carnage
Enlightened
The 2k clear coat I mention earlier for the plastic lense is at the Eastwood Co. They have a lot of restoration products chemical and tools for auto, marine, metal, plastic etc.
The vintage California cop light company thread
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The 2k clear coat I mention earlier for the plastic lense is at the Eastwood Co. They have a lot of restoration products chemical and tools for auto, marine, metal, plastic etc.
We avoided 4ws due to the frequent alignments required or they went through tires fast. Fun car though.
Eastwood was a spot we knew of for powdercoat stuff and it never dawned on me until Fathers Day to look up reflector restore there... until my son suggested it.
I added some quote-age by Ed Tor as either corrective or gap filling info to some posts on page 1. Between Liftd, sgt and myself we have bombarded him with questions through e-mail correspondence. He told me we are pique-ing his memory a little at a time and pictures have helped there. Keep in mind we are asking him detailed questions not much different than "what was your favorite sandwich in 1975?" if ya know what I mean. But he has been a gold mine of information... a gold mine that was closed in the late 1980's... anyway he has patiently been confirming or correcting our conjectures thus far. And I thank him for all he has done for us.
Below is some quote by Ed about the red bar'd switch on my 5D as he cleared up a ton of questions about that one that was apparently not a very popular idea.
Begin quote
I included the "no hole" exception above because I looked again at that strange switch on the Code 4 from ebay and now on CP Forum and it 'tweaked' a very dim memory. I do think I remember one or two lights with those type switches. The switch had a bad 'feel' to it and its production was such a tiny 'blip' on the time line screen it's got to be more rare than those Back Up Lites. I think they appeared between the good L.A. Screw double-sided and the single-sided referred to above. I think it was supposed to work like a toggle and not a button. That might be a hint why the one on CP Forum doesn't work.
End quote
It seems in my use as a signaler. Perhaps a part is broken that used to 'hold it' to on... it can operate by pushing forward, pulling rearward or pushing inward. I found that carrying it with the switch pulled rearward aint so bad but would rather it have an on feature too.
I plan on trying an HPR bulb in it for a 2 cell and 3 cell setup since it now has the Qualtech alluminum reflector. But when the Smoke Cutter arrives I'll do some Lego action between the two lights. Perhaps a signaling Smoke Cutter and a Code 4 thrower.
Speaking of thrower, that 2,cell B-Lite with a 2 cell white star bulb and LA Screw reflector... good night Irene. That sucker throws an awesome pencil beam 100 yards easy.
Speaking of beams....
Eastwood was a spot we knew of for powdercoat stuff and it never dawned on me until Fathers Day to look up reflector restore there... until my son suggested it.
I added some quote-age by Ed Tor as either corrective or gap filling info to some posts on page 1. Between Liftd, sgt and myself we have bombarded him with questions through e-mail correspondence. He told me we are pique-ing his memory a little at a time and pictures have helped there. Keep in mind we are asking him detailed questions not much different than "what was your favorite sandwich in 1975?" if ya know what I mean. But he has been a gold mine of information... a gold mine that was closed in the late 1980's... anyway he has patiently been confirming or correcting our conjectures thus far. And I thank him for all he has done for us.
Below is some quote by Ed about the red bar'd switch on my 5D as he cleared up a ton of questions about that one that was apparently not a very popular idea.
Begin quote
I included the "no hole" exception above because I looked again at that strange switch on the Code 4 from ebay and now on CP Forum and it 'tweaked' a very dim memory. I do think I remember one or two lights with those type switches. The switch had a bad 'feel' to it and its production was such a tiny 'blip' on the time line screen it's got to be more rare than those Back Up Lites. I think they appeared between the good L.A. Screw double-sided and the single-sided referred to above. I think it was supposed to work like a toggle and not a button. That might be a hint why the one on CP Forum doesn't work.
End quote
It seems in my use as a signaler. Perhaps a part is broken that used to 'hold it' to on... it can operate by pushing forward, pulling rearward or pushing inward. I found that carrying it with the switch pulled rearward aint so bad but would rather it have an on feature too.
