History of flashlight

Lighting history

The development of mobile lighting tools can be traced back to the early stage of human society - primitive society. Since human beings learned to drill wood to make fire, mobile lighting has experienced the development process from fire, oil, candles to flashlights. Mobile lighting tools have experienced countless changes, from torch, oil lamp, candle, kerosene lamp to incandescent bulb flashlight, xenon bulb flashlight, to a variety of LED flashlights. The oil lamp has been improved many times. The oil used for oil lamps is changed from animal oil to vegetable oil, and finally replaced by kerosene. In order to prevent the wind from blowing out the fire, people put a cover on the oil lamp. From the early paper cover to the later glass cover, such oil lamp is not afraid of the wind and is convenient for outdoor mobile lighting. While using oil lamps for lighting, humans are still looking for other mobile lighting methods. Around the third century BC, someone made candles out of beeswax. In the 18th century, candles made of paraffin wax appeared and began to be mass produced by machines. More than 100 years ago, the British invented the gas lamp, which made a big step forward in human lighting methods. Torches, candles, oil lamps, gas lamps and other movable lighting tools are all lit by the light from burning materials. At the end of the 19th century, Edison invented the electric light, which has rewritten the history of human lighting, and mankind has entered the era of electric lighting.

Rudiment of flashlight

Edison invented the light bulb, Volt invented the battery, and invented the real flashlight. However, the luminous performance of the bulb is very unstable, which is always bright and dark, so it is called "Flashlight". It was not until the late 1960s, with the advent of alkaline batteries, that the "lighting function" of flashlights was completed.

First generation flashlight

Features: Tungsten filament bulb+alkaline battery. The first generation flashlight, commonly known as "old-fashioned flashlight", is made of galvanized iron sheet. The bulb is usually tungsten filament incandescent bulb with low luminous efficiency, short service life and easy to burn out. The battery is a large alkaline battery with large volume but low endurance. The shell of the flashlight is galvanized iron sheet, which is light but simple.

Second generation flashlight

Features: the bulb is filled with shielding gas+high-performance battery

The second generation flashlight has made a new breakthrough in both performance and appearance. A typical representative of the second generation flashlight is the krypton bulb+alkaline battery, which has a longer lamp life and longer battery life. With aluminum alloy as the shell material, the surface adopts oxidation treatment process, which is fine in technology, beautiful in appearance, rich in color and good in texture. Another typical example is the use of xenon bulb+lithium ion battery. The bulb has a longer life, greatly improved brightness, and higher color temperature. The concept of "tactical flashlight" was proposed, opening up a new market for flashlights.

Third generation flashlight

Features: LED, a new application of luminous technology. The color temperature has reached an unprecedented height, approaching or even exceeding the color temperature of white light, and the power consumption is lower. The main feature of the third generation flashlight is the use of LED bulbs. Due to the structure of the LED itself, the reliability is better. The luminous mode also appeared on the flashlight for the first time, and once introduced, it became popular.