First Portable Electric Lantern, 1896.

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First Portable Light To Use a Dry Cell Battery

A brief history of the Acme Electric Light, the first commercially successful portable electric light powered by a dry cell battery.

Louis A. Jackson, was 51 years old when he organized the Acme Electric Lamp Company on June 15, 1896. He applied for a patent for his Portable Lamp (Bicycle Light) on July 25, 1896 and was granted U.S. patent number 572,805 on Dec. 8, 1896.

Acme was located at 1659 Broadway, in midtown Manhattan, NYC. Acme employed from 6 to 12 people. One of whom was teenager Joshua Lionel Cowen, who went on to develop the Lionel electric train. Fifty years later, Cowen made the dubious claim that he invented a lighted flower pot that Eveready developed into the flashlight. One of the flaws in the Cowen story is that he was already working for a company that was making portable lights far superior to his lighted flower pot. Another inconsistency of his story, the inefficient batteries of that period were incapable of producing sustained light to illuminate a flower pot for any period of time.

The Acme bicycle light used a 4 cell, 6 volt dry cell battery pack. In 1896, carbon filament bulb technology required at least 6 volts to excite to illumination the relatively thick carbon filaments available during that period. Each battery was 3 inches in length and 1- 3/8 inches in diameter. Harry C. Anderson, Dry Cell Battery Pioneer, worked for Jackson and was the first known battery maker to produce dry batteries that size.

In January, 1898, David Misell also used a 1-3/8 inch diameter battery, but shortened the length to 2-1/4 inches so he could fit three batteries into his new invention, the first tubular flashlight which he sold to the Ever Ready Company. This was the first use of a battery with those dimensions and it became the standard D cell battery. The diameter of the D cell battery today has been reduced to 1-5/16 inches.

Acme lamps were sophisticated and well crafted. The square, thin metal case held four batteries, 3" in length, soldered together in series and placed side by side to form a square battery pack. Perhaps the most sophisticated feature of Acme Lamps was a four position rheostat switch which was a distinctive feature on all early Acme lights. The rheostat switch was set in a mahogany lid and furnished various brilliances of light and helped prolong the life of those relatively inefficient batteries. Even so, those early dry cell batteries would discharge quickly if used constantly for any period of time.

The conical reflector on these early Acme lights was well designed and superbly silvered. The lens, bulb and reflector unit projected from the front of the case. And even more important the lens was made of flat, non magnifying glass. Far superior to the bullseye lens found on every tubular flashlight made during the first 15 years. Apparently, consumers were under the impression that bullseye lenses magnified light, rather than dispersing it.

The first Acme model was made with a bicycle bracket, but a handle was soon added when its value as a portable hand light was discovered. The new model with a handle was called a House Lamp and with intermittent use, became popular as a source of portable light.

Acme must have a made substantial number of Acme Electric Lamps before being put out of business by the tubular flashlight because the American Ever Ready Company offered a battery pack for Acme lamps in their 1907 catalog.

Acme advertised their bicycle light in the February 29, 1897, issue of the Scientific American. Acme printed their first catalogue in the spring of 1897, and a second catalog in the spring of 1898. Judging from the number of surviving models, House Lamps were the best seller, which is not surprising.

Do not pass up the opportunity to buy this, the first successful form of portable electric light, should you have the good fortune to find one at a reasonable price.

If this sort of information proves useful or interesting we can further discuss the first tubular flashlight, invented in 1898.

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flashlightbook,
thanks for that masterclass.
I enjoyed reading your concise history - it gives an idea of what things were like in that distant time, over 100 years ago.
To think that the D-cell is so old, and is still the one most people would recognise as a basic "torch battery" .

lightlover
 
Fantastic! Keep going with the history of portable electric lighting. I think most of the CPF folks would like to know how we got to where we are today.
Regards,
Kirk
 
That's an excellent background, many thanks.

I'm a fan of the Connections TV program that James Burke did, how he would show how we got from, say, water gardens to postal stamps, to microchips.

Lionel is nearby, and alot of people in southeast MI have a warm spot in our hearts for the company.

BTW, I ordered a book about collecting flashlights. would anybody here know anything about the author?
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Thanks for the really interesting article. One quick possible correction in the sentence:

"Acme advertised their bicycle light in the February 29, 1897, issue of the Scientific American. "

There was no Feb 29 issue in 1897. But there was one on Feb 27th. But, there was no reference to Acme in that issue.

I believe the correct citation is the February 20th 1897 issue. Rather than an advertisement, the reference was part of the following article, Notes and Sketches at the Annual Bicycle Show, New York City. The article includes an image of the device, consistent with the photos in your note.

Again thanks - I would never have found the reference had it not been for your note.
 
Worth noting the OP of this thread was Bill Utley, who apparently was a member here back in 2002. He's best known for publishing a book in 2001 about early 1900s flashlight development and the history of the Everready company, although I think he retired from the hobby some time ago. The book's entry on the Acme has the same text posted here.
 
Worth noting the OP of this thread was Bill Utley, who apparently was a member here back in 2002. He's best known for publishing a book in 2001 about early 1900s flashlight development and the history of the Everready company, although I think he retired from the hobby some time ago. The book's entry on the Acme has the same text posted here.
I recall he got very upset with how the moderators were running this place under Greta, so he decided to act up with that whole DoNotDelete thing.
 
I don't know about that, but **DONOTDELETE** is a marker for accounts that were deleted or glitched out when the board software was migrated in the 2000s. A lot of posts from the early 2000s are tied to lost accounts now.
 
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