I plan on trying an HPR bulb in it for a 2 cell and 3 cell setup since it now has the Qualtech alluminum reflector. But when the Smoke Cutter arrives I'll do some Lego action between the two lights. Perhaps a signaling Smoke Cutter and a Code 4 thrower.
Speaking of thrower, that 2,cell B-Lite with a 2 cell white star bulb and LA Screw reflector... good night Irene. That sucker throws an awesome pencil beam 100 yards easy.
Speaking of beams....
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Here we are at over 80 posts and not a single beam shot.
⊙▁⊙
For those of us who lived it, it was easy to remember how not only were these babies able to bash a headlight of a perp trying to acost an officer and still blind dope smoking hippies later in the shift... but the beam at a distance was also an incredible advancement. So to the younger crowd who yawn at incan output or just don't get the excitement I'll show some beams from my current collection. When you push the on button in your living room they are certainly not impressive. But when it's dark out the beams look like they were shot out of a shotgun barrel.
I generally prefer the shorter versions... 2-3 cell with a couple of 4 cell lights. The 5+ were incredible.
Here's my plastic Pro-Light
It arrived without a cord to recharge the 6 volt battery so for now I have 3D cells (4.5-ish volts) and it puts out a pretty good beam as is.
Note: my neighbors garage is 297' from my back door and has been used in numerous beam shots here at CPF.
My LA Screw is set up for general use.
Currently I have a TungSol bulb in it as they provide a real nice glow with nary an artifact. That and I forgot where I stashed the Chicago Minature hoard. But the smooth Qualtech reflector also provides a nice clean beam. I showed the wall shot to give the picture of the nice beam it provides. The light is not functioning at 100% as efficient as possible because I've yet to give all metal parts a good going over.
The B-Lite pencil beam
Frankly I was shocked at how far this one throws. The LA Screw reflector provides a nice spill as well but this one threw well past the garage. It also lit the dark cat on top of the dark car near the garage but my camera would not capture what I saw.
This is using the white reflector
The stock B-Lite reflector arrived clear. 99.99999% of the reflective material had peeled off. Taking cues from antiques and some modern Elzetta/Streamlight lights I tried white background knowing it would provide a nice floody beam. Great for indoor use when kicking in doors and ID-ing good guy vs bad guys tactics are required.
Now some Maglites. All dialed to spot beam.
The fabled 4C with a CPF twist.
Up 'til I arrived here I liked the 4C in stock platform. I found a bi-pin version but absolutely hated the beam. So an old school bulb fastener was swapped in and a 3 cell krypton was used. Not a heck of a lot more lumens, but a much nicer beam that burns a lot whiter. I'm on my second set of Rayovacs and still using the same bulb. (Bi-pin setup is in the tailcap)
A 3D in stock platform
This "heavy duty" was on clearance so I bought a few. About the same length as a 4C and nearly as bright, these were some great flashlights in their day.
A CPF'd 2C
Well, I had been able to get a couple hundred lumens from the 2C ML25 incan version using solar lamp batteries and 4 cell bi-pin bulb so I thought "why not the full size?" This one has a krypton sized hole in the reflector, which provides a nice gap around the bulb. (9mm hole, 3-ish mm bulb). Using a stock reflector and lens this sucker is pretty bright.
This one is dedicated to 1pt21
About a thousand lumens here.
Yup, when the worlds brightest LED's had barely reached 300 lumens the 1000 lumen Maglites were nearly ten years old!!! When this one arrived I did not own batteries good enough to fuel it. I ordered some hi-flo Panasonics. But before they arrived my curiosity was such that I stuck 4 CR123's into the Delrin sleeve. In seconds the barrel felt warm in my hand. Not digging the idea of a lithium hand gernade exploding I quickly removed those and waited for the proper fuel cells to arrive.
