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Old 30th Oct 2016, 4:58 pm   #41
McMurdo
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Default Re: Old torches - anyone here collect them?

Torches from 1937. 'Mandaw' was the brand of M & A Wolff of London, who became absorbed into Ever Ready.
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Old 30th Oct 2016, 4:59 pm   #42
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and more torches!
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Old 30th Oct 2016, 4:59 pm   #43
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Default Re: Old torches - anyone here collect them?

and a few more. Grosvenor torches were made by the Grosvenor Electric Battery company who were taken over by Ever Ready. Stesco was the brand of I & M Steiner of Charleville Road W14.
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Old 30th Oct 2016, 7:06 pm   #44
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Quote:
Originally Posted by broadgage View Post
An LED bulb is a good upgrade, indeed one supplier of these LED bulbs features an Eveready powerbeam lantern in their advert.
Indeed. I replaced the filament MES bulb in my old Petzl 'Zoom' with a Nicelite NL331 LED and it's made a heck of a difference - lasting reasonably well off three AA Eneloops and Petzl adaptor as opposed to the 4.5V 'flat' battery specified. The Bro-in-Law's latest Clulite SLA handlamp has an LED chip at the focal point and it's way brighter than its incandecent predecessor.

Quote:
Originally Posted by broadgage View Post
A particular merit of this design of hand lamp is almost complete immunity from damage caused by leaking batteries.
That's as maybe... What they're not immune from damage from is eejits like me cleaning the case with 'Colclene'. The best plastic adhesive (which is how the damn stuff should've been marketed!) known to man. The plastic must be polystyrene-based, and it just melted into roughness.

Some of these handlamps were badge-engineered as Exide too.
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Old 30th Oct 2016, 7:16 pm   #45
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Quote:
Originally Posted by McMurdo View Post
Torches from 1937. 'Mandaw' was the brand of M & A Wolff of London, who became absorbed into Ever Ready.
Did that U.S. made 'Powerlite' really have an 800' beam?

I have a Miller dynamo set. Bought brand-new about 2002 and identical to the one I had as a kid in the 1960s. But made in India. I suspect, like lots of ex-British manufactured products, they got the presses and tools and just carried on making stuff...
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Old 30th Oct 2016, 7:32 pm   #46
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Default Re: Old torches - anyone here collect them?

Interesting to see that what became the Pifco lantern was originally an American design.
I'm puzzled by the Grosvenor, claimed to have no switch. Did the 'super capacity' cells just keep it continuously lit for a year?
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Old 30th Oct 2016, 9:37 pm   #47
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Default Re: Old torches - anyone here collect them?

I was wondering that. It refers to reversing the bulb to protect it when not in use, so possibly that was how it was used, being turned off by removing the bulb.

Thanks for posting the pictures. Dad used to have a focussing 2-cell "Searchlight" Ever-Ready torch like the one in the first picture of #42.

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Old 30th Oct 2016, 11:25 pm   #48
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Default Re: Old torches - anyone here collect them?

Electric torches are a sub-set of the wide range of old lamps collected by fellow members of the Historic Lighting Club.

I have lots of torches, all of which work, but nothing that could really be described as 'old' apart from this odd thing. Annoyingly, the battery has gone flat and I don't have a spare to hand, but the torch works - although not that well.

I confess to needing more and more light when doing close work these days. The best torch I have is a 150 lumen head torch (£20, Maplins) which is absolutely superb.

Phil
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Old 30th Oct 2016, 11:29 pm   #49
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As it's called a 'turnlight' I suspect you turned the lens to make contact and turn it on, just like a modern mini maglite. Leaving it permanently on might have appeared extravagant and wasteful in the mid 1930's
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Old 30th Oct 2016, 11:55 pm   #50
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No, Kevin, there's an on-off slide switch at the side, and the red/white/green lenses slide across to give the desired colour. Someone mentioned in an earlier post about an 'under-pillow' torch, and I guess this might be one!
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Old 31st Oct 2016, 1:10 am   #51
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For as long as I can remember, my father had a black rubber torch. The upper one in the first picture is, as far as I know, this torch, unless it was replaced at some point with a later version of exactly the same type. If it is the original one, then it could even date back as far as the 50s, if members can confirm that these torches were actually made that long ago. This torch is an 'Ever Ready' make, however, the one below in the picture is made by 'United Electrical' and was in the family from years ago. Both torches work and will have some ancient, out of date batteries still fitted - I just looked in the lower one and it's got 1998 cells in. As a youngster I always craved after one of those Pifco lantern types and several times considered spending my pocket money on one, but seem to remember that they were well over a pound in the early 60s, so ended up with a grey version of the rubber torch. The grey rubber torch is now long gone - broken switch and I seem to think rubber rot rather than battery rot. I seem to remember a lot of very thick, dense fogs back in those days and how I liked to shine the torch into the fog at night and seeing the length of the beam, with my torch beating my pals torches with the power of its beam. This torch had a particularly good reflector and a special (at the time) pre-focused bulb and had a far more powerful beam than any of those black rubber torches - I seem to think that it wasn't made by Ever Ready, but I could be wrong.

