Flashlight

A flashlight

electric torch or simply torch is a hand-held portable electric spotlight. It is known as a flashlight mainly in the United States and Canada and as a torch or electric torch in most Commonwealth countries.

History
An 1899 Eveready flashlight, one of the earliest flashlight models.
In 1896, Joshua Lionel Cowen invented a decorative lighting fixture for potted plants which consisted of a metal tube housing a light bulb and a dry cell battery. It failed commercially, and so Cowen sold his company and patents to Conrad Hubert that same year and turned his attention to building and selling model trains. Hubert renamed Cowen's company the American Electrical Novelty & Manufacturing Company and, recognizing the true potential of Cowen's invention, hired David Misell to produce a tubular flashlight for portable use. They donated some models to the New York City police, who responded favorably to it.

These early flashlights ran on zinc-carbon batteries, which were poor at providing sustained currents; they would run down after a while and needed to rest before being usable again. Since these early flashlights also used energy-inefficient carbon filament bulbs, this happened rather quickly, and consequently they could only be used in brief flashes.

General information
A high power torch
A typical flashlight consists of a small incandescent lightbulb with associated parabolic reflector, powered by electric batteries, and with an electric power switch. The components are mounted in a housing that contains the necessary electric circuit and provides ease of handling, a means of access to the batteries for replacement, and a clear covering over the lightbulb for its protection.

Although a relatively simple device, its invention did not occur until the late 19th century because it depended upon the earlier invention of the electric battery and incandescent light bulb.

Military Flashlights

Military flashlights have come a long way from the brass body metal screw days of World War II. The flashlight used during those days was called the TL-122A. This flashlight and all other subsequent versions of it had their head angled at ninety degrees to the body. The next flashlight in this range was the TL-122B. It had a plastic body but it had a foul smell about it due to the presence of a waxy compound that was used to seal it. The TL-122C had a design which was moisture proof and the quality of the plastic was improved too. The last in this range was the TL-122D. This one had lens filters along with a spare bulb. In the Vietnam era, the same design was used but now the flashlight also had a switch guard.

At present, the straight line design (or the wand design) is in vogue with the military. There are a number of different models available which have the straight line design. Use of rubber seals and waterproofing technology are basic to all military flashlights.

There are special batteries, known as BA-3030 batteries that are used for cold conditions instead of the regular D cell battery or the BA-30 battery. These days, most of the flashlights used by the officers in military services, use xenon lamps. These are extremely powerful and have a very high light intensity. At present, lithium batteries are the most commonly used power source for these flashlights. The run time of these flashlights can be anywhere between one hour to twenty hours.

The weapon lights are required to be more powerful than the ordinary army torch. They give light of an intensity of a hundred and twenty lumens or more. A number of them also use LED technology for light. The price range of these flashlights can be anywhere between $35.00 and $550.00.

Sport Flashlights

With so many flashlights in the market

it can be bothersome to find out whether any flashlight exists which serves the needs of sportspeople. In fact, there are companies and brands completely dedicated in producing high-quality, super-bright sport flashlights.

Companies like Work Lights

Amazon.com, Dealtime, Sports Authority, Target, Altitude Sports, 125 West, Just Sports and Leisure, Summit Hut, J.C. Whitney, and Low Price 4 U offer a variety of sport flashlights of different types and different brands.

Brands such as Princeton Tec

Garrity, MagLite, Streamlight, Inova, Vector, and Petzl provide excellent quality flashlights, especially suited for sports and other outdoor excursions.

An amazing range of sports flashlights

is available at Sports Authority. Products of brands like Streamlight, Inova, MagLite, Coleman, Princeton, and Garrity flood its catalogs. ‘Streamlight Ultra Stinger Flashlight with Charger’, ‘Inova X 5 Flashlights Innovative Technology’, ‘Princeton Tec Impact II Waterproof LED Flashlight’, ‘Coleman LED Hybrid Flashlight’ and many others can all be found at Sports Authority.

Amazon.com also offers Contek Compact 5 LED Headlight

which allows others to locate you in case you are lost.
Flashlights ideal for all sports are available at Altitude Sports. Dealing in MagLite and Petzl sports flashlights, the aforementioned company also offers a hundred percent satisfaction guarantee and hence allows refunds within 30 days.

‘Sportsman Best 19 LED Rechargeable Flashlight’

is an excellent sports flashlight. With emergency flasher and night vision, it has 19 super-bright LEDs and different settings like ‘low setting’, ‘high setting’ and more to suit your needs.

If you are looking for Princeton Tec products

you can find them at companies like Work Lights, Dealtime, Sports Authority, and Summit Hut. Research shows that Princeton is held to be excellent in creating sports and outdoor flashlights. Its products are waterproof to 1000 feet minimum, making it ideal for scuba diving and other water sports.

Mini Flashlights

A flashlight is perhaps, the most essential tool a person can have. Whether it is a stray case of power failure or a need to reach those places which are not properly lit, a flashlight is always handy. Having a large and heavy flashlight may be alright if you are keeping it at home, but if its something that you want to take with you wherever you go, then you need something that is preferably small, compact and light. The market is full of such flashlights. These mini flashlights come in a variety of sizes, shapes and designs. Look carefully and you will surely find something that fits your pocket. You can find a mini flashlight for as low as $5.00 or as high as $50.00 or more, depending on what you are looking for.

Consumers claim that some of these flashlights can last you for as long as ten years without any need to repair them. If you buy yourself a mini flashlight of good quality, there is very little chance that you will be disappointed. They are extremely dependable and your flashlight is bound to see you through any tough situation that you may encounter.

The size of these products is extremely deceptive. They may look extremely small and fragile but some of them are virtually indestructible. They come with a wide variety of accessories like key chains, whistles, Swiss knives, screwdrivers, pens, emergency warning lights, alarms, FM radios with scanners, megaphone, and the list is perhaps, endless. There are some mini flashlights available in the market which can be conveniently attached to your mobile phone, making things even more convenient for you. The presence of crank handles and dynamo generators inside these mini flashlights take away the danger of the battery of your flashlight dying out when you need it the most. A mini flashlight is an extremely popular choice for use as a promotional item by a company or as party favors.

LED

Recently, flashlights which use light-emitting diodes (LEDs) instead of conventional lightbulbs have become available. LEDs have existed for decades, mainly as low-power indicator lights. In 1999, Lumileds Corporation of San Jose, CA, introduced the Luxeon LED, a high-power white-light emitter. For the first time this made possible LED flashlights with power and running time better than some incandescent lights. The first Luxeon LED flashlight was the Arc LS in 2001.

LEDs can be significantly more efficient at lower power levels, hence use less battery energy than normal lightbulbs. Such flashlights have longer battery lifetimes, in some cases hundreds of hours, although the LED efficiency advantage diminishes at higher power levels. LEDs also survive sharp blows that often break conventional lightbulbs.

LED flashlights are often electronically regulated to maintain constant light output as the batteries fade. By contrast a non-regulated flashlight becomes progressively dimmer, sometimes spending much of the total running time below 50 percent brightness level.

A common misconception about LED-based flashlights is that they generate no heat. While lower-power LED flashlights generate little heat, more powerful LED lights do generate significant amounts of heat – although not as radiant energy – as the semiconductor junction inherently dissipates heat. For this reason higher-powered LED flashlights usually have aluminum bodies and can become quite warm during use. The use of aluminum is largely due to its thermal properties, acting as a heatsink for the high-power LED. Very few high-output LED flashlights use a plastic body due to plastic being a thermal insulator rather than a conductor.