# Anyone Remember Nicholl Brothers Lanterns?



## ericjohn (Oct 31, 2015)

24 years ago today my mom made a HUGE mistake and threw away a very rare Nicholl Brothers lantern.

Let me explain the background behind that story:

You see, it was Halloween and I had just started school. The teachers were telling us to make sure we had a flashlight to go trick or treating. So, I looked (with the help of a chair) in the cabinets of our utility room where my mom kept this lantern and explained that I needed it for Haloween.

Now either the bulb had blown or the battery had died or maybe both, but it didn't work. So my mom threw it away.

I never saw another one again, until maybe 2012 at a hardware store one town away. Unfortunately it wasn't a sale model but a store model.

A few months ago I was doing research on Brinkmann and came across a picture of a light that looked just like the lantern my mom threw away, just a color difference. The model was the Executive and the company was Nicholl Brothers of Kansas City.

The lantern my mom threw away was all yellow with a white rotary switch by the way, but I'm sure it came in other color schemes. There is one on ebay for ~$50 + ~$10 to ship it but it's not the color I had and the price is way to high.

I'm wondering if anyone could tell me any information about this particular model or if anyone has one for sale...


----------



## snakebite (Nov 15, 2015)

not super rare.the rechargeable one not common but the same basic light is common under many brands.i have several including one in yellow.
its like new.my others have added dc jacks for recharging internal nicads.
i would not be surprised if they are still in production.


ericjohn said:


> 24 years ago today my mom made a HUGE mistake and threw away a very rare Nicholl Brothers lantern.
> 
> Let me explain the background behind that story:
> 
> ...


----------



## ericjohn (Nov 16, 2015)

snakebite said:


> not super rare.the rechargeable one not common but the same basic light is common under many brands.i have several including one in yellow.
> its like new.my others have added dc jacks for recharging internal nicads.
> i would not be surprised if they are still in production.



They are rarer than most. I've only seen one other in my whole life. Unfortunately it wasn't for sale.

That's something about store use flashlights, they aren't for sale but if they are good ones they'll last a long time.

There is another example of this, at my local Family Dollar there is a Rayovac 6 Volt lantern from 1969 that is sitting in the warehouse for store use. The shopping center that houses the said store was built around 1969. My Paw Paw also had a plethora of these Rayovac lanterns well into the 1990s.

I doubt seriously that they are still in production since Nicholl Bros. was bought out by Brinkmann at some point.


----------



## ericjohn (May 12, 2016)

I have a correction to make...

The light my mom threw away on October 31 1991 was not a Nicholl Bros. lantern but a Sears All-Weather Floating lantern.

I'm realizing this now because I just ordered a lot of three vintage flashlights on ebay.

One was the yellow Sears lantern which looks exactly like the one my mom threw away and I'm assuming it is since my parents shopped at Sears quite frequently in the 1980s and 1990s.

The next one is an Eveready Commander, which I've been wanting one for a long time. This was the light my paw paw edced for many years. There is even picture of me sitting on his lap as a baby staring into the said flashlight, which probably started me off as a flashaholic.

The other flashlight is a Mayday brand which I have never heard of.

But the first two flashlight were instrumental in causing me to be a flashaholic at a very young age...It's proof that God has a sense of humor by putting those two flashlights in the same lot...


----------



## lightlover (May 12, 2016)

ericjohn said:


> ............... There is even picture of me sitting on his lap as a baby staring into the said flashlight, which probably started me off as a flashaholic. .....



*So sweet - *post that photo please, ericjohn? (And the date).


----------



## bykfixer (May 15, 2016)

^^ agreed.

If you don't mind tell us about the lights when they arrive. 




ericjohn said:


> I have a correction to make...
> 
> The light my mom threw away on October 31 1991 was not a Nicholl Bros. lantern but a Sears All-Weather Floating lantern.
> 
> ...


----------



## ericcrayon (May 19, 2016)

I have a lantern from Nicholl Brothers. It is brown and marked model 500. It came with a sholder strap, colored bulb covers and a draw strap carring case. Marked 'The Executive" on side. Used to work fine until a wire was accidently pulled out of the potted connection area. Are these easy to repair?


----------



## ericjohn (May 28, 2016)

lightlover said:


> *So sweet - *post that photo please, ericjohn? (And the date).



November 5 1987...


