lightlover
Flashlight Enthusiast
Gentlemen (and Ladies),
A chap called Billy T. Utley has written a softcover book, titled:
"FLASHLIGHTS - with rarity and value guide"
It is 320 well produced and full colour illustrated 11" x 8.5" pages of sheer delight. Reading it, you get a strong feeling that it is a True Labour of Love. Bill has obviously spent years working on it. The very least that can be said about it is that it is readable, comprehensive, detailed and authoritative.
He obviously has a dedicated heart and clear mind, with good researching and writing skills. He is knowledgeable, being a flashlight collector himself, and is Publisher and Editor of "The Flashlight Collectors Newsletter", a printed leaflet.
(This is the chap I'm trying to persuade to join to moderate the proposed "Collectors Forum". I feel sure that there is no better qualified person on the planet.)
This tome is the first part of a projected two volume work, and so covers the history of flashlights from the earliest days up to about 1980. At that point, the coverage becomes less detailed, but still, some info is given up to 1990.
(For instance, Lithium powered torches, Diving lights and LED's are not covered - that will all be in the eventual second volume.)
The early history in particular is thoroughly detailed, especially the products of the EverReady company. EverReady co-operated fully with Bill, providing him with much background material. Besides the lights themselves, many of the illustrations are of early adverts, catalogues and ephemera. Mentions are made of companies short-lived and long forgotten: I wonder how Bill managed to find such arcane information at all, let alone in such detail.
I learned much from reading it. For example, I never would have thought that in the early days, a multitude of companies sprang up to exploit the new technology of batteries and incandescent lamps.
There really isn't much new to be found in flashlight designs. All manner of switches have been tried out: tailcap buttons surfaced around 100 years ago.
The "Whaley Sight Light", a light with a deep groove in the body, made to be held under a revolver barrel was Patent No 2,132,063, dated 1938.
The "Permissible Electric Flashlight", approved by the Bureau of Mines for use in potentially explosive atmospheres, was made in 1926, using a sprung-wire "safety fuse" arrangement to cut power if the lamp glass broke, exposing the filament.
And the photo of the EverReady stand at the 1904 St Louis World's Fair is an example of Luxury that SHOT 2002 in it's entirety couldn't possibly match !!
If you have an old flashlight of any type or description you want to identify, and even date, Bill probably has the info in the book.
(Stuart Schneider's book "Collecting Flashlights - with Value guide" is a basic introduction to the subject: Bill's book is a veritable Encyclopaedia.)
I would go so far as to say that it's an Investment for anyone interested in Flashlights. Even worth deferring the purchase of a light so as to buy the book.
And I really mean that ......
The indexing is good, but with a book as crammed full of information as this, I could wish for even more entries, and much cross-referencing. However, that's about the only quibble I can quibble, and I have tried quite hard to find anything to fault.
I've read the book through, with pleasure.
(To go back for "serious research" to some parts, I put a sheet of paper in the book to use for my own personal index notes, and thus found particular things quickly again.)
The price is normally $49.95, plus shipping within the US at $3.05. (California residents should add Sales Tax.)
I've contacted Bill, and as a special offer to CPF and SFDB members, until August 31, 2002, he has agreed to a $10 reduction in price, to $39.95, (plus printed matter shipping worldwide, at cost), to anyone who orders quoting
"Ref: lightlover".
(Without that reference, no discount ...... )
His e-mail address is: [email protected]
Land Address:
Bill Utley
P.O. Box 4095
Tustin, CA 92781
USA
Book Title: FLASHLIGHTS - with rarity and value guide"
Author, Copyright © 2001, Billy T. Utley
Publisher: ArrowPoint Press
SAN: 253-6099
ISBN: 0-9707559-4-5
Library of Congress Control Number:2001116699
lightlover
[Acknowledgement - I am proud to call Bill Utley an Internet-friend, and have asked if I can in any way help him with the production of the second edition of Volume 1, and the forthcoming Volume 2.
