# Three more specimens of Flashlight History arrived!



## DenBarrettSAR (Dec 11, 2015)

Three more vintage flashlights arrived today from a friend who found these at an antique liquidation. 
- Below, the one on the left is a Bond/Olin/Winchester light from circa 1960’s , the middle one is a unique angle light from circa 1950’s or earlier and built by Bond Electric Corp. , the one on the right is a special purpose light built by Ray-O-Vac and certified for hazardous locations and use in Mines by the US Department of The Interior/Bureau of Mines. 
All three flashlights worked perfectly when i tested them with D-cells. The angle-light model has a glass aspheric for wide flood from its incandescent bulb, and turns on by “loosening” the top cap. 
I will soon have to build a new glass display case for all my vintage lights, as this collection is growing.


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## magellan (Dec 11, 2015)

Very cool. I remember seeing lights like those, especially the two on the left, maybe even the same models, when I was a boy.


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## Beamhead (Dec 11, 2015)

Nice!


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## scout24 (Dec 12, 2015)

LOVE the anglehead! How far we've come, but to see the old soldiers still putting out light!!! :thumbsup:


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## bykfixer (Dec 12, 2015)

OUTSTANDING!!!!


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## tedjanxt (Dec 13, 2015)

Circa 1925...
















Yes, it works...


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## DenBarrettSAR (Dec 13, 2015)

Nice!  looks like a vintage marine flashlight for boating i seen before. (with the red & Green Starboard/Port color lights.


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## bykfixer (Jun 26, 2016)

I wish there were more of these threads. 




2 Vulcanite Francos circa 1911 and 1915.




Another Vulcanite Franco circa 1919




A silver plated early Franco




1920's Bond




1930's Blake built Rayovac




And a rare 3 cell Burgess Range Finder next to the Bond.

All restored.


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## Ladd (Jun 26, 2016)

Thanks for bumping it. I enjoy the old lights too.


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## Chauncey Gardiner (Jun 26, 2016)

bykfixer, It's time for a group photo. 

~ Chance


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## bykfixer (Jun 26, 2016)

I'm not quite ready to do a CPF in vintage lights CG.
lol.

But here is a group I have either restored or are in the 'pipeline'. All are working. 





Bottom shelf L to R:
Burgess silver plated 2D, Burgess 2D art deco, 2D 555, 2D Ranger, 3D kwik-lite (Fulton owned), Burgess Lazar, 2D Burgess Satelite (minty), 2D Rayovac 100th anniversary. 
Front is a Blake made Rayovac with spot/spill and twist to focus beam.

Top shelf: L to R
2C HIPCO, modified Buregess Satelite (w/ Harley sticker), Burgess miner light, Burgess art deco (minty), early Hong Kong made Terra, Vulcanite Franco mono cell.

Next shelf up




L to R;
2D Duo Tint, 2C TL122D replica, Fulton MX-991\U (note, rare backward slash model), 2aa TL-122D replica, 2D Duo Tint with magnetic kickstand, 2C Duo Tint. 
Front 2C HIPCO. 




Trio of 2C HIPCOs. 

I've still got a few stored for sprucing up when all of these are done. USAlite, Bright Star, Eveready, Rayovac, a couple of pre-Fulton Kwik-Lite, a Bond, and who know what else.... at this point those have working issues or need parts to be complete. 

But I have...



A few parts to pick from...




My vintage EDC's
All mentioned above except the rare 1950's Olin (only) safety light. No mention of Bond or Winchester on that one.




An ad touting that red bezel 'safety' feature




The vintage double A collection. 




A Bright Star Coast Guard light with the mentioned Duo Tint with kickstand.




The right angle head collection.
Two nice old Scout lights, all 4 TL122 models, and a Fulton MX-991/U (and a Pentagon molly)

That's about it for now.


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## Chauncey Gardiner (Jun 26, 2016)

WOW! 

~ C.G.


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## bykfixer (Jun 27, 2016)

The historical significance of a number of those shown above were that they were produced during boom times of America post WW2 when there were a bunch returning soldiers with their pockets all jingling n jangling with silver $. Some were produced during 'the machine era' of the 50's style is everything and the more the merrier. 
The art deco lights were attempts to boost sales during the Great Depression that stuck through the Machine Age. Most are chrome over tin or steel but some are silver plated over brass. All had brass and copper parts n pieces. Most still used glass for lenses. I speculate that glass was probably less cost to produce so easier to obtain, reducing cost of production over clear plastic of that time.

