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Other Vintage Household Electrical or Electromechanical Items For discussions about other vintage (over 25 years old) electrical and electromechanical household items. See the sticky thread for details.

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Old 3rd Dec 2018, 7:08 pm   #161
The Philpott
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Default Re: My old Black & Decker 'Super Spotliter' F950

If we can find the correct 'code' for this special size you might have a chance.
The only short T5 i have is a bug light, 5.75" end to end, 5" cap to cap. It is labelled FL4BLB (blacklight-blue)- so what does the L stand for..?
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Old 4th Dec 2018, 12:12 am   #162
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Default Re: My old Black & Decker 'Super Spotliter' F950

Fluorescent Lamp 4 Black Light Blue?
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Old 4th Dec 2018, 4:43 pm   #163
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Default Re: Old torches - anyone here collect them?

Thread reopened.
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Old 4th Dec 2018, 5:56 pm   #164
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Default Re: Old torches - anyone here collect them?

Thanks for that, Graham.

Update about the fluorescent tube - I’ve just had a response from a main UK agent for Black & Decker, saying in effect “sorry, no longer available”.

At least I have a working tube, which I’ll use sparingly until replacements turn up!
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Old 4th Dec 2018, 7:55 pm   #165
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Default Re: Old torches - anyone here collect them?

I must admit that on efficiency grounds (and needing more light as I get older) I am coming round to the LED way of thinking- they have bridged the choice gap between 2700k warm and 6000k ice white really well. I held up a car wiring loom under a LAP 5000k luminaire today and observed that historic CRI problems with blue, violet,grey etc have simply gone away.

Torch-wise I have hung onto my Rayovac-Vidor roughnecks and a 6 cell Maglight- both with LED upgrades. In the case of the latter the upgrade is bespoke for the Maglight since lesser torch heads can't be guaranteed to have sufficient heat dissipation to use that lamp- which consumes 200mA and throws out a huge amount of light.

There's always a place on the nightstand for an usherette's torch (output 0.5 of a glimmer) when nature calls- nobody likes to have their retinas etched at 0300 after all!

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Old 5th Dec 2018, 7:00 pm   #166
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Default Re: Old torches - anyone here collect them?

Agreed: for nightstand duty I use a 1980's Ever Ready pocket torch loaded with two pen cell batteries that are too exhausted to work in a radio. The present pair of alkalines, a Sony and an Energiser, are about 10 years past their "best by" dates, with no sign of leakage.
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Old 5th Dec 2018, 7:29 pm   #167
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Default Re: Old torches - anyone here collect them?

Somewhere in the attic I've got several of the 1960s British Army-issue 90-degree flashlights that take a couple of "D"-cells - one was issued to me when I was in the school Cadet-force (and they didn't ask for it back when I left) - the others were in a 'job lot' of stuff I bought from Anchor Surplus a couple of decades back.

I've also got a "camouflage"-pattern pair of Maglites - one 4-D-cell the other two-AA - which I bought at the USAF Croughton PX in the early-1980s. I guess they'll count as 'vintage' someday.

Though intriguing (illuminating? pun intended) as a piece of history, I have to agree with the comment that LEDs and Li-Ion technologies have delivered a massive leap forwards in cheap, reliable, portable illumination. My 4-cell Maglite has a 3-Watt "Cree" LED retrofit bulb/reflector that is really most impressive. I must do the same to the AA-cell version someday.
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Old 5th Dec 2018, 8:13 pm   #168
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Default Re: Old torches - anyone here collect them?

The Ever Ready Trimlite. (Or was it Trimlight?)

Longevity courtesy of the simplest switch on the planet. I had two, one red one blue, this being salvaged from the best bits. The blue one was the best but unfortunately got destroyed.

The one pictured had been adorned with a leftover RAF roundel decal from an Airfix kit for no particular reason (I was 8, after all) which was a distinct advantage when i mislaid it on the school bus and the driver's mate (AKA kid supervisor) came walking up the aisle waving it around and looking for the owner.

V: Anyone lost a torch?
DP: Oh, yeah, thanks it's mine.
GM: No it's mine!
DP: It's mine, have a look on the side, it's got a roundel on it!
GM: SO HAS MINE!

A message going back in time to the 8 yr old Gregory Meakin, if you're going to try deception, make it convincing! (Oh names changed, of course....)

So, saved by a roundel, it then survived a week's school trip to Stalag Luft Bognor Regis....and so it goes on.

Dave
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Old 5th Dec 2018, 9:31 pm   #169
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Default Re: Old torches - anyone here collect them?

Quote:
Originally Posted by G6Tanuki View Post
Somewhere in the attic I've got several of the 1960s British Army-issue 90-degree flashlights that take a couple of "D"-cells - one was issued to me when I was in the school Cadet-force (and they didn't ask for it back when I left) - the others were in a 'job lot' of stuff I bought from Anchor Surplus a couple of decades back.
When our daughters were little I bought them a NATO-spec signalling lamp from RS: 6230-99-457-5145 made by Nitech Ltd. I loved such things as a child and I really wanted it for myself.

But dim! Sheesh! It's no more than a signalling or map-reading lamp with a red or green filter: hardly a 'dazzle-me' torch for exploring. I suppose it's better for strategic reasons. It takes a little pea-type lamp with two protruding wires.


