# Old Flashlight - Can someone identify what it is?



## tomfruit (Feb 12, 2013)

Hiya, I recently bought a vintage flashlight from ebay. Its a lovely and seemingly unique piece. I tried searching the 'Flashlight Museum' website, and could not find a matching one. I googled the manufacturer's name and the patent number, and still found no trace of it! Im desperate to know what it was used for, who the company were and when/where it was made. (or any one of these things).

Info: The manufacturer's name is: Stesco Series
The patent number is: 404218

It is tri-color (you can push a brass knob to change to red, and another knob to change to blue, or just have ordinary white).


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## Johnbeck180 (Feb 12, 2013)

It might not be a flashlight at all. It might be some sort of signaling light and the three colors stand for something different.


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## tomfruit (Feb 13, 2013)

Hi, thanks for your reply. I was beginning to suspect that too. Maybe it would have been used on railways? Who knows. Anyway, I would still love any information anyone has


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## Johnbeck180 (Feb 13, 2013)

No problem, been doing some searching and haven't came up with much. I have seen quite a few antique light that have that dome top on it like yours(I'm guessing that's glass). But none that have the other two colors yours has. Very cool. 

BTW you might try to post in another place here on CPF maybe go to the general flashlight discussion area.


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## tobrien (Feb 13, 2013)

yeah I just checked the US patent office site and got a circa 1889 "teeth of saws" patent: http://patimg1.uspto.gov/.piw?Docid=404218&idkey=NONE

Maybe they misprinted the patent number? idk


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## tomfruit (Feb 14, 2013)

thanks for your comments both,

@JohnBeck
Same here, I cant seem to find it anywhere. I might try reposting in the general flashlight area as that seems to have more viewers. Thanks for your efforts!

@Tobrien
Oh thats odd. I checked the base and it doesnt specify its country of origin. It just says 'Foreign'. Which isnt particularly helpful. But since I bought it in the UK, i would guess that it probably comes from the US. Thanks for your efforts too!


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## Johnbeck180 (Feb 15, 2013)

No problem, hey if you find anything out post back on here as I am curious to see what you have as well.


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## tomfruit (Feb 15, 2013)

Well I re-posted the thread in the General flashlight section, and it has drawn quite a lot of interest, but still no one seems to know what it is. Its been suggested the three colours may have been used for signalling on railways etc. Someone else suggested that it could just be a novelty flashlight, of which only a few were made. So still no conclusion as yet, but I'll keep at it!


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## tomfruit (Feb 20, 2013)

Johnbeck180 said:


> No problem, hey if you find anything out post back on here as I am curious to see what you have as well.




Hi John, I found out some information. I emailed the head of the industrial museum in the city I live, and he said that it was more or less definately not used for industrial use, but was a leisure item. He pointed to the fact that the company 'Stesco' also made compasses and camping stoves, so i think it was probably used for outdoor activities such as hiking etc. Also, he said the patent number is from 1933, so that answers the question of how old it is. Thanks for all your help and encouragement!


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## Johnbeck180 (Feb 20, 2013)

tomfruit said:


> Hi John, I found out some information. I emailed the head of the industrial museum in the city I live, and he said that it was more or less definately not used for industrial use, but was a leisure item. He pointed to the fact that the company 'Stesco' also made compasses and camping stoves, so i think it was probably used for outdoor activities such as hiking etc. Also, he said the patent number is from 1933, so that answers the question of how old it is. Thanks for all your help and encouragement!



No problem, half the fun of finding old antiques is the hunt for the answer to what it really is or was used for. BTW I'm going to start looking for old flashlights now. I've seen lots of them because my wife and I go to antique stores all the time, I've got my HDS, Jetbeam, Eagletac, and Fenix. but i never thought about collecting the old ones. Thanks for unknowingly raising my eyebrows to antique lights. Glad you found some answers. 

Take care.


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## tomfruit (Feb 21, 2013)

Johnbeck180 said:


> No problem, half the fun of finding old antiques is the hunt for the answer to what it really is or was used for. BTW I'm going to start looking for old flashlights now. I've seen lots of them because my wife and I go to antique stores all the time, I've got my HDS, Jetbeam, Eagletac, and Fenix. but i never thought about collecting the old ones. Thanks for unknowingly raising my eyebrows to antique lights. Glad you found some answers.
> 
> Take care.



Well Im very glad its inspired you to start collecting old flashlights. I only started collecting a couple of weeks ago. I was looking at modern flashlights on ebay, and out of the blue I just thought 'antique flashlights!' and the rest is history  Also, the great thing about collecting old flashlights, is the fact that for some reason they tend to be quite cheap (thats what ive found on ebay anyway), so you can end up picking up bargains. Some old flashlights (such as the one in this thread) take unusual battery sizes, but they are readily available from the internet. If you buy an old flashlight and dont know what battery it takes, post a pic and I should be able to tell you.

Good luck with your collecting!


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