The ABTOMAT Police Flashlight Collection

[ABTOMAT]

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 them as the get the photos taken, and have the time to resize and upload them all.

Kel-Lite 26" Batonlite. These lights use 5C cells plus an aluminum spacer rod. Without the spacer, this one holds 12 C-cells:

Kel-Lite 22" Batonlite. The silver bezels are made of solid stainless steel, for durability:

Mag-Lite 7D. They stopped making these in 1989:

Kel-Lite 7D. Medium head models were a mid-'70s addition:

Bianchi B-Lite 7D. A post-Kel-Lite Don Keller design:

New Products Development Co. Tru-Grit 7D. Each knurled section unscrews to vary the length. I believe these guys ran afoul of John Waynee's lawyers around 1972:

Pro-Light 6D. Another Don Keller design:

Mag-Lite 6D. Recent production--I bought this new around 2004:

Streamlight 7C. With a surprise...

Trouble with unruly suspects or hippies? Well...

Out pops an ASP baton! It takes up four cells' worth of space in the light. This was actually made for a Mag-Lite and doesn't fit correctly:

Streamlight 5D. Streamlight made a whole raft of D/C-cell flashlights in the '80s based on late designs they got when they bought Kel-Lite:

Brinkmann 5D. I believe Brinkmann's series of similar lights use the design from LA Screw Company's Code-4 models:

Mag Instruments Vari-Beam 5D. This was an '80s Mag-Lite sold through commercial suppliers. Designed to be hard to lose in dark places:

To be continued...

 

[ABTOMAT]

Re: The ABTOMAT Collection

It's probably pretty obvious, but I should mention the focus of the collection is vintage police flashlights. Most of them are from the 1968-1984 period before the market shook itself out.

Kel-Lite 7C with Judo Head tailcap:

Same light, tail end. Designed for certain types of defensive fighting tactics. Kel-Lite used the same shape for a yawara stick they made at the time:

Streamlight SL-35. Early production:

Mag-Lite 6C:

Brinkmann 5-3-2. It unscrews into segments of various lengths, just like the earlier Code-4:

B-Lite 5D. B-Lite used two main head sizes on their D-cell lights:

Kel-Lite 5D. This has some wild stories from the original owner:

Kel-Lite 5D. Covina-era:

Pro-Light 5C. Pro-Light often used a lot of plastic in their lights. This one has a metal barrel with plastic ends:

Streamlight 5C:

Kel-Lite 5D:

Kel-Lite 5D:

Kel-Lite 5D:

Mag-Lite 5C:

To be continued...

 

[ABTOMAT]

Re: The ABTOMAT Collection

Longtime CPF members'll notice I'm not using the famous leather couch any more. Collection outgrew that for group shots.

Gem-Lite 2D. As far as I know, these were made independently by a Bianchi supplier, using parts designed for the B-Lite. This one has a surprise, too:

A canister of Curb tear gas fits into the tail end:

Detail of the spray itself:

Kel-Lite 6C:

B-Lite 4D:

Kel-Lite 4D with a rare rechargeable tailcap:

Pro-Light 5C. This one's all-plastic:

B-Lite 4D:

Kel-Lite 5C. This one has a storage tailcap--uncommon on C-cell models:

Pro-Light 5C. I made the tailcap on my lathe--it originally had a rounded plastic cap that disintegrated:

The new tailcap:

Streamlight 4C:

B-Lite 5C. For some reason, they sold many fewer C-cell than D-cell lights:

Safariland Polaris. Bet you haven't seen one of these recently. It's a poorly made, all-plastic rechargeable that uses a magnetic reed switch. Built like a dive light so it's probably waterproof. I'd guess designed to compete with early rechargeable Pro-Lights and Streamlights:

Kel-Lite 4D. Very clean:

Kel-Lite 4D:

Kel-Lite 4D. Very early production. Probably pre-Covina. San Dimas, maybe. This was the first vintage police flashlight in my collection:

To be continued...

