My first flashlight intrigue

[Bambuino]

It was mid- to late-1970's about, and my uncle had this flashlight that is stuck in my long-term memory stacks. Perhaps folks here might recognize this light as I describe it?

Diameter approx 2 inches, length approx 3-4 inches, silver, machined aluminum tube, no anodizing, closed bottom with twisty head. IIRC, head had heavy flutes for grip in twisting. And, it was fairly heavy for its size. Why it still sticks in my head is that my uncle told me it was supposed to have something like a "5 year service life" or no need change batteries, something like that.

TIA, Mark

 

[bykfixer]

Welcome to CPF.
Not a clue bro. Most back then were either thin stamped steel, plastic or black alluminum sprinkler pipe. The twisty head is what perplexes me. Perhaps it was a Radio Shack light. They had some novel lights at that point, some being pretty good too.

Unfortunately most of the relics fans no longer post on a regular basis.

The ABTOMAT Police Flashlight Collection

The other day I realized I hadn't been active in the scene for a while, and people from half a decade ago were still waiting for pics of these lights. So, to kill two birds with one stone, I've started photographing my entire flashlight collection for the benefit of CPF. I'll be slowly posting...

www.candlepowerforums.com

Here's one thread that may lend some clues.
See post 11 for a Streamlight twist head number.

 

[Bambuino]

A Tandy/RS light? Maaaaybeeee. Interesting. Was the same uncle that got me some of those red perfboard experimenter boxes from RS back then.
Be cool someone had a photo of one of these lights.
Thx!

 

[Bambuino]

The Grendelite A2 in #19 of Abtomats post linked above is really close in form factor, without the switch on tail.

 

[bykfixer]

Radio Shack did some knock off lights back then. My pop had a Radio Shack light that mimic'd a Kel-Lite that was never made. A first gen body with a second gen born medium size head.
I've looked for one for years to no avail.

 

[ABTOMAT]

It was mid- to late-1970's about, and my uncle had this flashlight that is stuck in my long-term memory stacks. Perhaps folks here might recognize this light as I describe it?

Diameter approx 2 inches, length approx 3-4 inches, silver, machined aluminum tube, no anodizing, closed bottom with twisty head. IIRC, head had heavy flutes for grip in twisting. And, it was fairly heavy for its size. Why it still sticks in my head is that my uncle told me it was supposed to have something like a "5 year service life" or no need change batteries, something like that.

TIA, Mark

Ironically, it's the Five Year Light. They were commonly sold under the Chromalloy brand but the company who made them (ACR) is well known today as the big maker of marine EPIRBs and emergency strobes. This makes perfect sense, since those products also use oddball chemical batteries with long shelf lives. The Five Years Lights aren't very rare on the used market and not really worth anything as far as I know. Seeing this thread convinced me to get one off eBay and there are more still there if anyone wants to get nostalgic.

I'll report back about the construction but from everything I've seen online it's a sealed unit without a replaceable battery. The retail versions also appear to be die cast zinc or aluminum.

Radio Shack did some knock off lights back then. My pop had a Radio Shack light that mimic'd a Kel-Lite that was never made. A first gen body with a second gen born medium size head.
I've looked for one for years to no avail.

I'd really be interested to hear more about this if you have any details. I'm not aware of Radio Shack selling aluminum flashlights until the late '90s when they were flogging GT Price/Nordic stuff.

 

[Bambuino]

Well, ding dang. That is the one. Over 40 yrs I been wondering what that flashlight was. NASA, ACR, yep that story jibes with what I can recall. Uncle said he got it from NASA, which I did not mention here, 'cause, I thought, who would believe that story. Same uncle gave me a leaky Firefly, and you can have a laugh imagining a 10-yo boy taping together a stack of exotic batteries trying to get it to blink.

Thank you for that bit of sleuthing Abtomat. A small, but really cool Christmas present.

Happy Holidays all!

 

[ABTOMAT]

Glad I could add a little Christmas cheer.

