Where does the kilroy switch name come from?

If you look at Arc Flashlights Arc6 instructions, they refer to a kilroy switch.

If I recall correctly, the mechanical design of the Arc6 is from McGizmo and his "piston drive" system. I've seen a reference here on CPF in a discussion on one of Nitecore's offerings (the ones with the "piston drive" style switch) to the kilroy as well.

A quick google search for kilroy on candlepowerforums produces 424 hits. I don't wish to sort through all of them to find my answer so I'll ask it now.

Where does this "kilroy" term come from, with regards to a switch design? is it a McGizmo concoction?

I like to think it got its name because it looks kinda like Kilroy's nose. I have no idea what the truth is.

The "Kilroy" term comes from WW II:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilroy_was_here

Also made very known in the movie "Kelly's heroes":
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065938/

The plot you can read here:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065938/

When you read in the end:
"Kelly, Oddball and Big Joe gain the German's assistance by offering him and his crew a share of the loot. They divide up the gold and go their separate ways, just in time to avoid meeting the still-clueless Colt (who is mistaken by the townspeople for Charles de Gaulle). Maitland himself enters the bank to find a less-than-respectful message left for him while his men, the self-serving heroes of the hour, make their escape."

This is what he saw on the wall:

That little fella is know as foo in Australia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foo_was_here

Yes, I'm quite familiar with the "Kilroy was here" graffiti, especially since I did a search, hoping to find the origin of the name with regards to the switch.

Kudos to KeyGrip for a sensible explanation, even though it was not obvious to me at first, it does make a little sense.

Still hoping for a definitive answer on the switch "kilroy"

Hi guys,

I gave the contact spring the name kilroy even though I never was certain if it was Kilroy or Killroy. As Keygrip has surmised, the name came from a resemblance to Kilroy's nose and I remember drawing Kilroy when I was a kid.

Some pleminary sketches of what the back side of the PCB needed to address looked like Kilroy to me and instead of using a generic term that could be confusing, Kilroy stuck. :shrug:

Really? Sweet.

Mr Roboto...

McGizmo said:

the name came from a resemblance to Kilroy's nose and I remember drawing Kilroy when I was a kid.

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Whew...for a minute there I thought that Roy was your machining assistant

Poor Roy. Living on an amazing island turning bits of aluminum and titanium into cutting edge tools. Someone's gotta do it.

long live the "kilroy" switch

TITAN1833 said:

long live the "kilroy" switch

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LOL .... looks kinda obscene

Its good to know I'm not the only one to spend almost an hour searching google and trying endless combinations for a kilroy switch. I gave up and was left thinking the switch looks like his nose.

Bill

kromeke said:

Yes, I'm quite familiar with the "Kilroy was here" graffiti, especially since I did a search, hoping to find the origin of the name with regards to the switch.

Kudos to KeyGrip for a sensible explanation, even though it was not obvious to me at first, it does make a little sense.

Still hoping for a definitive answer on the switch "kilroy"

Click to expand...

Thanks for the definitive answer from the original source of the name, McGizmo.

From here on out, we can safely call our bent wire switches a Kilroy switch, you read it on CPF first.

Yep there's a man that nose!:naughty:

Good one.......

TITAN1833 said:

Yep there's a man that nose!:naughty:

Click to expand...