Flashlights were originally invented by Joshua Lionel Cowen in 1898, but he did not intend them to be a portable lighting device. Instead, Cowen intended his design to be sold as accent lighting to go with potted plants. Cowen was not commercially successful and eventually sold his company to Conrad Hubert.

Hubert hired an inventor to use Cowen’s design to create what is known today as a flashlight or electric torch. To begin marketing this new product, Hubert gave them to New York City police officers to use on the job. These lanterns were very different from the ones we use today. They could only be used in short bursts of light due to low power elements and inability to hold current. In fact, this inability to maintain a beam of light is where the name flashlight comes from.

The first lanterns used incandescent bulbs and many lights on the market today still use this type of lighting. One of the most popular brands of incandescent flashlights is Maglite, which provides a high powered beam with many of its products. Of course, there are always those who want more than what is available, and it is a common pastime among lantern enthusiasts to replace light sources or other parts of these products with items that will produce a much more powerful beam of light.

In addition to incandescent bulbs, the modern age has brought us many more ways to create light. Probably the next most popular light source among flashlights these days is the LED light. LED stands for Light Emitting Diodes. The first LED flashlight hit the market in 2001, and since LED lighting is so much more efficient than incandescent, many manufacturers have produced LED flashlights ever since. In addition to longer battery life, LED lights also have the advantage of being more durable than regular incandescent lights, making them an obvious choice for manufacturers who want to produce long-lasting products. For people who need a flashlight that can take a beating, LED lighting is a great option and can be found in brands like Maglite, Surefire, and Pelican.

Another light source that has been developed in recent years is the High Intensity Discharge, or HID, bulb. An example of this type of bulb can be found in the Surefire Hellfire Weaponlight. An HID bulb is very shock resistant and incredibly bright. In fact, the 3,000 lumens generated by the Hellfire Weaponlight can illuminate targets several football fields away. However, HID lighting has yet to make a big impact on consumer flashlights because they are expensive and require large power sources, making them less portable than standard handheld flashlights.

In addition to standard commercial flashlights like Maglite, there is also a whole market dedicated to high-end flashlights. These manufacturers provide specialty lights that are made from special materials, are waterproof, and provide brightness that far exceeds that of a standard flashlight. These products are designed with specific uses or collectibles in mind, and can range in price from just over a hundred dollars to several hundred dollars! Some examples of high-end lights include Streamline’s HID Litebox, which is a million-candle power search light, and Surefire’s M6 Guardian, which is often used as a tactical light by police. These types of lights are often collected and traded by lantern enthusiasts around the world. In fact, there is even an annual Lantern Convention and several museums dedicated entirely to lanterns!

As flashlight technology developed over the years, inventive people came up with more and more ways to use this product, which meant that more and more types of flashlights were created. For example, years ago someone came up with the idea of ​​putting lights on hard hats for use in mining, and more recently, tool companies began designing smaller lights that could be strapped to the head for hands-on work. free. In the last century, crafters have seen lights that hang, lights that can be attached to the wall or work space, and lights with flexible cylinders that can be wrapped around rods or other things. At the beginning of the development of lanterns, the lights reflected the times, and some of them even looked like lanterns. Seeing how lanterns have changed over the years with culture and technology, you can only wonder what the next generation of lights will look like!