1950's Tom Thumb lights

[scout24]

Re: Eveready Little Jim

Thank you for the history lesson! Sellers pic, I'll see it in a couple days. Should be like yours on the right with the Eveready Union Carbide writing. My Grandmother worked at Union Carbide in the 70's and this'll be a bit nostalgic for me. I like your square one, the bezel looks like it has nice spill.

 

[snakebite]

Re: Eveready Little Jim

another hotrod tip.
use a https://www.bltdirect.com/mes-lens-end-e10-1-11-watts-3-7-volts?cat=1880
and a 14500 li-ion.
i did this with a similar bulb from my craftsman brite driver.
decent performance and completely reversible.

 

[scout24]

Re: Eveready Little Jim

Ha! That's cool, snakebite. An AA sized antique hotwire... oo:

 

[snakebite]

Re: Eveready Little Jim

the one from the screwgun is 3.6v 600ma krypton.
looking for a source ....stay tuned!
edit.
the 200ma vacuum bulb is a #246

 

[Grijon]

Re: Eveready Little Jim

Never heard of these - they are AWESOME!

 

[bykfixer]

Bumping to show my 2am nature call light.

It gets the call of duty for about 5 minutes a day using a double A cell. Little by little it gets dimmer, so if I turn it on when the lights are on I can't tell it is on unless shined on my hand but……
When the lights are out and I want to avoid tripping over the dog or navigate through the house it does great at lighting up 10 feet in front of me with a pleasing tint that does not wake anybody.

Insert a new battery and it really brightens up. About as bright as a birthday candle even. Yet using older, nearly depleted batteries is its charm. At least in my opinion anyway.

 

[knucklegary]

Tom Thumb.. Before marketing as a children's flashlight from Eveready, they were made for bicycles in the late 1800's. Operation required keeping the oil tank full and flint in the starter wheel. All that for only a few lumens..

You could use it to light cigars as well (;

 

[konifans]

Beautiful little lights!

 

[bykfixer]

One with a really, really, really used up battery is an awesome firefly light.
Add a new battery and suddenly it springs to life.

 

[snakebite]

Another reversible mod.
Use a K222 krypton bulb and lifepo4 aa cell.
Works well.

 

[bykfixer]

Finally swapped the battery in my Tom Thumb bed side table light. It still put out enough light to see past the black dog at 2am but I needed to give the light a thwack to get it going. Then it did not put out enough light to see what direction my stream was aimed at those times there was no splashing noise.
Now I can see well.

Old battery

New battery

I'll swap in a new one in about 3 years or so..

 

[snakebite]

How well does a #112 do on a li primary?
Might be a mild bump up if the bulb life is reasonable.

 

[bykfixer]

Don't know. I just replaced the 70-ish year old bulb with a new one and use a rayovac in it. I figure it's a circa 1953 or so light.

For the way I use it a lithium probably wouldn't make much difference because I use it for about 2 minutes at a time. I suppose if I used it for long periods the lack of sag may shorten the bulb life to a suffer.

I just switched to a new battery after about 5 years.....

 

[snakebite]

I have a variant of that one.
Flat tail with "tom thumb" .
Different stripes but same colors.
A rivit below switch.
I put in a homebrew nichia 757 high cri dropin and a 14500.
Floods a room with light resembling sunshine.
And can be reverted to stock in seconds!

 

[knucklegary]

Photos @snakebite PHOTOS!

 

[letschat7]

I've seen these on the Bay but so costly.

 

[snakebite]

Here it is

 

[letschat7]

This gives me an idea. If these older lights would accept a PR style LED dropin I'd be set for running 18650 or so in one.

 

[snakebite]

Well things are kind of at a standstill on these lately.
A couple of penlights and the brass 1 cell do not light (yet). I acquired a missing spring for the brass one but haven't gotten around to figuring out why it doesn't light.
Same goes for an Underwood penlight. The Burgess penlight is also missing the spring.


The current lineup.
Penlights top to bottom:
- Eveready of my youth -circa 1976
- Underwood - circa mid 1950's, silver plated
- Burgess - art deco circa 1940's
- Toggle switch Rayovac -circa 1950's to 60's
(Thanks Garageboy.)

TomThumbs L to R:
- Eveready Little Jim - circa 1950's
- Eveready little Commander - circa 1960's
- Fulton Tom Thumb - circa 1950's, silver plated.
- HIPCO Tom Thumb - circa 1950's, silver plated.
- unknown switchless brass lipstick light.
- Rayovac Sportsman Jr - circa 1950's
- unknown silver plated brass art deco lipstick light from unknown era. Art deco was big in the 30's.
- HIPCO Tom Thumb silver plated art Deco - circa 1950's. I have another of those but my wife snatched it for her purse.

I hope to obtain a 1aa Captain some day.
And perhaps a "bullet' light by Burgess, Bond, Franco or Winchester. But being they typically go for $100+ I'm in no hurry there.

The Commander Jr was a fluke. It was on my bucket list and a seller listed it as a Little Jim. Not knowing the dif I bought it thinking it was a re-styled Little Jim.

i have the burgess penlite.
It was given to my Grandfather at the 1939 worlds fair.
Its still in use with a led mod and eneloops to protect against alkaleak damage.

 

[snakebite]

And 18650 will not fit a tom thumb light.
14500 will.