Laminated Glass Lens?

Actually, this is more of a suggestion rather than anything. Considering the philisophical issues of lexan vs glass, it seems like a laminated glass lens would be the best of both worlds. Even better a laminated saphire lens!

Hmm?

-john

Sounds Cool. Check into it for us...

John,
I have 2 old lanterns that use laminated glass. One is a Navy lantern from the 1930s or 40s that is delaminating with age. The other is a "mining" lantern that has fine "chicken wire" laminated between the glass pieces. Laminated glass would break but not shatter. Maybe laminated glass would not handle high temperatures from today's "hot" bulbs? I would think the cost would not be too much of a factor if you're already spending $100 or so on a high-end flashlight.
Regards,
Kirk

Laminated glass is typically made with something like polyvinylbutyral as the interlayer. It might work for lower power bulbs or large lamps with plenty of space between the bulb and glass but it would likely be rapidly broken down by the heat of uprated bulbs such as some Welch Allyn or Carley units.

Wilkey

I have done some looking into the lens question. You can get sapphire, but it is really spendy, at least $ 50 for a small lens so far. Tranparency was not as high as an UCL. Scratch resistance was excellent.

The grocery store scanners often use diamond like carbon on glass coatings. Tough but relatively poor transparency.

Quartz lens - looks like it could be done in volume for $25 (cost). Very clear, surprisingly, not really any more scratch resistant that a good glass.

There are some AR (abrasion resistant) polycarbonates. Cheaper, decent scratch resistance, tough, not as clear as UCL.

The search goes on.