Note: I had to pay full price for my copy ...... ]
A chap called Billy T. Utley has written a softcover book, titled:
"FLASHLIGHTS - with rarity and value guide"
It is 320 well produced and full colour illustrated 11" x 8.5" pages of sheer delight. Reading it, you get a strong feeling that it is a True Labour of Love. Bill has obviously spent years working on it. The very least that can be said about it is that it is readable, comprehensive, detailed and authoritative.
He obviously has a dedicated heart and clear mind, with good researching and writing skills. He is knowledgeable, being a flashlight collector himself, and is Publisher and Editor of "The Flashlight Collectors Newsletter", a printed leaflet.
(This is the chap I'm trying to persuade to join to moderate the proposed "Collectors Forum". I feel sure that there is no better qualified person on the planet.)
This tome is the first part of a projected two volume work, and so covers the history of flashlights from the earliest days up to about 1980. At that point, the coverage becomes less detailed, but still, some info is given up to 1990.
(For instance, Lithium powered torches, Diving lights and LED's are not covered - that will all be in the eventual second volume.)
The early history in particular is thoroughly detailed, especially the products of the EverReady company. EverReady co-operated fully with Bill, providing him with much background material. Besides the lights themselves, many of the illustrations are of early adverts, catalogues and ephemera. Mentions are made of companies short-lived and long forgotten: I wonder how Bill managed to find such arcane information at all, let alone in such detail.
I learned much from reading it. For example, I never would have thought that in the early days, a multitude of companies sprang up to exploit the new technology of batteries and incandescent lamps.
There really isn't much new to be found in flashlight designs. All manner of switches have been tried out: tailcap buttons surfaced around 100 years ago.
The "Whaley Sight Light", a light with a deep groove in the body, made to be held under a revolver barrel was Patent No 2,132,063, dated 1938.
The "Permissible Electric Flashlight", approved by the Bureau of Mines for use in potentially explosive atmospheres, was made in 1926, using a sprung-wire "safety fuse" arrangement to cut power if the lamp glass broke, exposing the filament.
And the photo of the EverReady stand at the 1904 St Louis World's Fair is an example of Luxury that SHOT 2002 in it's entirety couldn't possibly match !!
If you have an old flashlight of any type or description you want to identify, and even date, Bill probably has the info in the book.
(Stuart Schneider's book "Collecting Flashlights - with Value guide" is a basic introduction to the subject: Bill's book is a veritable Encyclopaedia.)
I would go so far as to say that it's an Investment for anyone interested in Flashlights. Even worth deferring the purchase of a light so as to buy the book.
And I really mean that ......
The indexing is good, but with a book as crammed full of information as this, I could wish for even more entries, and much cross-referencing. However, that's about the only quibble I can quibble, and I have tried quite hard to find anything to fault.
I've read the book through, with pleasure.
(To go back for "serious research" to some parts, I put a sheet of paper in the book to use for my own personal index notes, and thus found particular things quickly again.)
The price is normally $49.95, plus shipping within the US at $3.05. (California residents should add Sales Tax.)
I've contacted Bill, and as a special offer to CPF and SFDB members, until August 31, 2002, he has agreed to a $10 reduction in price, to $39.95, (plus printed matter shipping worldwide, at cost), to anyone who orders quoting
"Ref: lightlover".
(Without that reference, no discount ...... )
His e-mail address is: [email protected]
Land Address:
Bill Utley
P.O. Box 4095
Tustin, CA 92781
USA
Book Title: FLASHLIGHTS - with rarity and value guide"
Author, Copyright © 2001, Billy T. Utley
Publisher: ArrowPoint Press
SAN: 253-6099
ISBN: 0-9707559-4-5
Library of Congress Control Number:2001116699
lightlover
[Acknowledgement - I am proud to call Bill Utley an Internet-friend, and have asked if I can in any way help him with the production of the second edition of Volume 1, and the forthcoming Volume 2.
Note: I had to pay full price for my copy ...... ]