It seems as though the 555 was a light made as part of a project to raise revenue for getting a business going where cutting edge solenoids etc were devised but needed funding. Think "kick starter". It was made in China and was part of them ramping up to US quality products. Not a lot is written about 555 flashlights. 

The Terra on the other hand was low quality chinese production. It was hand made using cave man machinery. It's an example of why folks used to avoid "Chinese junk". But for me the flaws were part of the character. The body isn't quite round, joints don't quite match and threads leave a lot to be desired. 




Down right ugly to most.

Burgess lights were well made, better quality than the majority for the same money as the others. 
CF Burgess is credited to standarized C and D cells for casing, shelf life and runtime. He started making lights to sell batteries but with numerous competitors all sueing each other he chose new ideas and better quality to stand out from the crowd. Burgess lights were made at least until the late 1980's.

Franco was an innovative company that was eventually bought by Eveready famous Conrad Hubert who left Eveready for an unknown reason. Franco and Eveready were fierce competitors yet made lights for each other on a regular basis. It became Yale, then Bond, then Olin. 

At that point in history is was common for rivals to make products for their competitors. Sometimes it was a way to 'bury the hatchet'; at other times it was just good business...just like today.

Some lights shown are twist to focus head lights for spot to spill beams. Mag did the cam thing for faster adjustment. But twist to focus was done real early in flashlight days. 

TL 122 lights came about after WW1 and were widely used by Scouts, campers and cops. The A,B, and C models used a glass lens. The D used plastic. The A model was all metal. The rest were plastic body'd. The D also had filters and a spare bulb in the tail cap. They were made by Bright Star, USA Lite, Fulton and others. The MX-99 was the next generation but accidental turn on caused the gov't to opt for a switch guard. Hence the 991. 

The Coast Guard light was brighter than most, had a more durable plastic and was deemed water proof. Bonus, when empty it floats. 

The Duo Tint lights are late 60's to early 70's products made by the folks who invented the multi color bulb'd flashlight in the 1920's. Competition caused them to concentrate on conventional products. 

The double A collection is penlights of various eras, mostly used by doctors and dentists. One is a Rayovac with a toggle switch. They all have Holland made #222 bulbs.

The 1aa are called Tom Thumb (famous circus midget) using conventional sliding switches. They were popular in the 1950's but were made into the 60's. Fulton coined the term "Tom Thumb".
Or lipstick lights which either had rotating clicky switch or were switchless where rotating one end allowed a metal pin to contact the body. Those were reportedly early 1aa lights made after WW1 up to the late 30's. 

The older Francos used slimmer cells so Rayovac Heavy Duty (carbon zinc are used in those). All were made before Alkaline batteries were the norm. Duo Tint lights had oversize bodies and came with anti rattle devices. They were basically toilet paper rolls. lol





Now that may seem kinda odd. But battery rattle can lead to intermitant contact issues in certain applications such as weapons mounting or say mounted to a bicycle. So in terms of practicality it was actually simple genious at the time. I do not know when they began that. But have seen pictures of their lights using it going back to the 1940's. 

So there's some history for ya.


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## bykfixer (Jul 25, 2016)

Here's a couple of fairly early 'miner' lights.





The larger one mentions pat'd in 1914 and 15. It has a fairly wide head with a convex lens that spread light real wide. 




It had a flat spot to also provide a spot.




Great room lighter with a decent throw. Awesome throw for the time. 
It has nearly all metal conducting parts hidden between the inner and outter rubber wall.

The smaller one had an innovative switch that acted as a bridge between interior conductive metal strips to either make or break the circuit along the rubber body. 
The lens was a flooder. 



Good room lighter.




Little to no hot spot with the Mazda bulb it came with. I tried a #222 for this pic to create a bit of a spot for a bit more throw. I went with a #14 eventually to mimic the original pure flood output. 

Both have been restored to like new.


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## Ladd (Jul 25, 2016)

Fixer -- Still enjoying your neat pics of old lights! Please keep it up!


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## bykfixer (Jul 26, 2016)

Ladd said:


> Fixer -- Still enjoying your neat pics of old lights! Please keep it up!



Thanks!!! 

I'm sure there'll be more. 
Nothing much lately due to being in a bulb hoard mode.















But that is another subject....


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## Tone90 (Jul 26, 2016)

Very nice, in great condition!


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