Vintage Pifco Super Beam lantern with an unexpected surprise!

Chris M.

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jan 17, 2001
Messages
2,564
Location
South Wales, UK
Picked this one up quite some time ago and I`ve been meaning to post about it for ages, but just never got round to it until now. It`s a fairly typical 6 volt "996 battery" lantern with the bog standard vacuum PR lamp, but with a movable head so it can be set down and shine where you need it.

pifcosuperbeam.jpg


But look in the head and there`s something you may not be expecting for a 40-50 year old utility flashlight. Texturing!

pifcosuperbeamreflector.jpg


The honeycomb-like faceting in this light must be a particuarly early use of that finish on a domestic flashlight, and quite an advance for its time. It makes for a very nice beam too:

pifcosuperbeamshot.jpg


(taken from twice the normal distance from my target - 1 meter - the degrees calieration should be ignored. The little crosshairs are at 25mm/1 inch spacing though)

So don`t let anyone tell you SureFire invented flawless smooth flashlight beams, and don`t think faceting and texturing of reflectors is a fairly recent innovcation, cos Pifco have them both beat by at least 30 years! It surprised me when I saw this one. Too bad it`s not that bright. Maybe I should stick an XPR lamp in it?!

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