(Photobucket holding the beamshots hostage ⊙▁⊙
How dare they!!) (Left broken links in as a reminder)
⊙▁⊙
For those of us who lived it, it was easy to remember how not only were these babies able to bash a headlight of a perp trying to acost an officer and still blind dope smoking hippies later in the shift... but the beam at a distance was also an incredible advancement. So to the younger crowd who yawn at incan output or just don't get the excitement I'll show some beams from my current collection. When you push the on button in your living room they are certainly not impressive. But when it's dark out the beams look like they were shot out of a shotgun barrel.
I generally prefer the shorter versions... 2-3 cell with a couple of 4 cell lights. The 5+ were incredible.
Here's my plastic Pro-Light
It arrived without a cord to recharge the 6 volt battery so for now I have 3D cells (4.5-ish volts) and it puts out a pretty good beam as is.
Note: my neighbors garage is 297' from my back door and has been used in numerous beam shots here at CPF.
My LA Screw is set up for general use.
Currently I have a TungSol bulb in it as they provide a real nice glow with nary an artifact. That and I forgot where I stashed the Chicago Minature hoard. But the smooth Qualtech reflector also provides a nice clean beam. I showed the wall shot to give the picture of the nice beam it provides. The light is not functioning at 100% as efficient as possible because I've yet to give all metal parts a good going over.
The B-Lite pencil beam
Frankly I was shocked at how far this one throws. The LA Screw reflector provides a nice spill as well but this one threw well past the garage. It also lit the dark cat on top of the dark car near the garage but my camera would not capture what I saw.
This is using the white reflector
The stock B-Lite reflector arrived clear. 99.99999% of the reflective material had peeled off. Taking cues from antiques and some modern Elzetta/Streamlight lights I tried white background knowing it would provide a nice floody beam. Great for indoor use when kicking in doors and ID-ing good guy vs bad guys tactics are required.
Now some Maglites. All dialed to spot beam.
The fabled 4C with a CPF twist.
Up 'til I arrived here I liked the 4C in stock platform. I found a bi-pin version but absolutely hated the beam. So an old school bulb fastener was swapped in and a 3 cell krypton was used. Not a heck of a lot more lumens, but a much nicer beam that burns a lot whiter. I'm on my second set of Rayovacs and still using the same bulb. (Bi-pin setup is in the tailcap)
A 3D in stock platform
This "heavy duty" was on clearance so I bought a few. About the same length as a 4C and nearly as bright, these were some great flashlights in their day.
A CPF'd 2C
Well, I had been able to get a couple hundred lumens from the 2C ML25 incan version using solar lamp batteries and 4 cell bi-pin bulb so I thought "why not the full size?" This one has a krypton sized hole in the reflector, which provides a nice gap around the bulb. (9mm hole, 3-ish mm bulb). Using a stock reflector and lens this sucker is pretty bright.
This one is dedicated to 1pt21
About a thousand lumens here.
Yup, when the worlds brightest LED's had barely reached 300 lumens the 1000 lumen Maglites were nearly ten years old!!! When this one arrived I did not own batteries good enough to fuel it. I ordered some hi-flo Panasonics. But before they arrived my curiosity was such that I stuck 4 CR123's into the Delrin sleeve. In seconds the barrel felt warm in my hand. Not digging the idea of a lithium hand gernade exploding I quickly removed those and waited for the proper fuel cells to arrive.
(Photobucket holding the beamshots hostage ⊙▁⊙
How dare they!!) (Left broken links in as a reminder)
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I got my package from Ed Tor at Qual Tech yesterday and I had a nice surprise. An old Qual Tech / LA Screw Brochure. This brochure is nice in that it shows Qual Tech's awesome charger, which was the first charger for a rechargeable flashlight as well as most of L.A. Screws lineup.
This side shows a Medical L.A. Screw in the Luma Tech charging setup along with the Code 4 and Smoke Cutter.
This side shows an un-named model but going by the model designation of PP. I'm guessing this is the Power Probe that Ed spoke about. The only model that's not shown is the gold anodized Sea Probe.
