Fun with old lights

[bykfixer]

Recently a member mentioned using his 100 year old Yale light to fix a 2 year old dishwasher. Such irony, right?

I put batteries in two fun old lights I used to think were fabulous considering. One a nickle plated 2D miner light by French Ray-O-Lite with a bifocal dome lens. I put a #222 bulb in it to take advantage of the "throwey" part of the lens. The other an old chrome plated Franco 2c with a dome lens that acts like a lamp magnifier making it put out a nice bright circle with perfectly evenly dispersed light.

The tailcap used to be works of art back then.

The 222 left and a standard globe bulb right

The bi-focal "optic" on a big head light.
100 year old turbo-head.

I really like these switches but parasitic drain abounds… big time.

The 2D wall shot.
Imagine using that in a cave.

Easily spot objects 35 feet and more.

The 2C is a pure flooder.

Would've been an awesome light for a plumber.

I have some others but tarnish has them non functioning at the moment.

Next walk around the block I'll carry that old Ray-o-Lite.

 

[strideredc]

Nice! I used to travel to India quite a bit and they still sell new lights over there like this.... yes I did buy one and I will see if I can find it to take a pic... I think it was R60 at the time, that's about £1 or $1.25!

 

[bykfixer]

Today I tried out a pair of 3D lights from long ago that could have been considered zoomies back the day. Surprisingly they are not that bright, but my thought on that is it's because current flow is less than ideal so high resistance plays a role. I have left them in their current state (no pun intended) and chosen not to clean contact points. To me the dull output is part of the charm. Yet in their day they probably seemed pretty bright.

Top is a Burgess Range Finder from what may have been late 1920's it seems.
Bottom is an Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe railroad Rayovac from the mid 1920's.

The Rayovac uses an extra set of threads up front to twist the head in order to move the bulb forward or backward away from the lens.
The Burgess uses a mechanical slider (the black switch) to accomplish the same goal.

As seen the set of threads in the lower portion of the photo rotated the head while the bulb was fastened to the body. Something Maglite did decades later. That method was not unique to Rayovac and Franco and others had done the same years before. However the protruding lens idea cast a distinct edge to the beam that was brighter when the head rotated (or switch slid forward) to flood mode.

A flood mode beam

A spot mode beam.
Not a huge difference like in modern zoomies but at that period it could turn a flashlight from small room lighter to a search and rescue light very easily by changing the beam from dispersed with better spill to very tight spot with the distinct ring along the edge to help see the terrain underfoot.

You've got to remember, back then what street lights there were were not very bright so in the city they would have been plenty bright and outside of metropolis the only light pollution was the moon and stars.

Reflectors at the time were largely nickle plated brass. Unlike a mirror finish that scratches easily, the nickle plate that tends to tarnish (as seen in the photo) could be (gentley) polished and produce a bit more outout.

The Burgess came from a lady whose father was a sales rep for Burgess and the railroad light from an estate sale in Kansas. The Range Finder was seen as another modern marvel by the guy (Charles Brurgess) who inovated the casing sizes we now call C and D batteries.
The Atchison Topeka Santa Fe railroad was one of the first rail system to close the gap of east to west, even before the famous Union Paciffic line did.

Santa Fe Railroad: Map, History, Locomotives, Pictures

A detailed history of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, better known as the "Santa Fe."

www.american-rails.com

An article about the AT&SF railroad.

 

[knucklegary]

Early automotive and motorcycle used a similar reflectors made of spun copper/silver plated. Just like flashlight reflectors they didn't hold up well to the elements, tarnished and corroded

Great article!

 

[thermal guy]

Got this beauty recently. Fun. But the beam has a little to be desired!!😂😂

 

[troutpool]

I had one of those flex lights. It is supposed to clip to your fishing vest so you can see to change flies after dark.

 

[thermal guy]

That's about all I'm thinking it would be good for😂 still it's cool. Not sure how old they are?

 

[troutpool]

Flex-Lite, Inc, of Kalamazoo MI was in business for decades. I don't know the history of the company, but I believe these lights have been around since mid-20th century, maybe even earlier.

 

[TurkishCoffee]

Great topic, glad my dishwasher post inspired it 😁 The Yale 3D I have is a pure floodlight, but the light it produces is actually really nice to my eyes for working on things in small rooms. It makes a perfectly even, wide, round beam. It actually came with an original antique bulb in it that still works, but it's comically dim. Actually I'm not even sure if it's the right voltage, further testing is required. With a new 3.6V bulb it's not bright but functional. I put 3 Rayovac Zinc-Carbon D cells in it and so far the battery life has been impressive. At least 3 cumulative hours of use so far with no sign of dimming. I wonder what the real life brightness and run time would have been in the 1920s with 1920s batteries. I'm currently working on getting some cardboard-jacket D cells that might be a closer representation. My next step is going to be to re-electroplate the reflector in nickel since the original plating has worn off and I'm sure that's affecting the brightness. My goal is to have as close as realistically possible to a 1920s light, then probably buy another one. More pics:

Beam example in my garage:

Comparison to my Quark 2AA in moonlight mode, autoexposure lock on for a direct comparison:

And the Quark on medium:

Final beam shot:

Okay maybe it's not perfectly even.

I'll update my progress after I plate the reflector, and if I can find those batteries...

 

[bykfixer]

Carbon zinc casings are the same size as those cardboard wrapped uni-cells were. Some of my old lights won't allow an alkaline into the barrel since they are slightly larger.

I use Tung Sol #13 bulbs in those old 3D lights TC because Tung Sol made good, long lasting bulbs but a company called Eiko still makes them. They can be sourced at eBay but the Tung Sol are getting hard to find.