Very cool.
Nice light, & same beam pattern as the two i have above. 
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.
I was just asking one of our well renowned flashlight fixer upers earlier, if he could maybe fix my grandpas old light as it quit working about 12 years ago. I think it may be in the switch or the weird looking filament/bulb in it where the problem lies, but I don’t know. The light is at least 60 years old as I am 52 and my dad said he used it long before I came along. It is a “Big Beam” brand and was made in Chicago Illinois. I do know it had a great beam and a lot of brightness to it for an old flashlight though, like the Q-beam of the day back then. The head even swivels so you can sit the light down and point it from straight up to about 25 degrees down past level. This is exactly like mine but not the actual light.
That reminds me of one my grandfather once had, it used a 6 volt rectangle battery.
I can’t see the switch in your pic, but most of these had simple “slide” switches which are still made in numerous sizes, so you could find a replacement. Matching the original rivets would be the tough part. You could probably disassemble both switches (new and old) and replace the internal parts as needed. Slide switches usually fail from the sliding “U” losing it’s springiness or from the tuny spring above it failing. For a display model simply squeezing that “U” tighter and stretching the spring (if so equipped) will restore operation. You may be able to access that without removal of the whole switch from the bottom, thus saving the original rivets.
The bulb is probably a “Sealed Beam” and those can still be had as well. This type of flashlight was the “Sky Ray King” of it’s day and other than the cost of batteries and it’s incan technology they can still acquit themselves well.
Let’s see more oldies!
Phil
yes it is sealed beam…it has a clicky type switch (Push button) on the opposite side from pic, but also a number of wires here there and all from one component to the other.
Clicky-switches can still be had too. If you can get a few pics of that switch we might find one. There were not a lot of different clicky-switches made back then, and I’ve fixed a few old lights in my youth with ones scrounged from vacuum cleaners and desk lamps which were identical or close enough to fit. These don’t repair well (if at all) so a replacement would be needed to make it work.
It’s still a piece of history anyway, working or not. Whoever designed it put thought into it’s aesthetics knowing the dies for the stampings would be a significant investment and useless for anything else. Today’s plastic and CNC work pales in comparison; it’s cheap and easy now unlike in the past. 3D printing moreso.
To my eyes this is as much industrial artwork as it is a flashlight, and that is a large part of why I love old flashlights so much :bigsmile:
Let’s see more like this!
Phil
We watched some of the Thin Man movies over the weekend and was wondering what kind of flashlights he was using. It was hard to tell, but these look pretty close if they weren’t the same.
its possible. Old movies sometimes use vintage & antique items as props.
These would be antiques now, but they could have been new when the movies were made.
Nice find! I agree with those who said leave them be.
They really don’t make ’em like they used to. What are the odds that someone will find a Convoy and have it work 60 years from now?
True i may mod a replacement bulb to a warm white LED just for show to see how that works, so it don’t alter the original lights or bulbs.
http://imgur.com/xIADNIa
I have this lamp with an aspheric lens that my father bought some years ago. He didn’t use it much and it rotted across from leaking batteries. the lens is chipped at the edge and scratched but I was wondering should I try to build a lamp with it. The lamp was a cheap one back then so I dont want to restore it, it’s too far gone in any event.
difficult to say on that one, it depends on how much of it salvageable or restoreable.
If it’s a well-known brand it might still have some value as replacement parts for a restorer. If not then it’s parts for your projects.
Phil
This is my 1925 Eveready #2660, my newest “old” light.
Nice one! Thanks for sharing the photos of it.