I'm not in law enforcement so I thought it was interesting that they noted the meaning of Code 4 in this brochure. It means "No Further Assistance Required". I really thought that was a great marketing choice for the name of this light. I'm looking forward to try to find examples of each one of these lights to add to my collection in the future.
I should also note that the previous GT Price light I posted in a standard Code 4 with the optional Vari-Probe attachment and a red filter as per the man himself Ed Tor.
This side shows a Medical L.A. Screw in the Luma Tech charging setup along with the Code 4 and Smoke Cutter.
This side shows an un-named model but going by the model designation of PP. I'm guessing this is the Power Probe that Ed spoke about. The only model that's not shown is the gold anodized Sea Probe.
I'm not in law enforcement so I thought it was interesting that they noted the meaning of Code 4 in this brochure. It means "No Further Assistance Required". I really thought that was a great marketing choice for the name of this light. I'm looking forward to try to find examples of each one of these lights to add to my collection in the future.
I should also note that the previous GT Price light I posted in a standard Code 4 with the optional Vari-Probe attachment and a red filter as per the man himself Ed Tor.
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Good stuff there!!!
History gap filler for sure. Ah, the elusive Sea Probe still eludes... could be more photos of the Lochness Monster than a Sea Probe.
My east vs west Kel-Stream arrived. I'll post some pix when I can to show some Kel-Lite ideas that were incorparated into Maglites... bezel and tail cap swap and the bulb assembly/switch assembly look awful similar...
Next to a 3D Malkoff'd Maglite
Mag reflector fits btw.
Basically you can see a lot of Mag tech in the mid 1980's Kel-Lite version of the un-named Streamlight. My sample is in great shape overall and it's one of my favorite vintage California Cop lights. Bulb fastener, tail cap type, all kinds of similarities.
It's to the far right.
Haven't fired it up yet, but also discovered the Malkoff Mag drop in can work too.
Broken links to comparison pix and associated comments removed.
History gap filler for sure. Ah, the elusive Sea Probe still eludes... could be more photos of the Lochness Monster than a Sea Probe.
My east vs west Kel-Stream arrived. I'll post some pix when I can to show some Kel-Lite ideas that were incorparated into Maglites... bezel and tail cap swap and the bulb assembly/switch assembly look awful similar...
Next to a 3D Malkoff'd Maglite
Mag reflector fits btw.
Basically you can see a lot of Mag tech in the mid 1980's Kel-Lite version of the un-named Streamlight. My sample is in great shape overall and it's one of my favorite vintage California Cop lights. Bulb fastener, tail cap type, all kinds of similarities.
It's to the far right.
Haven't fired it up yet, but also discovered the Malkoff Mag drop in can work too.
Broken links to comparison pix and associated comments removed.
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This one is dedicated to 1pt21
About a thousand lumens here.
Yup, when the worlds brightest LED's had barely reached 300 lumens the 1000 lumen Maglites were nearly ten years old!!! When this one arrived I did not own batteries good enough to fuel it. I ordered some hi-flo Panasonics. But before they arrived my curiosity was such that I stuck 4 CR123's into the Delrin sleeve. In seconds the barrel felt warm in my hand. Not digging the idea of a lithium hand gernade exploding I quickly removed those and waited for the proper fuel cells to arrive.
Hell yeah brother!! I've hotwired quite a few mags in my day ranging from the simple ROP, to Philips 5761's, all the way into custom FM bi-pin bulbs. As I mentioned earlier, I'll dig some out this weekend and snap a few pics for ya. They don't really belong in this thread (so I'll only take up one post slot), but I wanted to show how similar the bi-pin socket shown in your Pro-Light rechargeable looks to a custom one I put together with parts from CPF members that have long been forgotten (the parts, not the CPF members)... I still love them, I pack an ROP'd 2C (2x 18650 or 2x 26500) every time we go camping and it gets the most use. I admit it, I am still an incan guy.
