Flashlight memories from childhood

[DaveH]

Weird topic maybe, here's a couple of mine, I received as a gift a 2 C cell bike light, "T" shaped head, clear lens on one side, red prismatic on the other. I used to carry it around all the time.

One from being a little older, a 7 D cell light from radio shack we got with a coupon. My friend and I would hide in a field and spotlight cars as they drove by.

DaveH

 

[DavidW]

I learned how to be a gadget freak from my father. He gave me a Tekna 4AA flashlight with a krypton bulb. I didn't know what that meant back then but I knew it was bright. Fried the bulb by attaching a 9V to the lamp assembly. The replacement bulb just wasn't as bright

------------------
"A knifeless man is a lifeless man"
-Nordic proverb

 

[**DONOTDELETE**]

The first light I can remember owning was one I got at the circus. It had a pop top like a cigarette lighter and a red plastic filter. Popping open the top turned on the light and the thing had a lanyard about a foot long that you used to spin it around in a circle. It made a cool ring of red light when you did that, until you eventually whacked your little sister in the head with it. It was one of those toys that I remember not having for very long, and one which my mother disavowed all knowledge of when questioned. "Red light? From the circus? I don't remember any red light..."

 

[**DONOTDELETE**]

In 1957, I somehow came into possession of a chromed metal flashlight with circular ribs all the way down the barrel. It had an on/off slide switch and a spring-loaded momentary button just in front of that. It was my late night "undercover" reading light. I used to turn it on, press the lens against a palm, and watch my hand turn red on the other side. It was fascinating, but also unsettling. How could my own flesh be so unsubstantial that mere light would travel right through it? And the redness -- there was no mistaking that it was my life's blood, which I took as an unwelcome reminder of my mortality. I somehow took comfort in shining the beam into the family dog's face, and watching his eyes turn red. In my primitive child's mind, that flashlight took on a talismanic significance. I was a spooky kid.

 

[DaveH]

We used to build flashbulb ( for camera's ) poppers, soldering wires to the bulb bases, then going outside at night and firing them with a battery.

One of the greatest things we had was a outdoor strobe from radio shack, not the current one. This one was larger and had a disfused white top. Also make cool "sonar" sounds while chargeing and firing. We used to put it out in the middle of the field and watch the cars stop trying to figure out what it was.

DaveH

 

[The_LED_Museum]

Flashlight memories?

One was of a 6 volt sealed beam lantern I got for Christmas when I was about nine or ten. It used one of those large rectangular 6v fencer batteries, screwed onto a flat metal frame holding the 6" sealed beam in front, a blinking red tail light, and a nice fat ribbed handle bridging the two.
Of all the flashlights I owned during the first thirty years of my life, that was my favorite.

I made it into a "compact" model after discovering Polaroid "Polapulse" batteries in the expended packs of instant film were, for the most part, still good.
Sure it didn't burn that long, but it was lightweight and people couldn't figure out how the thing ran without its big rectangular battery.

Another is of making my own flashlight out of two 6v lantern batteries and an automobile headlight that I found in the garage. I used to shine that thing up in the woods and spook anybody who happened to have been in the wrong place in the wrong time.

Then I came up with a 12v strobe light like the type used on city maintenance vehicles.
Made a cool "charge/discharge" sound, clearly audible from across a big room.
I used it to charge a big bank of photoflash caps and used the array to blow doorknobs right off the door.
(Well, maybe that doesn't really qualify as a FLASHLIGHT memory, but it started out as one).

Oh, and I had this neat bicycle light too.
It had a bullet-shaped headlight, and a hexagonal taillight with two red arrows.
A seperate battery pack held 2 "C" cells.
The arrows blinked using a transistor circuit. I think the poor thing rusted out after spending too many years on my spider bike.

 

[**DONOTDELETE**]

desaix, I have that exact flashlight. I borrowed it from someone at college and forgot (no really!) to give it back.

 

[Spidey82]

My first flashlight???
think is was some 2d cell lite that i self-delcare form my parent. i keep asking them to get a new one for me when ever i spoil one.
i use to use them like some hammer, hammering things @ home

kind of fun then.

 

[dano]

Yup...I remember the free RS flashlights, the coupon would come around X-mas time...the light to have when I was a kid was that Eveready Halogen 2D light...They still sell it: it's the one with the rubber switch, and a barrel that's too big for the D-cells...

--dan

 

[Craig720]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by craigz:
The first light I can remember owning was one I got at the circus. It had a pop top like a cigarette lighter and a red plastic filter. Popping open the top turned on the light and the thing had a lanyard about a foot long that you used to spin it around in a circle.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Holy cow, talk about old memories. I had one of those. Forgot all about it till you mentioned it.

Craig

 

[Craig720]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by desaix:
In 1957, I somehow came into possession of a chromed metal flashlight with circular ribs all the way down the barrel. It had an on/off slide switch and a spring-loaded momentary button just in front of that. It was my late night "undercover" reading light. I used to turn it on, press the lens against a palm, and watch my hand turn red on the other side. It was fascinating, but also unsettling. How could my own flesh be so unsubstantial that mere light would travel right through it? And the redness -- there was no mistaking that it was my life's blood, which I took as an unwelcome reminder of my mortality. I somehow took comfort in shining the beam into the family dog's face, and watching his eyes turn red. In my primitive child's mind, that flashlight took on a talismanic significance. I was a spooky kid.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Bought one just like that in the 1970s. I still have it. And I used it to read at night after Lights Out. A "Safari Lite." Takes two big, hulking D batteries. It cost me $2.50 at Kiddie City. I was tired of my parents' flashlights, which used tired old batteries that would produce feeble yellow beams.

The Safari Lite is in semi-retirement in our bedroom. I don't use it anymore, but she always has fresh batteries, just in case.

Craig

 

[**DONOTDELETE**]

That reminds me of the flashlight I brought to camp with me, chrome also, 2 D-cell, but it had three buttons around the top of the barrel above the on/off switch. When you slid one of the buttons up, it raised a plastic shield around the bulb, changing the color of the light to red, green, or yellow depending on the sleeve that was raised. With the flash light on and held shining upward just under one's chin, you could turn your face into some pretty devilish looking shadow and colored light displays. Great for telling ghost stories.