Just got a 95-year-old torch working

[lctorana]

I picked up a veteran 2C Eveready off eBay last year.

A pic is in this thread, with a link to the appropriate Flashlight museum entry. I thought it was made of cardboard, but the Museum calls it vulcanite, and the year is 1914.

The switch was different in 1913 and 1915, so I can be pretty cinfident in the year.

Anyway, it wasn't working when I got it, so on the shelf it went as a display item.

But today, I was charging up 2 C NiCads, and out came this torch, the DeOxit and the ProGold.

After treatment, the switch still showed no continuity. A dead loss.

Anyway, nothing ventured, nothing gained, so in went the 2 NiCads (a glove-tight fit, btw), end caps on and...


...Bam! Working, like the day it was made, first try!

I can only theorize that having a battery inside for the switch to press against did the trick.

And then came the next big surprise - the lens was precision-ground. A perfect, flat-circle of light with sharp edges and no hotspot.


You know, I have now built about 20-30 hotwires, have put P7s and Q5s in all sorts of torches, have bought Surefires and custom-made jobs, have fiddled with reflectors; with convex, concave and aspheric lenses, and used every type of incan bulb technology I could get my hands on.

But nothing, nothing came close to the thrill of pressing that button and bringing this steam-age flashlight to life.

Just thought I'd share this.

 

[carbine15]

I love making the old beauties shine again. This is my 1185 host!

 

[thunderlight]

Congratulations Ictorana,

My oldest flashlight goes back to around 1916, a French Flasher, based on the info at Flashlight Museum. It really is a thrill to get these running again. It is especially amazing when you realize that this was relatively new technology, the first true flashlights having been developed in the late 1890s. It also amazes me that new screw based flashlight bulbs are still readily available.

 

[hyperloop]

sweet! kinda makes wish i didnt throw away my old flashlights from when i was a kid

 

[Burgess]

Always enjoy reading your posts, lctorana !


:thumbsup:
_

 

[Fallingwater]

This is very interesting. I'm just sorry I don't have any old lights around, the oldest was taken from an old box and is just a plastic jobbie from the eighties. I'd really like to put a modern driver, LiIon cell and high-flux LED in something that was built before this stuff was even thought possible :p

Real collectors might want my hide for that, I'm afraid :p

 

[american lockpicker]

I love making the old beauties shine again. This is my 1185 host!

is that flash light rare? I have one I keep in one of my toolbox and I thought it was just an old cheap flashlight.