 

[boss429]

What a great collection-My compliments! Do have a "in" for vintage police lights? You just don't see most of those heavies often(or ever!).

 

[BIGLOU]

Wow! Sick collection! I love the Mace light. Thanks for sharing these photos. I read the other thread were you guys broke it down on the history of these companies. I now stop a yard sales and ask if they have old school flashlights and they look at me all wierd.:twothumbs

 

[ABTOMAT]

What a great collection-My compliments! Do have a "in" for vintage police lights? You just don't see most of those heavies often(or ever!).

Thanks. No "in," just time and legwork. Some cool people have donated to the collection. I have limited resources so I don't add new lights often.

And moving on...

Mag Vari-Beam 3D:

Streamlight SL-20. This was the flashlight that basically put everyone else but Mag out of business. Totally new technology and design:

Kel-Lite 5C. The Illinois State Police bought massive quantities of these things. You see them everywhere. Probably the most common Kel-Lite size:

Kel-Lite 5C:

Streamlight SL-20. Well-used:

Pro-Light rechargeable. While all Pro-Lights were designed to be rechargeable, this one was designed _as_ a rechargeable, along the lines of a Streamlight SL-20:

Pro-Light 3D. Hazard color scheme:

Gem-Lite 3D:

Streamlight SL-15. Smaller brother to the SL-20, all plastic, not made for as long:

Mag-Lite 3C. Need to replace the switch cover:

Kel-Lite 3D:

Stud-Lite 3D. What's a Stud-Lite? It's a Kel-Lite made for sale to truckers. Dunno why they were so specific, but they were trying to branch out from police sales at once point:

Citation:

To be continued...

 

[swampgator]

Great thread!

A couple of questions now come to mind.

Given a certain large company has a well known reputation for using litigation to protect their patents, how is it that their head is almost the same shape as the Bianchi?

Also how many companies was Keller directly involved with?

When did Kel go to the internal push button switch?

And the last, did the Streamlight SL series pre-date their acquistion of the Kel-Lite brand?

 

[ABTOMAT]

Given a certain large company has a well known reputation for using litigation to protect their patents, how is it that their head is almost the same shape as the Bianchi?

I'm not up on my legal details, but I'd assume that wasn't something Bianchi cared about. And going the other way, Mag's issue is typically with the lettering around the heads and not the shape itself. They took down Streamlight and Brinkmann over that.

Also how many companies was Keller directly involved with?

Off the top of my head, Kel-Lite, Bianchi, Pro-Light, Mag-Lite, ASP, Brinkmann, and Nordic.

When did Kel go to the internal push button switch?

And the last, did the Streamlight SL series pre-date their acquistion of the Kel-Lite brand?

The pushbutton Kel-Lite was from somewhere around 1982-83. Right before Streamlight bought them. Streamlight's SL series started in the mid-late '70s. They only made rechargeables until the Kel-Lite buyout.

 

[ABTOMAT]

When I get around to it, I also have a bunch in their boxes, plus all kinds of odd accessories and paperwork.

Kel-Lite 3D. This one was painted at one point:

Kel-Lite 3D:

Kel-Lite 3D. Another early production one. You can tell these by the thin switches, no tailcap markings, and "KEL-LITE" directly behind the switch:

Mag-Lite 2D. This is very interesting, for a Mag-Lite. A 1980 production model before they finalized the design everyone knows. Has a very different switch with a large button, and says "PATEN PENDING" (misspelled) on the side:

GT Price Code-4 2D. GT bought the basic design from LA Screw as far as I know. This one has a movable red filter for night use:

GT Price Smoke Cutter 2D. Fireman's model with an anti-glare lens:

Pro-Light 2D:

B-Lite 2D:

Kel-Lite 2D:

Kel-Lite 3C:

Pro-Light 2C:

Kel-Lite 2D:

To be continued...

