# Vintage Pifco Super Beam lantern with an unexpected surprise!



## Chris M. (May 4, 2003)

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. 







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






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:






(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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