WOW!!!
That is an incredible find!
Looking at that I thought that it was probably a 32. And I wondered what it was doing in a flashlight thread.
Certainly I had no idea that such a light existed.
Can you please give us a few more details?
Hello stranger.
Basically it's called a "toy" flashlight. Up until probably the 1970's most flashlights were made as "battery selling" devices. The toy pistol light by Franco was a promotional thing used as a give away by news papers and such as 'grand prizes' for subscription sales. The interstate Electric Novelty company put out a line of lights such as a 'fountain pen' replica we now call penlights and a 'flask' replica that were called vest pocket lights.
The dry cell was new and made it so you no longer had a cord from your vest pocket leading to your trousers pocketed wet cell. The tungston bulb was also new and made it so your light could remain on long enough to guide your way for a few minutes. The former carbon filament could only handle a few seconds at a time, hence the word flashlight.
The Franco pistol was a 'blue'd' steel device that worked off of a 2aa sized battery pack. (2aa's wrapped in tape for stability and cardboard paper to print the battery logo onto). A wire ran to the trigger section to jump power from the cells to the bulb. Batteries only lasted a few minutes and prior to CF Burgess perfecting a carbon zinc formula in 1917, the shelf life was weeks at best, days at worst.
Conrad Hubert (Ever Ready owner... and still two words) bought the Interstate company for their Franco products in 1915. He used many as Eveready (now one word) lights including the toy pistol. His were brass and started out as "blue'd" then later nickel plated. Not sure if only the Daylo name was used in conjunction with the Eveready name of if there were any Eveready only ones. But he built them until about 1921.
The Daylo thing was where old Conrad didn't like the term flashlight in his products... flashlight was so... 1909... and by golly this is 1915... we gotta get with the times and come up with a word for our steady burning lights. He held a contest. The winning word was "Daylo". He spent millions trying to get people to call a battery operated fire on a stick a Daylo, not a flashlight. Probably in the top 10 biggest flops in American history. Right up there with the Edsel... the hoola hoop... the zeppelin.
I'll fashion a home made battery pack and replace the (working) opalescent bulb with #222 or #224 to make it a thrower. Instead of barely lighting the hand in front of your face I expect it'll be bright enough to find my dropped car keys (provided I dropped them in my 3' circle).
Ok back to modern light talk....
Ps, I showed the inner workings of the Franco in the "vintage lights in review" thread in the collectors section.
