Vintage Allbright AA I found at Flea Market

I started collecting old flashlights, and this is the start of my collection. It is a lipstick size/shaped “Allbright” brand AA flashlight.

An ancient Ray-O-Vac AA “Penlight Battery” was still in it. The old battery’s anode stretches all the way to the outer-diameter of the battery, which is where it makes contact with the metal tailcap button. I put a fresh AA in it, and it works! Super dim…but lighting up! I had to trim off the battery wrapper on the negative side, and add a little balled-up copper braid to help it make contact…but hey…whatever it takes. I will try to add a small spring for a more permanent solution when I can find one.

The only writing I see is on the chrome trim adjacent to the tailcap button. It says: “ALLBRIGHT MADE IN USA PAT. PEND.” Writing on bulb is only “U.S.A.”

Anyhow, here are some pics. I would appreciate any info some might have on this.





I think it is kind of cool!

Allbright, a division of, wait for it……………………LatticeBright!

LOL
Couldn’t resist.

Neat old light!

Wow! That battery is from our childhood era..and antique even then. Not sure what is cooler..the light or the battery not blown up.

http://www.rayovac.com/learning/history.aspx

Cool light, Krono!

I found this over at flashlightmuseum:

http://www.flashlightmuseum.com/flashlights.cfm

But yours seems to be a different Allbright.

Thanks MG :slight_smile:

Interesting website. I found it a few days ago and sent them a message. I haven’t heard anything yet.

Thanks bugs for the for the Ray-O-Vac history site. I wish they had more vintage product photos.

The battery may be more valuable than the light. Very few old batteries survive as they all got tossed when they died while the light was retained. There used to be a couple guys who printed reproduction battery labels so you could make a more authentic-looking display with your old lights.

Stuart Schneider’s book shows some “Allbright” purse lights from the mid-to-late 30’s but yours is probably newer. From the pics I’d say this was a higher-quality brand. Good find!

Phil

The guy name is Paul McLellan and has some posts on CPF by user FlashlightMuseum

Nice find.

I had lots of cheap plastic incandescent torches as a kid. Many used C and D sized carbon batteries. Over time many of the batteries would leak and make a total mess. Amazing to see such an old AA last so long without leaking. It must be well made.

Wow, that’s a treasure!