

+ 1

Very true. These will stay as original as they are, especially considering they still work.

Based on Stuart Schnieder’s “Collecting Flashlights” printed in 1996, your Eveready dates to 1915/1916 based on the tailcap logo. The “2D” models of this vintage and quality (based on your pics) were worth $20-$35 back then. Yale was made from 1919 to 1928, my quick guess from the first half to middle of that era, and an approximate value about half of the Eveready. The Eveready’s condition would appeal to a collector seeking that model; it’s quite nice and would be hard to find in that condition. The Yale has tailcap denting, heavier corrosion, and plating wear on the switch limiting it’s appeal- plus the ’brand appeal” is a lot lower.

I’d suggest an Ebay search for more current values. Also if you like old flashlights get a copy of the book. If you’re over 50 the “Nostalgia Trip” alone is worth the price of a copy. Good history, very nice color pics, and good clean fun to read!

Phil

Clean em up, polish em up. Put them on your shelf with newer stuff. I'm sure they would have a lot to talk about together. Good company, sharin war stories an stuff. Aaah, history in the makin. Beautiful old age Americana...I love It!

Wow, that is so neat! Good on you, man! What an awesome find and friend you have there. I'm with the "keep 'em original" crowd. Clean them up and display them proudly. I've always wanted ones like that but when I see them at flea markets and such they are always asking top dollar.

My order for “Collecting Flashlights” printed in 1996. just shipped five minutes ago.

That's what we need here now, an antique section. Yes?