Carbide bike lamps still being made!!!!

TOP, please start a thread in buy/sell/trade about them......I for one am very interested.
(if Top does not apply then please forgive me.)
 
TOP?!? not quite...

Took me a moment to realise what you were saying- I was never more than a three-striped E-5 Buck Sergant- but I was a hard-bar in the medical corps! Nearly every E-5 in medcorp is a SPEC-5, softbar. Mine was a command rank. Ranger qualification will do that- however,Top is a referance to the First Sgt. - that's an E-8, three rockers above me. Never got that far. Was never addressed by that title. Just call me Sarge...
Yes, I will go to buy/sell/trade once I get the particulars- if you figure that's where it belongs. I might consider being the depot for these little beauties if I gotta order a chuckload at a go. I work in Surgery in a little Mom-and-Pop hospital in Tonasket and as we currently have no Surgeon buisness has been a bit on the slow side. If I wind up dealing with merchandise for MBs, things could be worse I suppose... hmm, selling stuff for a hobby/transportation/obsession that is FUN, I think I can live with that... maybe...
the Old Sgt.
 
I have a reproduction carbide miner's lamp and it is about as bright as a cigarette lighter.
Mind you is is not a fancy one like the bicycle lamp discussed in this thread, but I have my reservations concerning if the bicycle lamp is bright enough to use while traveling 20 to 30 mph down the road at night. As for a static display item, the bicycle lamp looks awesome!
 
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I have a reproduction carbide miner's lamp and it is about as bright as a cigarette lighter.
Mind you is is not a fancy one like the bicycle lamp discussed in this thread, but I have my reservations concerning if the bicycle lamp is bright enough to use while traveling 20 to 30 mph down the road at night. As for a static display item, the bicycle lamp looks awesome!

I've found the occasional carbide lamp on eBay (thought about wiring one up with battery lights, but it's just a little too retro for my bike) and the lamps I've found were for motorcycles... so SOMEONE at some point thought carbides were bright enough for motor vehicles

if you've got the right reflector and lens, they can put out a good deal of light-- just think of those light prisms used on old ships... I don't know what they are called, but they were like very small sky lights to bring light to below deck

Checking ebay right now, and you can buy carbide by the pound there... it might be more per pound but you don't have to buy huge amounts...
 
As before

They were also used on cars during this time- of course those were a bigger operation with the gas generator on the running board and the tubes running for-and-aft to headlights/tail-lights (which had to be lit pretty close to simultaneouse to avoid explosions), but apparently electric won out due to conveniance as I have read several contemporary accounts complaining about their dim nature by comparison. A miner's lamp works in a windless, close-to situation without lens or bezel, sometimes without reflectors-it will not compete with these.
the Old Sgt.
 
They were also used on cars during this time- of course those were a bigger operation with the gas generator on the running board and the tubes running for-and-aft to headlights/tail-lights (which had to be lit pretty close to simultaneouse to avoid explosions), but apparently electric won out due to conveniance as I have read several contemporary accounts complaining about their dim nature by comparison. A miner's lamp works in a windless, close-to situation without lens or bezel, sometimes without reflectors-it will not compete with these.
the Old Sgt.

Point taken.
 
Aaaaaargh!!!

Just got word back- the wretched things are no longer in production!!! I am currently trying to negotiate a limited run production, but I'm not sure that will fly... I guess it was too good to be true and all that.
Even so, the design of the thing being what it is... the thought comes to mind to produce it in PVC as an electric operation that LOOKS like a gas rig, painted to look like brass, copper or nickle... whatcha think?
the Old Sgt.
 
you might be able to fabricate them out of copper pipe and sheeting-- one site I just googled has diameters up to 4" for pipe...

Also, even though the place in India isn't making them anymore, there might be retailers out there that they have sold to who have some left...?
 
OR... the ones I was looking at on eBay the other day, the ones with bids were in the $20-30 range (or less) which is probably as cheap as the place in India was probably selling them...
 

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