Sorry for getting off topic, it's Byks fault..... STOP poking the bear
BTW, I absolutely LOVE that they refer to our modern-day terminology of "runtime" as "burntime" in the literature posted above by Liftd!!!! I mean, that what it was riiiight??? :candle: Very interesting/informative thread guys!!!
A bit of info for ya on why so many parts interchange and some Streamlight history...
The barrels were extruded with the same dimensions and on a similar machine so that standard taps and dies could be used. From the folks I talked to that engineered these lights the were mainly designed so they could use standard tooling which would keep the costs down. For instance if Mag or Streamlight has to make proprietary taps to do threading the cost would be astronomical. Instead they just designed the barrel around taps that were available. This is why so many parts interchange between so many lights.
I want to say this 3rd gen Kel-Lite came about in 1983 when Streamlight took over Kel-Lite. I'd love to know more about the early history of Streamlight. The basics that I know are they started out as an industrial lighting manufacturer making lights for NASA and others. They also distributed lighting products and wound up distributing Kel-Lites for Norm Nelson in the late 70s. Norm wound up getting into some kind of debt with them and they ended up having an agreement where Kel-Lite's engineers at least assisted in the development of the SL-20, Streamlight's first aluminum flashlight, and the first in house engineered rechargeable flash light in around 1978. Streamlight at some point then bought out the rest of Kel-Lite and took over production of their alkaline lights as well in 1983. I believe they finally did away with the Kel-Lite name and cheapened the light further into the Excaliber by 1988 and it went out of production in the early 90s. The Excalibers do not have a removable bezel and the reflector and lens are not serviceable but still say Barstow and Norristown on the tail cap.
EDIT: Clarified that the SL-20 was Streamlight's first aluminum flashlight. Thanks Mr. Fixer for the educational article about the high intensity handheld lights they made prior to the SL-20. Interestingly I don't see any patents for Streamlight before 1978 and the SL-20 so I'm wondering if they didn't just market that for someone else or if they went by a different name.
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^^ forget photobucket
From the Johnson/Kennedy Space Center archives
Postimage is my new go to.
I forget if I read it at Bright Guy's flashlight university or Battery University, but there was a write up by Streamlight talking about their 5 million candle power light in '73 for NASA and the 1 million candle power handheld in '74. Sure the light was handheld but one needed a shoulder strap to carry all of the batteries. I also heard or read somebody developed a belt to carry the batteries.
But looking at pix of early SL 20's and my Pro-Light "Phaser Lights" PLC-20 (that was made at about the same time as the arrival of the SL 15 and 20) , there are remarkable similarities. I tried an SL15x module but it's reflector is larger diameter and deeper so the Pro-Light bezel won't go over it.
It's why the quest for an early SL20. The hope is the charger cord at the charger is similar enough to work. I read here that the SL15 reflector and 3 D cells would work in the Phaser Lights PLC 10. I do know 3 D's will work in the PLC 20.
Good info Lift'd. It's ironic Don hired Norman to help get Kel-Lite out of debt and Norman's Kel-Lite debt led to Streamlight aquiring it. Another irony is how Streamlight nearly went under for placing writing on the bezel. They pulled it together later with a government contract for the Scorpion, which had striking similarities to early SureFires... ah the crazy mixed up world of the vintage California Cop Light.
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Very interesting to see that they used to spell their name Streamlite vs. the new Streamlight spelling. My guess would be that the change in name came about because Maglite long claimed and even tried to Trademark the -lite designation for flashlights. This spelling difference will help in the search for patents and for lights on everyone's favorite auction site.
Well there is that chrome pull behind trailer company (Streamlite), or perhaps it pissed off Zebco/Langley who had a Streamlite fishing reel. Maybe lightmaster had dibs on that name for flashlights? Maybe Miller beer beat everybody to it during their "you can call me Ray, you can call me Jay" campaign when their "Miller Lite" first arrived, which was iirc mid to late 70's... perhaps that was later though. Maybe Don said "hey, I have dibs on the -Lite thing"...
