Old Eveready flashlight identification

[JohnRandoloh]

Hello, new here to vintage flashlights. Picked up this old eveready flashlight today at a peddlers mall. I can't find a model number on it anywhere. It's solid metal. Says Eveready Union Carbide on the bottom. Takes two D cells.

 

[F89]

Can't help you with any info on that torch specifically but I looked up Union Carbide. It has an interesting history.
We're having serious issues with the chemicals that this company produced in Australia, bisphenol a being talked about frequently.

 

[JohnRandoloh]

Can't help you with any info on that torch specifically but I looked up Union Carbide. It has an interesting history.
We're having serious issues with the chemicals that this company produced in Australia, bisphenol a being talked about frequently.

Sorry about what they are doing to your country. There is one of their chemical plants about two hours from my home.

 

[F89]

Sorry about what they are doing to your country. There is one of their chemical plants about two hours from my home.

I wouldn't suggest that you're responsible. It's all common place throughout history.
Regarding that particular chemical I reckon I was exposed to it a fair bit when I was in the army on army and airforce bases. It was used a lot in firefighting foams etc.
One of those forever chemicals that gets into the soil and water table (and your body) and causes various dramas.
Hopefully I'm all good.
There's some areas near where I live that have it all through the soil and water etc. Must be terrible. You can imagine how much their land plummeted in value once the issue became highlighted. Let alone the health impact on people.

I wonder if your light was issued to/used by workers or if it just has Union Carbide stamped on it because of the link to Eveready.

 

[JohnRandoloh]

I wouldn't suggest that you're responsible. It's all common place throughout history.

I wonder if your light was issued to/used by workers or if it just has Union Carbide stamped on it because of the link to Eveready.

I really don't know. I've looked on FB, reddit and Google and found nothing about it. Only one picture that has one like it in it, but it's a picture of like 20 flashlights with no info

 

[F89]

I really don't know. I've looked on FB, reddit and Google and found nothing about it. Only one picture that has one like it in it, but it's a picture of like 20 flashlights with no info

Yours could possibly be a light that was produced for company use rather than public sale. If so I'd guess that there'd still be lights of the same mould (but perhaps without the Union Carbide stamp) that were sold to the public.
What's a reasonable guess on the vintage, 50's to 70's?

Is it in working order?

 

[JohnRandoloh]

Yours could possibly be a light that was produced for company use rather than public sale. If so I'd guess that there'd still be lights of the same mould (but perhaps without the Union Carbide stamp) that were sold to the public.
What's a reasonable guess on the vintage, 50's to 70's?

Is it in working order?

You may be right. That would be my guess, 60s or 70s

 

[F89]

You may be right. That would be my guess, 60s or 70s

I was going to second guess and say 60's, 70's. Fifties is probably a bit early.

 

[russprechtl]

Hello, new here to vintage flashlights. Picked up this old eveready flashlight today at a peddlers mall. I can't find a model number on it anywhere. It's solid metal. Says Eveready Union Carbide on the bottom. Takes two D cells.

Hi John!

First of all, welcome to our merry band of flashlight nuts.

 

[russprechtl]

Hello, new here to vintage flashlights. Picked up this old eveready flashlight today at a peddlers mall. I can't find a model number on it anywhere. It's solid metal. Says Eveready Union Carbide on the bottom. Takes two D cells.

Your light would be a late 50s to late 60s model. Eveready wasn't big on model numbers then. Take a look at the lens cap. Eveready used a similar mold to make a plastic/ metal combo (Commander and Commander Jr.) and then all plastic "waterproof" versions in the 70s through late 80s. They moved from the metal slide switch to a plastic slide switch and then a round push button.

 

[F89]

I may have had a plastic one similar in the early 80's(?). It was red (and white, I think?) and had a large, white slide switch on the side.

 

[JohnRandoloh]

I may have had a plastic one similar in the early 80's(?). It was red (and white, I think?) and had a large, white slide switch on the side.

When I was a kid, we had some like that. Seems to be the flashlight in most horror movies set in the 80s lol

 

[russprechtl]

I may have had a plastic one similar in the early 80's(?). It was red (and white, I think?) and had a large, white slide switch on the side.

Yup. That was the "waterproof" version. It's selling point was that it floated. I had one of those, and then the newfangled halogen version in 1987. That one was dark Grey with a yellow button. It was state of the art back then! It was supposed to be brighter than the Maglights of the time.

 

[F89]

Yup. That was the "waterproof" version. It's selling point was that it floated. I had one of those, and then the newfangled halogen version in 1987. That one was dark Grey with a yellow button. It was state of the art back then! It was supposed to be brighter than the Maglights of the time.

That was around the time I got this sucker; the original Dolphin. Waterproof, floats and ran on a 6V lantern battery.
She's seen better days and is covered in tape (stealth bezel? 😀), paint, muck, bumps, bruises and scrapes.
I loved this thing, bet she'd still fire up with a new battery. I'm guessing circa 1988.

She's actually more green in real life.

Not to detract from John's post. 🤙

 

[russprechtl]

That was around the time I got this sucker; the original Dolphin. Waterproof, floats and ran on a 6V lantern battery.
She's seen better days and is covered in tape (stealth bezel? 😀), paint, muck, bumps, bruises and scrapes.
I loved this thing, bet she'd still fire up with a new battery. I'm guessing circa 1988.

View attachment 78734View attachment 78735
She's actually more green in real life.

Not to detract from John's post. 🤙

I had an orange one similar to that one too! It was pretty great. It was an industrial version made for chemical plants and hazardous atmospheres. It had a metal spring over the bulb. If you dropped it and the bulb broke, it was supposed to break the connection between battery and bulb so a naked filament wouldn't blow you up in a flammable vapor environment. Good times. 😉

 

[JohnRandoloh]

I had an orange one similar to that one too! It was pretty great. It was an industrial version made for chemical plants and hazardous atmospheres. It had a metal spring over the bulb. If you dropped it and the bulb broke, it was supposed to break the connection between battery and bulb so a naked filament wouldn't blow you up in a flammable vapor environment. Good times. 😉

That's a pretty awesome safety feature!

 

[RWT1405]

Looking thru my "Flashlights" book (Page 269), I'd say it's a Wrangler No. 4251

 

[JohnRandoloh]

I had an orange one similar to that one too! It was pretty great. It was an industrial version made for chemical plants and hazardous atmospheres. It had a metal spring over the bulb. If you dropped it and the bulb broke, it was supposed to break the connection between battery and bulb so a naked filament wouldn't blow you up in a flammable vapor environment. Good times. 😉

That's a pretty awesome safety feature

Looking thru my "Flashlights" book (Page 269), I'd say it's a Wrangler No. 4251

Thank you! That definitely looks like it!

 

[RWT1405]

Thank you! That definitely looks like it!

You're welcome!

Hope this helped

 

[russprechtl]

Looking thru my "Flashlights" book (Page 269), I'd say it's a Wrangler No. 4251

Excellent! Where did you find that book? I'd like to see about getting a copy.