ACR has gotten the short of the stick when it comes to flashlight history. They made some of the first "modern" small high tech flashlights, before Mag-Lite, Kel-Lite, Surefire, whoever. But almost all of them were short runs for the 1960s space program so there was never any mainstream attention. They're probably most famous for making the brass flashlights used for the Apollo program. Barbolight recently started reproducing these with a modern LED. They'd fit in with any modern flashlight collection instead of looking like an antique.

I guess they decided to stick with emergency strobes. Otherwise they could have come out with a Mini-Mag-style light 15 years before Mag-Lite did. I think the Five Year Light wasn't directly a NASA design but used the battery technology from their Apollo lights.

 

[bykfixer]

Wow! The man himself appears like somebody did the Bat signal or something.....

At the risk of derailing a great thread I'll just say that around 1979 or so my pop had a 3D Radio Shack light that was a pretty similar copy of the 1st gen Kel-Lite with a medium head. I thought he had it when I was a little kid (circa '73 or so) but Don Keller said it was much later than that.

I emailed the great Don Keller one day expecting to get back "crazy kid, what are you talking about?" Instead I got back "oh yeah I remember that one". "It was $12 where Kel-Lites were $20, they weren't very good and the medium head wasn't available until the second generation".

But back to the Five Years Light....

 

[aznsx]

You want to know the chances of me learning anything about anything like this stuff anywhere else on the Net? Approx. Zero. Thanx guys

 

[ABTOMAT]

Wow! The man himself appears like somebody did the Bat signal or something.....

At the risk of derailing a great thread I'll just say that around 1979 or so my pop had a 3D Radio Shack light that was a pretty similar copy of the 1st gen Kel-Lite with a medium head. I thought he had it when I was a little kid (circa '73 or so) but Don Keller said it was much later than that.

I emailed the great Don Keller one day expecting to get back "crazy kid, what are you talking about?" Instead I got back "oh yeah I remember that one". "It was $12 where Kel-Lites were $20, they weren't very good and the medium head wasn't available until the second generation".

But back to the Five Years Light....

That's really interesting. Never seen anything like it in the Radio Shack annual catalogs. If I ever find info I'll let you know. So it was black aluminum? Any markings you remember?

 

[ABTOMAT]

Got the light today. I was wondering how a high end flashlight made no lasting impact, and turns out it's because it's not high end. I'd guess this is like the stuff you see in gift catalogs like Sharper Image or Harriet Carter. Kind of a novelty you'd give a cousin for Christmas. This one was sold at Miller & Rhoads department store for $6, at a time when C-cell police flashlights were around $20.

It's entirely painted or aluminized plastic. Very brittle feeling plastic too, probably polystyrene. Bulb appears to be some kind of PR base. The on-off mechanism doesn't turn (assuming battery leakage or something else age related) and I feel like any force would break it in half. No other obvious way to disassemble it. I'll probably open it up anyway and get some photos since I'm sure this'll be the only thread about these lights.

 

[Bambuino]

Hmmm, is that what the consumer product became? I can recall distinctly this light being a bit more substantial than aluminized plastic. Since seeing the photo above curious if the black button is depressed to unlock the twisty head?

edit : Kinda funny new guy enrolls and starts handing out homework to you folks. All the best, folks. Have a great New Year!

 

[ABTOMAT]

I'm not positive, but I don't think these lights were actually used by astronauts. Information seems to indicate it was just the battery technology that carried over. They used the brass Apollo lights through the shuttle program in the '80s.

The black button does nothing. There's one on each side and it appears to be a locking tab that holds the head on, but they can't be depressed or moved. The owner's manual doesn't say anything about taking the light apart. I think it's supposed to be disposable.

 

[ABTOMAT]

Decided to post my writeup in a new thread to make it easier for future information seekers to find it: https://www.candlepowerforums.com/t...trash-can-the-chromalloy-5-year-light.481650/