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submitted 1 year ago by maniajack@lemmy.world to c/til@lemmy.world

David Misell, an English inventor, invented the first flashlight and patented it in 1899. It used three D batteries in a tube that was used as the handle of the device. The batteries supplied enough power to create light through an incandescent bulb.

The name “flash” light was a knock on the reliability of the model. These units could not be left on for long because of the zinc-carbon batteries that couldn’t hold an electrical current for long periods of time, thus creating only a “flash” of light.

These early flashlights were nothing more than a novelty at the time. The batteries were inefficient, and the bulbs were dull. Improvements of the batteries and bulbs by Eveready and others started to increase the popularity of flashlights by the second decade of the 1900s.

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[-] JackGreenEarth@lemm.ee 23 points 1 year ago

I just call it a torch, which I think is etymologically related to the flaming things.

[-] janNatan@lemmy.ml 10 points 1 year ago

Oi, how's it, gov'na?

[-] NoIWontPickaName@kbin.social 5 points 1 year ago
[-] swab148@lemm.ee 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Oi lemme see your torch loicense

this post was submitted on 21 Aug 2023
209 points (98.6% liked)

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