Got A Light? Origin of the Flashlight

The tubular flashlight as we know it was invented in 1896 by David Misell. Before then people were left to very unsafe methods utilizing oil lamps for finding their way in the dark. Early flashlight models were very inefficient due to limitations in both battery and light bulb design. They were capable of producing only short pulses of light, hence the name flashlight. Also, they were big and bulky due the large size of the batteries at the time. Development of more reliable flashlights followed closely with the evolution of batteries and light bulbs. The invention of the smaller and lighter weight D cell battery in 1888 made possible the development of the first truly practical hand-held portable flashlight. Brighter and longer lasting light bulbs were made possible in1906 with the replacement of Edison?s carbon filament with tungsten.

Historical "gem" of the day. <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Thanks for shining a little light on the subject.

<img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Here's a fictional(?) story for the holiday season, http://flashlightboys.com

Interesting!
Question: We know what "AAA", "AA, "C" and "D" cells look like. What ever happened to "A" and "B" cells?

Here's some info on A & B batteries.

http://www.angelfire.com/ma2/AdamVon/tobatt.html

http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a920731.html

Lemme follow a question with a question:

If a No. 2 lead pencil is the most popular, why isn't it called a No.1 lead pencil. Which reminds me of a government audit once.
The auditor was puzzled by a charge of $5 for a "hand held communication inscriber". He was advised that the item was a lowly lead pencil. <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />