Editing Flashlight (section)

== History ==
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| image1 = Patent 617,592.png
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| caption1 = Misell's Patent 617,592 line drawings show cross section of flashlight with three cells, reflector, and lens
| image2 = 1899 Eveready flashlight.jpg
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| caption2 = The 1899 flashlight was a fiber tube with brass end caps and bulls-eye glass lens at one end. 
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| image3=Ever-Ready flashlight ad (1899).jpg
| caption3=January 1899 Ever-Ready flashlight ad mentioning the proceedings against the alleged patent-infringing rival companies.
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The first [[dry cell]] battery was invented in 1887. Unlike previous batteries, it used a paste electrolyte instead of a liquid. This was the first battery suitable for portable electrical devices, as it did not spill or break easily and worked in any orientation. The first mass-produced dry cell batteries came in 1896, and the invention of portable electric lights soon followed. Portable hand-held electric lights offered advantages in convenience and safety over [[Torch|(combustion) torches]], [[candle]]s and [[lantern]]s. The electric lamp was odorless, smokeless, and emitted less heat than combustion-powered lighting. It could be instantly turned on and off, and avoided fire risk.

On January 10, 1899, British inventor David Misell obtained U.S. Patent No. 617,592, [[Assignment (law)|assigned]] to [[Energizer Holdings|American Electrical Novelty and Manufacturing Company]].<ref name="patent617592">{{Cite web|url=https://patents.google.com/patent/US617592A/en|title=Misell|website=Patents.google.com|access-date=20 March 2022}}</ref> This "electric device" designed by Misell was powered by [[D battery|"D" batteries]] laid front to back in a paper tube with the light bulb and a rough brass reflector at the end.<ref name="flashlightmuseum">{{cite web|url=http://www.wordcraft.net/flashlight.html|title=Flashlight Museum page one|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170117012029/http://www.wordcraft.net/flashlight.html|archive-date=2017-01-17}}</ref><ref name="electropedia">{{cite web|url=http://www.mpoweruk.com/history.htm|title=Electropaedia History of Science and Technology, Development of Science, Technology and Inventions|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110512173049/http://www.mpoweruk.com/history.htm|archive-date=2011-05-12}}</ref> The company donated some of these devices to the [[New York City Police Department|New York City police]], who responded favorably to them.

[[Carbon-filament bulb]]s and fairly crude dry cells made early flashlights an expensive novelty, with low sales and low manufacturer interest.  Development of the [[Incandescent light bulb#Tungsten bulbs|tungsten-filament lamp]] in 1904, with three times the [[luminous efficacy|efficacy]] of carbon filament types, along with improved batteries in varying sizes made flashlights more useful and popular. The advantage of instant control, and the absence of flame, meant that hand-held electric lights began to replace combustion-based lamps such as the [[Kerosene lamp|hurricane lantern]].<ref>William T. O'Dea, ''The Social  History of Lighting'', Routledge and Kegan, 1958, pages 90-91</ref> 

By 1907, several types of flashlights were available: the tubular hand-held variety, a lantern style that could be set down for extended use, pocket-size [[penlight]]s for close work, and large reflector searchlight-type lamps for lighting distant objects. In 1922 there were an estimated 10 million flashlight users in the United States, with annual sales of renewal batteries and flashlights at $20 million, comparable to sales of many line-operated electrical appliances.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Eugene H. Mathews|title=Flashlights and Flashlight Batteries|journal=Transactions of the IES|volume=17|url=https://archive.org/details/illuminatingengi17illu|date=March 1922|pages=135–146}}</ref>  Flashlights became very popular in China; by the end of the 1930s, 60 companies made flashlights, some selling for as little as one-third the cost of equivalent imported models.<ref>Frank Dikötter, ''Exotic commodities: modern objects and everyday life in China'', Columbia University Press, 2006 {{ISBN|0-231-14116-5}} pp. 142-144</ref> Miniature lamps developed for flashlight and automotive uses became an important sector of the incandescent lamp manufacturing business.

LED flashlights were introduced in the early 2000s.{{cn|date=March 2025}} [[Maglite]] made their first LED flashlight in 2006.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://maglite.com/pages/contact|title=Contact|website=Maglite.com|access-date=20 March 2022}}</ref>