 

[N10]

the 2D Mag you have looks shorter than the present production one..like a cutdown....very nice(impressive) collection!

 

[ABTOMAT]

Thanks. I think that's just the angle of the photo--my 2D Mag is within 1/4" of the current one.

This the last of the used lights for now. I'll see about getting photos of the new ones and the other stuff soon.

Kel-Lite 2C. With a Judo Head tailcap:

A view of the tail end. Before I got a real one like this, I made one of these tailcaps myself using photos as a reference. I'll post that further down.

Kel-Lite 2C:

Kel-Lite 2C. This one has a polished front bezel. I've never seen another:

Kel-Lite 2 1/2D. The smallest Kel-Lite made. It was designed to use two 1/2D-cell batteries, but many people call it a "1D" light for simplicity. These days you'd be better off getting a 3AA adapter and a brighter bulb. It's also another very early production example:

Two Streamlight 2C. I don't have very many details on these. The bodies and tailcaps are machined like an early C-cell Kel-Lite. I'd guess Streamlight wanted to use the tooling for something and cranked out these simple lights. Twist bezel to turn on/off:

Same lights, other ends:

Healy Coach Works 2C. It's nearly identical to the Streamlight 2C but with Healy markings, shorter head, and longer knurled section. Made under contract, I assume. Missing the reflector assembly:

To be continued...

 

[3000k]

What is the Vari-Beam maglite, was that the first focusable maglite or just a special name for the color combination?

 

[ABTOMAT]

What is the Vari-Beam maglite, was that the first focusable maglite or just a special name for the color combination?

Just that color combination. The modern Mag-Lite design had been around for ~3 years before. Might have been the first non-black Mag, though.

 

[Niteowl]

Awesome collection. My favorite is the B-Lite 5C. I've got my 4C sitting here on my desk.

Any chance for a group pic?

 

[ABTOMAT]

Any chance for a group pic?

Will do, stay tuned.

 

[RedLED]

I have a 3 D cell Mag Lite in the blue like yours, and bought it in a truck stop in 1982-83 or 84.

Still have it. Put an lED in it, and it serves as an emergency light in my studio, clipped to my production bench with the mag clips.

Looks like new. I think it cost $25.00 then.

 

[Kestrel]

Thanks for posting the pics.
I really like that pair of Streamlight 2C's near the end of your last post. :thumbsup:

 

[bla2000]

My favourite is the GT Price Smoke Cutter 2D. Great collection.

 

[ABTOMAT]

Moving on...

Mag Magcharger. This is probably the best flashlight Mag ever made, and it's still my favorite police rechargeable. Came out around 1982 to do battle with Streamlight's SL-20. It's a beautifully engineered light, and incredibly durable:

Now a few of the new lights.

Bianchi Super B-Lite 2D. This was Bianchi's final flashlight design, from right before they left the market around 1984. Shows some Streamlight influence, but a little more compact:

Super B-Lite 4D. Funny story: A surplus company was selling these things at discounted prices a few years ago. I mentioned to a fellow collector I was planning on buying one, then mysteriously the next day their entire inventory had been bought by someone with his name before I had a chance to get one.

Spec-Lite 6D. The Super B-Lite designs from when Bianchi bailed out were bought by an outfitting company and produced as Spec-Lites in the 1980s:

Grendel Grendelite A-2 8AA. This is the weirdest and one of the rarest flashlights I have. Grendel was an '80s firearms company known for high-tech but poorly designed and built handguns. The founded (George Kelgren) later founded Kel-Tec, another firearms company known for high-tech but questionably designed and built handguns, rifles, and shotguns. What you have here is a high-tech but poorly designed and built flashlight. It takes eight AA batteries, and has two brightness settings via a resistor:

One of the switch end:

To be continued...

 

[bla2000]

The Grendel Grendelite A-2 8AA must have been the inspiration for the Fenix TK40 Can it fit the standard cup holder in a car and was designed to do so? No matter what the reason for the design I like it.