Dunno, but if you look at the fine print at the bottom of the top pic it mentions Streamlight had called dibs so-to-speak.
Meanwhile the GT Price Smoke Cutter sits in some airport in middle America somewhere near Chicago after spending a few days in transit from somewhere in Wisconsin. Makes me wonder if it's being sent Pony Express....
Dunno, but if you look at the fine print at the bottom of the top pic it mentions Streamlight had called dibs so-to-speak.
Meanwhile the GT Price Smoke Cutter sits in some airport in middle America somewhere near Chicago after spending a few days in transit from somewhere in Wisconsin. Makes me wonder if it's being sent Pony Express....
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Offgridled
Flashlight Enthusiast
<a href='https://postimg.org/image/58kv0rh17/' target='_blank'><img src='https://s1.postimg.org/58kv0rh17/Smart_Select_Image_2017-06-23-14-27-36.png' border='0' alt='postimage'/></a>
I'll stay on the side track a bit longer to add some little known Streamlight history.
I read "a private investor paid to move to Norristown Pa"...
They began in New Jersey
Back then a few scientists were saying if we don't get pollution under control Florida will be under water by 1980. The July popular science covers "wind power" and "1975 cars" as well. America enacted the clean air act of 1975, which led to a collaboration between the big three automakers, the US government and big oil to allow catalytic convertors to reduce certain emmisions while not drastically improving mpg. Honda had developed an engine that burned fuel so efficiently it met the standards without a catalytic convertor. The big 3 approached Soichiro Honda one at a time but he refused to build engines for RWD cars, which rotated backwards from his.... and because he was the #4 of the big three in Japan they tied his hands... so he sent CVCC cars here where they were a huge hit by 76 or 77. Oh, and at one point GM's ceo quipped that Hondas were toys and there was no way a CVCC could be done in a GM engine. Soichiro bought a '73 Caprice, designed and built a CVCC 350 ci engine that met US standards without a catalytic convertor and got better mpg and produced more horsepower. lol.
(For clarity I am also a Honda history fan and have been following changes in weather patterns since about 1980)
Meanwhile while all that was taking place rechargeable handheld flashlights were becoming very possible thanks to Qualtech.... soon followed by Streamlight, Pro-Light and Maglite not far behind.
Appologies for the link to pix issue. I removed broken links and associated comments about the brochures and magazine articles in them later.
I read "a private investor paid to move to Norristown Pa"...
They began in New Jersey
Back then a few scientists were saying if we don't get pollution under control Florida will be under water by 1980. The July popular science covers "wind power" and "1975 cars" as well. America enacted the clean air act of 1975, which led to a collaboration between the big three automakers, the US government and big oil to allow catalytic convertors to reduce certain emmisions while not drastically improving mpg. Honda had developed an engine that burned fuel so efficiently it met the standards without a catalytic convertor. The big 3 approached Soichiro Honda one at a time but he refused to build engines for RWD cars, which rotated backwards from his.... and because he was the #4 of the big three in Japan they tied his hands... so he sent CVCC cars here where they were a huge hit by 76 or 77. Oh, and at one point GM's ceo quipped that Hondas were toys and there was no way a CVCC could be done in a GM engine. Soichiro bought a '73 Caprice, designed and built a CVCC 350 ci engine that met US standards without a catalytic convertor and got better mpg and produced more horsepower. lol.
(For clarity I am also a Honda history fan and have been following changes in weather patterns since about 1980)
Meanwhile while all that was taking place rechargeable handheld flashlights were becoming very possible thanks to Qualtech.... soon followed by Streamlight, Pro-Light and Maglite not far behind.
Appologies for the link to pix issue. I removed broken links and associated comments about the brochures and magazine articles in them later.
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ven
Flashaholic
Great posts guys, real interesting and as always a top read. What better at 01:36 sat chilling armed with a few lights(not calif cop lights of the 80's though.......still I have an Incan with me).
That 1m cd is super cool, battery pack and all.......
That 1m cd is super cool, battery pack and all.......
