Burgess flashlight from my Grandfather

The Whispering Gallery

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My Grandfather gave me this flashlight. He said that it belonged to his grandfather. It looks to be the art deco pen light. The clip is broken. Just wanted to share some pics and see if anyone knew any interesting history about this light. Is it possible to get bulbs if this one ever burns out?

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Thetasigma

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Neat piece, any identifying information on the bulb?

Looks like a nice little beam for a small cell incan of this era.
 

snakebite

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#222 bulb.
easy to get.
btw i have the same light.
late 40's if the story that i was told at the yard sale is true.
 

bykfixer

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It's a medical penlight that operates using a #222 or 224 bulb. They are screw in bulbs called "E10". E is for Edison type and 10 is for millimeters. Like Snake said, easy to find (online).

Burgess was one of the better manufacturers in the 30's and 40's when those were made.

Like many of the light companies in the stone age, they were made to sell their brand of batteries. So Burgess gave away a lot of lights. Often times if you bought, say an 8 pack of Burgess double A's it came with a light. Perhaps as few as a twin pack.

Art deco was in vogue with flashlights from the late 20's all the way to the 60's in some cases. Burgess nearly went belly up during the 30's. And wartime rationing causes me to think that light was either made prior to WW2 or after. Probably after. And was probably a promo.

Yours still having much of the wording on the thumb piece is a good thing. Unfortunately the deco paint chips very easily.


Nice find.
 
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The Whispering Gallery

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Thanks all for the informative and interesting replies! It's good to know that I can still get bulbs and keep this light operational. I love that it is so compact for 2xAA.

I decided to challenge myself to use only this light for a week so I can feel better know what it was like in the 1950s. Here is a comparison to a Fenix E01 with sanded LED.

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snakebite

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I recently investigated my grandfathers light too.
Its from late 30's.
He got it at the 39 worlds fair.
So now i know that his and the garage sale one are indeed late 30's
I found that the 222 bulb with lense end was introduced in 1938.
Stuff a k222 in it and drop in 2 aa eneloops and use it.
 
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