The next torch is a type that I don't think has been mentioned so far and perhaps could be called another 'under pillow' type. It's made by Ever Ready and my parents had it for many years. They may well have bought it new, or it could have been one that latterly belonged to my grandmother - it seems to have been around forever. I have never used this torch myself and it would no doubt work if I took the time to re-stuff that battery with AA cells.
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Old 31st Oct 2016, 1:23 am   #52
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I think that this Tandy torch may have belonged to my younger brother. I often use this torch when looking into difficult areas of radios etc. As it takes two AA cells, I fit it with AA cells that have become too low to work in other kit, but still have enough to light the bulb in the torch. I dropped it a while ago and there's a bit of unimportant plastic broken off inside - I must get round to sticking it back on to keep its originality.

The last picture shows some battery rot in a couple of other torches that I've just discovered - caught just in time!
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Old 31st Oct 2016, 1:34 am   #53
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My Dad used to have one of those rubber torches! I remember it gave up with a duff switch, it ended up in the bin That would have been in the early 90's.

I got my little Ever ready torch going last night, fitted a 1.5v bulb and then bodged in an AA cell with some cardboard wrapped round it, and then filled the remaining space with pennies! Anyone know what voltage bulb should be fitted to one of those small Ever ready torches?

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Old 31st Oct 2016, 1:51 am   #54
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Quote:
Anyone know what voltage bulb should be fitted to one of those small Ever ready torches?
1.5 volt is about right if it's just a single cell.

2.5 volt if it's two cells at 3 volts.

3.5 volt if it's three cells at 4.5 volts.

4.5 volts if it's four cells at 6 volts.

Increase the last three to the terminal voltage of the battery for longer bulb and battery life, but at the expense of the light output.
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Old 31st Oct 2016, 1:57 am   #55
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Quote:
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My Dad used to have one of those rubber torches! I remember it gave up with a duff switch, it ended up in the bin. That would have been in the early 90's.
The switches did seem to give trouble after a lot of use. The one on the really old Ever Ready rubber torch that was my fathers is very hard to switch on and could well have been repaired by me for him after complete failure many years ago. They seem to have made that type of torch over many years and if that black torch isn't late 50s, then it has to be early 60s. I've been thinking about the grey one that I had and it could have been an Exide version.
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Old 31st Oct 2016, 5:06 am   #56
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I have just has a look in the dark corner where a red Maglite with focus lives. It has got good batteries in it and is used often.
It is photo time
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Old 31st Oct 2016, 9:02 am   #57
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Quote:
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I have never used this torch myself and it would no doubt work if I took the time to re-stuff that battery with AA cells.
Why go to all that effort when you can still buy the proper batteries for it? I'd be tempted to stick an LED replacement 'drop-in' lamp though.
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Old 31st Oct 2016, 9:17 am   #58
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Default Re: Old torches - anyone here collect them?

One word: PIFCO!

Below are some scans from their 1965/6 catalogue. I think we can safely say that if you wanted and torch and Pifco didn't make it... it probably didn't exist!!

Steve
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Old 31st Oct 2016, 9:20 am   #59
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... and the rest!

As a torch & battery obsessed child my eyes would really light up (!) at the sight of those displays of dozens of torch bulbs in the hardware shop
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Old 31st Oct 2016, 10:06 am   #60
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I used to have a space gun torch like the Zetaray, I had forgotten all about it. Mine had a larger front lens and a buzzer that could be switched on was well, but did rather dim the light when you did.
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