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Great posts guys, real interesting and as always a top read. What better at 01:36 sat chilling armed with a few lights(not calif cop lights of the 80's though.......still I have an Incan with me).
That 1m cd is super cool, battery pack and all.......
Better hurry up and get one! St. Incand's day is right around the corner! I can hook ya up brother. I'm trying to decide which light I'm going to use that day. I have a feeling I might break the seal on a vintage NIB 1984 3rd Gen Streamlight Kel-Lite C cell. Very rare but worth it for my first St. Incand's Day on CPF.
Mr. Fixer, excellent info! Love it, I used to go out with a girl from Fairfield, NJ and I frequently head down to Norristown and KOP for work. One day I'm going to drive by Streamlight's headquarters. I've been living in PA for 7 years and never knew it was even down there.
$400 in 1974 must have been a huge sum of money!! I know it is now so it must have been even more back then. I'd really like to see one of those lights in the flesh if one still exists somewhere. I'd also be curious to see who would have been a user for that light. I'm guessing it would be the search and rescue crowd and maybe some industries.
That's right, it was Natural Light that used the skit by Ray,Jay Johnson... and no that wasn't Bill Cosby. If memory serves Bill was doing Jello pudding pop comercials back then. Until the unfortunate revelation of events recently Bill Cosby was the text book picture of a wholesome comedian and had pretty much always been a role model. He would not have starred in alcohol comercials back then.
The Lite beer jingle was "great taste/less filling" or my fav...
Easy opening cans
All at about the time Don Keller teamed up with leather holster maker John Bianchi making B-Lites... before the Duke shut down the Chicago madeTru-Grit flashlight.
Yeah $400 was huge back then. A new motorcycle was about $500...
I'll probably carry my Brinkmann Legend 3C with me the night of St. Incans Day. Last year I had my neighbors laughing in awe as my ROP 2C Mag shut off their light sensing porch lights from 100+ feet away.
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ven
Flashaholic
WOW , $500 on a motorbike to get work.......or as only a flashaholic would understand, $400 on a stream lite and walk:devil:
Flashaholics understand Ven. Trouble with the 1 million was you needed a wagon to carry that power pack.
Man, I love waking up to find a package had arrived a day early. (At 4am today tracking showed it still in Indianappolis)
Smoke Cutter is in the house. It's intact but not working. Lots of dirty metal on the inside (but no traces of leaked batteries) so a good cleaning will take place. The outside cleaned up real nice and overall this thing is way nicer than the seller photos would indicate.
In the meantime I swapped bezels to show the reason they could accurately call it a smoke cutter.
The little 'mirror' re-reflects light backwards thereby absolutely destroying any spill.
Mine arrived with a typical Smoke Cutter slider switch....
Slider of sorts anyway.
It slides through the assembly, push-pull like.Red button on the 'top' is for on, black button on the 'bottom' of the light is for off. If it is off that is easy enough to tell in darkness. You can feel one side is up and the other is down with a bit of practice.
Here is a quote from Ed Tor when I asked about the red button in my Code 4.
As for red switch buttons: The only one that was on the LA/GT lights that was not black was on the 2 sided. It used one black (same as all the 1 sided [except yours with the hole] for the OFF side. The ON side was a red one of the same design. The red one also had a 'tit' in the center for tactile feel in the dark. (IMHO you couldn't actually feel it, even bare handed and this was the 2nd of only 2 down-sides) Besides no blink function, you had a 50/50 chance of pushing the wrong button first to turn it on, a small but annoying quirk.
Well the quirk he spoke of was another idea that works great on a flat piece of paper but in real life... well...
Some pix of the similar Code 4 version:
Red side is down
Black side is up.
See the difference?
The monopoly house roof shaped metal plate on the piston touches the disk that is the conduit between the bulb and switch.
The spring is between the bulb contact point and the switch.
There ya have it... the fabled Smoke Cutter.
I did a little Lego action before placing them on display.
The Code 4 came with a switch that toggles.
