Century old Flashlights?

You might want to do a little research before you clean those lights. In the rare coin arena, cleaning reduces the value of the coin.

http://www.usmint.gov/about_the_mint/collectors_corner/?action=caring_for_coins

While this caution may not be as true for flashlights, remember that once “cleaned”, you can’t go back to the patina that you removed. I would just use a soft bristle brush to remove the “big chunks”, and get the value “as is”. Whoever gives you a value can then tell you whether or not you should do any cleaning.

A few members on LPF have done up a few similar original vintage lights and they look spectacular!

Vintage all-copper Bond build #1 (pic heavy)

Vintage all-copper Rayovac builds #3 and #4

Although I do prefer the original look.

Right now i will leave them as they are in original condition. :slight_smile:

Since they work, leave them alone. If they did not work, do only what is needed to restore function, no more. If you want to use a vintage flashlight to mod a modern LED into, buy one of the dozens on ebay that is not in as nice of condition.

I too have some very old vintage lights… including a French Flasher from around 1914 or so:

It has an aspheric lens and puts this round goodness on the wall:

I’ll post some others soon. We really need a Vintage and Antique Flashlight section. They too can be considered “budget lights”, as most can be purchased for $50 or less, some for half of that. My French Flasher (wow, that DOES sound inappropriate, doesnt it?) was only $24 at the local antique store.

OK... come & clean my monitor screen up! Wow. Those are outstanding finds. I spent hours trying to get a patina like that on some brass bezels for a customers light a few weeks back. I didn't realize all I had to do was throw them up in the attic for 50-60-70 years and wait!!!Surprised BEAUTIFUL LIGHTS!!! Thanks for sharing. TL

this looks like brad`s avatar.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Large-17-5-EVEREADY-CAPTAIN-3-6-D-Cell-Battery-FLASHLIGHT-Union-Carbide-/291457703304?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43dc3b9d88

My avatar is a Rayovac 5 Cell Sportsman with Ring Hanger.

http://www.flashlightmuseum.com/Rayovac-Flashlight-5-Cell-Sportsman-with-Ring-Hanger-5D-1965

A customer and I found it when he bought a new house, and he let me have it, it works fine. The light also taught me that there were good lights when I was a kid, being poor, I hadn’t known that a lot of homeowners had such capable flashlights with such great throw (for the time), I had thought that we all had the cheapest little 2 D cell lights that never worked , remember pulling them out of the kitchen drawer, turning on the switch and no light came out, then you had to start playing the flashlight game of “is it the batteries, is the bulb burned out, is the switch not working, is it 2 or 3 of them all at once?, shake shake, hit with the palm of your hand, shake, shake.

I lost the link to the museum in a HD crash- thanks “djozz” for posting it :slight_smile: No really old ones here, but the old incan’s are the “flashlight bug” that bit me long, long ago. I have an interesting 2D from 1935- the main bulb is focusable and the second bulb on top is solid glass and still works! I will post pics next time I get the laptop out; this old PC doesn’t read my camera’s cards.

The new lights are awesome on their own right, but there’s history in the old ones so please don’t lose our history by altering any of the rare or valuable ones.

Phil

I treasure the old ones.

When I was a pup, my folks and I were at the Grand Canyon when two airplanes crashed...one right behind the other into the wall of the canyon. We seen it happen, it was on the far side from us. A park ranger came and my Dad asked him if he seen those two "Flashes"... Dad took his flashlight and shined it over to the canyon wall...and I recall being able to faintly see boulders. I have no idea how far that was or what flashlight it was. At the time I was about 6 I think. I do remember the flashlight took 6 D cells or so and the head was huge...4 or 5 inches across. The light was chrome finished. So the old ones were...or at least some were close to as bright as what we have now I would think. Thinking of these old lights brought all that back! Surprised TL

Was it this crash?

Yep. THANKS!!!I was thinking of trying to find something on the crash.I hadn't thought of it in years. I read from your link that the planes left LA in the morning... so perhaps we didn't see the crash as I remember.... makes me wonder. There is no one to ask. I do recall the flashes...or some flashes. Ha! I recall as well being scared to death we would fall into the canyon. Scary at night.

Thanks again for finding that!! TL

Forgetting when day and night was during your involvement in the event so long ago, isn’t bad for such and old memory, it is easy to mix up the timeline of what was going on when it happened and the searching and what was going on after dark came.

You sure put me on a walk down memory lane. Most of these lights were dirt-cheap.These mean green or yellow colored plastic lights cost less than one guilder. They hardly ever worked when you needed them to work. But we never tested them because the batteries cost more than the light itself. It sat in the kitchen drawer until we were warned by a distinct odor that the batteries were leaking. We bought a new one and the whole cycle started all over again.

Ha! Well, I guess not considering half of the time I can't remember where I live! Surprised I know it was dark... I'll see if I can find an exact time of the crash somewhere. It has me wondering now. Those old lights are just pure treasure. I'd pay about whatever it took if I had Dad's old one available to purchase. Odd how life works! Thanks again for finding that info. TL

Don’t doubt yourself - it probably was relatively dark regardless of the time of day as there were heavy thunderstorms and cloud cover (which is what caused the crash).

Very cool.

Nice light, & same beam pattern as the two i have above. :slight_smile:

Thanks. I have a few old vintage lights in my growing collection now. I like these old technologies of a century ago.

Here’s my 80 year old. It’s an early zoomie; well sort of; the screw in back adjusts the focus more than switching from flood to zoom. The bulb on top is solid glass- yes I said solid. I included a pic with it burning but since it’s made of unobtanium I never turn it on and then with only weak batteries. 2D cells power it. The switch on back goes L-R solid, off, front. No hint of who made it to be found. I’ve seen similar shaped lights but none exactly match the shape and details. Printed on back is “Krause Corner Drug Store” in Carlisle Ohio. If anyone is near there maybe you can see if any old folks remember the place.






Phil

The designs from early century lights was quite interesting. I just received three more vintage lights and will get some photos up soon.