----------



## ericjohn (May 28, 2016)

I greatly apologize for being late with this post, but here goes:

The Sears Lantern needs some work since the socket that holds the bulb is broken. Also I think the switch mechanism has some corrosion in it, but I am still keeping it because it has sentimental value. I think it came with a PR15 bulb.

The Eveready Commander Lantern performs very well and I placed a Krypton bulb in it since the original bulb was weak. Whats strange is that the PR13 bulb that came with it had Eveready written on it (in ink.) The lantern was gently used and is in wonderful condition.


----------



## ericjohn (May 28, 2016)

Could it be possible that Nicholl Brothers or Brinkmann made this light for Sears?

I know that at least for their tools, someone else makes Sears products under contract.


----------



## ericjohn (May 28, 2016)

Here are some pictures of the flashlights.


----------



## ericjohn (May 28, 2016)




----------



## ericjohn (May 28, 2016)




----------



## ericjohn (May 28, 2016)




----------



## ericjohn (May 28, 2016)




----------



## ericjohn (May 28, 2016)




----------



## lightlover (May 28, 2016)

Thanks for the historic photo ericjohn!


----------



## ericjohn (May 28, 2016)

I might have posted it before, but it bears repeating:

So when I was a young child my Paw Paw had lent his Eveready Commander Lantern to my parents.

In either the Spring or Summer of 1990, I had experienced a tornado for the first time. I was three but my brother and sister were newborns and my mom rushed all of us into the center of the house by the light of that Commander Lantern.

On April 28 2015, I had recently purchased my Energizer Weather Ready LED 6 Volt Lantern (American version of the Dolphin.) There was another tornado and the manager of the apartment complex had invited me and the other top floor tenants to her bottom floor apartment. I left with the clothes on my back, a Mini Maglite LED in my pocket and my Weather Ready Lantern. Thank God there was no damage.

The lot of three flashlights I ordered had come in on May 16 and there was a Tornado Warning issued to the Parish northwest of me 3 days later. Several severe thunderstorms had also passed through my town that night.

So I've come to associate Red Eveready 6 Volt Lanterns with severe weather.


----------



## ericjohn (May 28, 2016)

You're welcome!


----------



## whatisthislantern (Sep 12, 2021)

ericjohn said:


> Could it be possible that Nicholl Brothers or Brinkmann made this light for Sears?
> 
> I know that at least for their tools, someone else makes Sears product under contract.


Yes. I'm on this site because I wanted to learn something about an old battery-powered lantern I have. It has a Sears label on two side, but absolutely nothing about model name or number. I took a good close look at and photograph of the battery receptacle cover and it reads, in part, "manufactured in the USA by Nicholl Brothers, Inc.". So, in the case of my light, Nicholl Brothers made the lantern for Sears.


----------



## snakebite (Sep 12, 2021)

the one on the left in yellow is oem by nichol bros or brinkman.
i have seen them in many colors,with and without blinker,and a few rechargeables.
and with and without tilting or swivel stands.
i still have 2 here.
i used 5 6.5 ah d cells from honda hybrids to make a real 6v pack.
installed a 5 cell xenon bulb and a waterproof 5.5x2.5 barrel socket.
i included a 3a diode in series with + so i can slap it on a modded 25w solar panel.
i disconnected the bypass diodes in the jbox and paralleled the halves.
then added a thermal switch and latching relay.
plug in panel,push button,and when temp of pack reaches 110 degrees the relay drops.
that one has seen heavy use at a garage on unimproved land we hunt,dirtbike,ect on.
i have a pristine yellow brinkman just sitting here.
btw i cut a foam block to store spare bulbs in them.
yes we have lots of fancy lights among us but that modded solar charged antique gets a ton of use.


----------



## snakebite (Sep 12, 2021)

on sears items the 3 numbers before the decimal denotes the mfr.
several sites out there with the list.


----------



## snakebite (Oct 5, 2021)

ericcrayon said:


> I have a lantern from Nicholl Brothers. It is brown and marked model 500. It came with a sholder strap, colored bulb covers and a draw strap carring case. Marked 'The Executive" on side. Used to work fine until a wire was accidently pulled out of the potted connection area. Are these easy to repair?


pictures?
sounds like a rechargeable unit.
might be easier to recreate the charger unit than to battle the potting.


----------



## pumps (Oct 5, 2021)

I carried one , I can't remember the color, like the big yellow 6 volt on my firefighters tool belt , when I first got on the job in 1990. Maybe it WAS yellow.


----------

