# Old torch from the fayre!!



## Johnbaz (Apr 28, 2013)

Hi all

I attended a vintage fair at the antiques quarter here in Sheffield this morning and bought a chrome plated brass safety type torch for the princely sum of 85p!!, the elderly chap was asking for £1 but I only had £20 notes and 85p of shrapnel in my pocket! (pound coins and 50P pieces all went at the bootsale earlier this morning!

The torch is in superb working condition and is a Type T.D.I.A... it was made by Oldham & Sons Ltd, Denton, Manchester and bears the broadarrow of the MoD and 5A/2011












I had to shine the torch away from the camera for this shot as it was massively under exposing the shot!!






It runs on 3 D cells and only stays lit as long as the botton is kept pressed..


I also bought a 3 D cell Maglite but there was a battery stuck up the spout and held in by aluminium oxide, I cleaned this out with a dremel type tool and shaft, put batteries in and it worked for about a second, it went just as though the batteries were dead (but were brand new!)..

I'll have a look for a tutorial on how to strip the torch to see where it's going open circuit..







I had a good day at the bootsalebuying a Nu Tool bench Planer for a tenner fully working!! and a few other bits too!


Cheers, John :thumbsup:


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## Norm (Apr 28, 2013)

The first light is quite a find. It pays to keep your eyes open 

Norm


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## dlmorgan999 (Apr 29, 2013)

Nice catch indeed!


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## Backpacker Light (May 1, 2013)

That is a sweet looking light.

Any idea how old it is?


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## Johnbaz (May 3, 2013)

Backpacker Light said:


> That is a sweet looking light.
> 
> Any idea how old it is?



Sorry, i've no idea of age but it was made when stuff was done 'proper'!!

The brass battery tube is soldered to the brass head then the whole was chromed!

To fit the batteries in, the switch has to be unscrewed then replaced when the batt's were in place!!

There is a bakalite distance piece in there too with a brass core (strange really!!).


Cheers, John


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## Willoughby (Nov 29, 2013)

Johnbaz said:


> Sorry, i've no idea of age but it was made when stuff was done 'proper'!!
> 
> The brass battery tube is soldered to the brass head then the whole was chromed!
> 
> ...



Sorry to necropost quite so hideously, however this was one of the few non-headlamp Oldham threads I could find and the only one with nice clear pictures, it didn't seem worth starting a new post when there was one so apt. 

Hi John,

I was wondering if you could possibly post some pictures of the battery insertion process. This of course sounds silly, open it up, put them in, being the obvious answer. I, too, picked up on of these recently and try as I might, nothing gives readily when I try to get access once the reflector is out of the way. There's a fair bit of rust around the inside top of the battery tube and mostly I'm trying to find out, where it's going to be safe to push and pull and what the heck I need to do to free it up. I've done a lot of searches on the internet and just waded through 34 threads on here, it's possible I may have missed something, however there seems to be remarkably little information in existence for such a beautiful torch.

Many thanks.

W


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## tobrien (Nov 30, 2013)

that looks so cool!


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## Johnbaz (Dec 13, 2013)

Willoughby said:


> Sorry to necropost quite so hideously, however this was one of the few non-headlamp Oldham threads I could find and the only one with nice clear pictures, it didn't seem worth starting a new post when there was one so apt.
> 
> Hi John,
> 
> ...



Hi Willoughby

Sorry for the late reply, I'm so sorry mate but the wife has an antiques and bric a brac stall here in Sheffield, she asked me to find some stuff to put on her stall and this torch went, it sold just a couple of weeks ago too or I could have brought it back home! 

It's strange too as only the stuff that I supply seems to sell yet I never see a penny of the cash  I think someone has been had!! :duh2:

All that I can remember about it is that I had to unscrew the push botton then drop the batteries in (D cells) Then screw the switch in then place the distance ring in and finally screw the front on..

BTW, She also had my GEC safety torch on her stall, that sold immediately and it's strange but I really miss them now oo:



Cheers, John :wave:


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