I bought a Bardic signalling lamp several years ago and fitted it with an LED. It's ex-MoD NOS and still running it on an original 3R25 (AD28) 4.5V battery that I had in my Ultra Transistor Six 1957 radio, and which are still available.
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Old 6th Dec 2018, 1:30 am   #170
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Default Re: Old torches - anyone here collect them?

We have got a red Maglite with a focusing lens.
It switches on and focuses by rotating the lens.
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Old 10th Dec 2018, 1:46 pm   #171
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Default Re: Old torches - anyone here collect them?

My two-AA camo Maglite does the twist-to-turn-on/off-and-focus thing, whereas the 4-D-cell one (now LEDized) has the twist-to-focus but a waterproof rubber push-button on the barrel for on/off. It's my flashlight-of-choice for late night dog-walking in the woods.

Maglite construction is definitely 'built to last' with rubber sealing O-rings for the battery-access stopper and the focus assembly. I'm careful what batteries I use in them though - don't want any Duracells going leaky in there!
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Old 28th May 2019, 11:40 pm   #172
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Default Re: Old torches - anyone here collect them?

This is a torch which I will resist the urge to add an LED bulb. Particularly if it turns out the blue bulb still works.

The model is a pocket lamp called the Duchess. I think it is a Ward and Goldstone of Pendleton lamp. At least it sports their patent number. The patent also covered a pocket lamp with the bulb in the centre which was branded Goldtone which was one of their trade names.

I will try it out when I decide what to do about the battery. It looks like a two cell version of the 3LR12 type. I have not found any current 2LR12s. The closest I have found for size is the American Eveready Tungsten 750. Possibly one of the GB Ever Ready 2 Cells (1450 Midget, 1678 Gnome, 730 Standard, 88 Bijou) would work but I have only seen these in price lists, no sizes or photos.

Though I suppose to be accurate I should make one of the Ward and Goldstone Volex brand batteries. No doubt they would have supplied their torches with their own batteries but again no dimensions or photographs found so far.
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Old 29th May 2019, 7:31 am   #173
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Default Re: Old torches - anyone here collect them?

There's a nice piece of Art Deco functionality. Someone liked it enough to remove the cells before storing it away. With a bulb that unusual i'd want to deplete the cells in something else before installing them, to keep the initial voltage down.

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Old 29th May 2019, 5:08 pm   #174
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Default Re: Old torches - anyone here collect them?

Thanks. Good advice. I have been concentrating on working out the power supply but looking at MES bulbs I can not see anything like it. Even setting aside the colour I can not see that shape available anywhere and the shape is part of the design.

I have seen a couple of folk selling these describing them as NOS. The vintage telephone site and a chap in South Africa. The latter has this model in different colours but he does not ship outside RSA.
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Old 29th May 2019, 5:20 pm   #175
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Default Re: Old torches - anyone here collect them?

If you are making up a replica battery, maybe you could incorporate a voltage regulator ?
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Old 29th May 2019, 6:21 pm   #176
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Default Re: Old torches - anyone here collect them?

Clear squashed torch bulbs of that type are shown in the 1911 GEC catalogue and seem to have still been available in the 1930's: Hornby "0" gauge electric trains used them. In the late 1950's I inherited an old torch, long since lost, that had a blown clear bulb of that type. AFAIR mine also had that white glass behind the filament to provide an integral reflector. I couldn't get an exact replacement, but a normal spherical bulb fitted ok. I guess manufacture in the UK never resumed after the war.

Last edited by emeritus; 29th May 2019 at 6:38 pm. Reason: Correcting smartphone autotext.
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Old 29th May 2019, 6:43 pm   #177
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Default Re: Old torches - anyone here collect them?

IME the flat shaped torch bulbs often had the rear part of white opal glass so as to function as a basic reflector.
Primarily to direct the light forwards in an appliance without a reflector.

There used to be a popular type of wall mounted light that used a 3 volt cycle lamp battery and an opal backed, flat shaped bulb.

In homes without electric lights, one of these battery lights mounted just inside the front door was easily located and turned on by touch.
In houses with electric lights, one of these battery lights could usefully be mounted next to the fusebox.

Also popular for lighting sheds, garages, outside toilets, and in the last war for domestic air raid shelters.

AFAIK these opal backed flat shaped bulbs are no longer made, they command a high price as some vintage model cars used them as headlights.

I have seen these bulbs in red, possibly to preserve night vision, but never in blue.
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Old 29th May 2019, 6:43 pm   #178
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Default Re: Old torches - anyone here collect them?

I suspected as much. I have tried standard spherical bulbs in both the Goltone and the Duchess and they do not look right. Both models expose the bulbs, that is there is no glass cover over the bulb. The bulb shape is an integral part of their design hence the spherical bulbs looking odd. When the bulbs eventually give up I would need to look at other options to keep the shape.
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Old 29th May 2019, 6:55 pm   #179
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Default Re: Old torches - anyone here collect them?

That flat-shaped bulb envelope was also used in WWII-era Enigma machines, and I guess they are almost as rare today.
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Old 29th May 2019, 6:56 pm   #180
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Default Re: Old torches - anyone here collect them?

What a pain. You just know that someone somewhere has a box of NOS lamps collecting dust, it's just finding them that's the problem.

It has been known for a 'wanted' request on this Forum to result in ads springing up shortly afterwards on ebay or other popular trading sites.

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