The "one with the hole" mentioned in the quote by Ed. It does not have an 'on' point where it can click to stay on. So I consider it a signaler for the time being and left the Smoke Cutter bezel on it so in a tactical event scenario it can be activated long enough to quickly light up the "hmmm what's that?" noise without all the spill to light me up, thereby making me a harder target for a quick wit'd perp to aim at.
A bit more quote from Ed when I asked about Smoke Cutter switch assemblies being raw alluminum colored.
All Smoke Cutters, Power Probes & Medicals had silver (or clear?) anodized switch modules. Only Code 4 had black. When they WERE being marked Medicals used a Power Probe or Smoke Cutter marked switch. There were some 'cosmetic'/marketing/branding uses of mixing silver face caps and end caps and even giving them a higher polish for their VERY limited (I don't think I ever saw one) EXECUTIVE model. I've got some literature I need to photograph for y'all.
Appologies for the link to pix issue.
The current configuration of a Smoke Cutter and a 5D Code 4 lego'd to become nice EDC 2 lights
Man, I love waking up to find a package had arrived a day early. (At 4am today tracking showed it still in Indianappolis)
Smoke Cutter is in the house. It's intact but not working. Lots of dirty metal on the inside (but no traces of leaked batteries) so a good cleaning will take place. The outside cleaned up real nice and overall this thing is way nicer than the seller photos would indicate.
In the meantime I swapped bezels to show the reason they could accurately call it a smoke cutter.
The little 'mirror' re-reflects light backwards thereby absolutely destroying any spill.
Mine arrived with a typical Smoke Cutter slider switch....
Slider of sorts anyway.
It slides through the assembly, push-pull like.Red button on the 'top' is for on, black button on the 'bottom' of the light is for off. If it is off that is easy enough to tell in darkness. You can feel one side is up and the other is down with a bit of practice.
Here is a quote from Ed Tor when I asked about the red button in my Code 4.
As for red switch buttons: The only one that was on the LA/GT lights that was not black was on the 2 sided. It used one black (same as all the 1 sided [except yours with the hole] for the OFF side. The ON side was a red one of the same design. The red one also had a 'tit' in the center for tactile feel in the dark. (IMHO you couldn't actually feel it, even bare handed and this was the 2nd of only 2 down-sides) Besides no blink function, you had a 50/50 chance of pushing the wrong button first to turn it on, a small but annoying quirk.
Well the quirk he spoke of was another idea that works great on a flat piece of paper but in real life... well...
Some pix of the similar Code 4 version:
Red side is down
Black side is up.
See the difference?
The monopoly house roof shaped metal plate on the piston touches the disk that is the conduit between the bulb and switch.
The spring is between the bulb contact point and the switch.
There ya have it... the fabled Smoke Cutter.
I did a little Lego action before placing them on display.
The Code 4 came with a switch that toggles.
The "one with the hole" mentioned in the quote by Ed. It does not have an 'on' point where it can click to stay on. So I consider it a signaler for the time being and left the Smoke Cutter bezel on it so in a tactical event scenario it can be activated long enough to quickly light up the "hmmm what's that?" noise without all the spill to light me up, thereby making me a harder target for a quick wit'd perp to aim at.
A bit more quote from Ed when I asked about Smoke Cutter switch assemblies being raw alluminum colored.
All Smoke Cutters, Power Probes & Medicals had silver (or clear?) anodized switch modules. Only Code 4 had black. When they WERE being marked Medicals used a Power Probe or Smoke Cutter marked switch. There were some 'cosmetic'/marketing/branding uses of mixing silver face caps and end caps and even giving them a higher polish for their VERY limited (I don't think I ever saw one) EXECUTIVE model. I've got some literature I need to photograph for y'all.
Appologies for the link to pix issue.
The current configuration of a Smoke Cutter and a 5D Code 4 lego'd to become nice EDC 2 lights
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Ray Charles could see that one!!
Thanks for those awesome pix!!!!
Thanks for those awesome pix!!!!
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