Flashlight

“ Darkness fell so abruptly I was glad I'd brought along a powerful flashlight. I'd almost readied the foot of my path up the cliff when I halted, incredulous, yet desiring to make sure.
I turned the ray of the flashlight on the great comber just curling to break on the shore, and held the light steady, my breath gasping in my throat. Such a thing as I thought I'd seen couldn't be—yet it was!
I started to run to the rescue, and could not move a foot. A power stronger than my own will held me immovable. ”

“ Hastily drawing his flashlight from his pocket, and diving back into the lean-to for his rifle, he made sure it was loaded and then investigated the gleaming eyes. His flashlight was a good one, throwing a long white beam of light into the darkness. ”

“ We switched on a powerful electric flashlight and there stood at least forty men, women and children gazing at us with rapt attention, but they melted away before the blinding glare like snow in a June sun. ”

“ After dinner, Peter and I unpacked some of my stuff, and I fixed up my camera and flashlight opposite to the door of the Grey Room, with a string from the trigger of the flashlight to the door. Then, you see, if the door were really opened, the flashlight would blare out, and there would be, possibly, a very queer picture to examine in the morning. The last thing I did, before leaving, was to uncap the lens; and after that I went off to my bedroom, and to bed; for I intended to be up at midnight; and to ensure this, I set my little alarm to call me; also I left my candle burning. ”

“ It's really nothing more than a highly developed flashlight except that it flashes multiple combinations of lights, each containing certain electronic vibrations. The electromagnetic lock can only be opened with the proper combinations of colors and vibrations flashed by the light-key. ”

“ As I have said already, I did not succeed with my flashlight photographs on my second expedition. And my third expedition, on which I managed to take a few, was brought to a sudden end by severe illness. At that time I had not found a way to combine the working of the flashlight with that of the shutter, essential to the photographing of objects in rapid motion. My cameras stood ready for use in the dark with the lens uncovered and the plates exposed, the shutter being closed automatically when the flashlight contrivance worked. ”

“ I am afraid we are to blame for that, sir, though I give you my word of honor we had no idea any human being would spring the trap. You see, my chum here is devoted to getting flashlight pictures of wild animals and birds in their native haunts. To do that he has to place his camera at night, and with a bait coax the little creature to set the trap off. And it happened, sir, that you ran across the cord connected with the trigger of the flashlight gun. ”

“ After what they judged to be a safe interval, Garry snapped on his flashlight, and threw the beam [Pg 154] of light playing about the floor, keeping it on only long enough to get a general impression of the interior, and being careful not to allow its rays to strike upward lest it be seen through a window. ”

“ There is wide scope for a man’s dexterity and resourcefulness in the setting up of a flashlight apparatus. All the qualities that go to the making of a big-game hunter are essential to success in this field also. You have to keep a sharp look-out for the tracks of the different animals and to watch for their appearance, taking up your position in some thorn-bush hiding-place or up a tree if you propose to operate the camera yourself by means of a string. In the case of most animals you have, of course, to pay special attention to the direction of the wind. ”

“ The wire was too fine to be seen by the amount of light we had in the hall; but the flashlight 'picked it out.' Do you see?
"The opening of the inner doors was managed by wires, as you will have guessed, which they unshipped after use, or else I should soon have found them, when I made my search.
"I think I have now explained everything. The hound was killed, of course, by the men direct. You see, they made the place as dark as possible, first. Of course, if I had managed to take a flashlight just at that instant, the whole secret of the haunting would have been exposed. ”

“ All this occurs in a fraction of a second, and as soon as the shutter is opened and closed the image on the sensitive plate is prevented from being further acted upon. To secure the closing of the shutter, the current which lets off the igniting mechanism is taken through a fusible wire or strip located in the flashlight chamber. When the flashlight powder burns, the wire or coil is melted, the circuit is broken, and the shutter is released, so as to close automatically. The effectiveness of the apparatus is clearly proved by the work it has done. ”

“ Perhaps three minutes elapsed and then a dim light blinked on and off several times.
“That might be a flashlight!” Mr. Holloway said. “It’s certainly coming from Rabb Island or close to it.”
“Maybe Mr. Hatfield is trying to signal us! ”

“ The elaborate indirect lighting system has been designed to reveal the largest, most beautiful and ornate of the spectacles to be seen, but a flashlight aimed in a dark corner is likely to reveal formations resembling a Mermaid, Frog on a Toadstool, Queen's Necklace, Weeping Willow Trees, the Petrified Forest, and countless others, limited only by man's imagination and his ability to seek them out. ”

“ The various aspects of electrical illumination, gaslight, flashlight effects, searchlight, etc., no doubt can be solved pictorially, but they should never be applied unless the character of the picture absolutely demands them. ”

“ The children and Grandmother, standing in front, allow but an imperfect view of the fire-place, so that the illusion is easy to produce. The fireplace, however, may be a real one, if that is more convenient. In that case the flashlight must be operated by one of the children, kneeling in front of the fire-place; and when Santa Claus enters the room must be absolutely dark, so that he will first be seen when he turns on his flashlight, as he crouches before the fire-place, having apparently just come down the chimney. ”

“ The fact that several shillings’ 698 worth of powder is consumed in each explosion of the flashlight is in itself a serious consideration. Of course, there is always the additional danger of the cameras being stolen or destroyed by natives—a misfortune I experienced more than once. ”

“ Nevertheless, I cannot be accused of having forgotten the information, and to prove it I will say that what I intended to add was that at night the numerals on the dial are not only illuminated but a flashlight from the tower sends [160] out the time to those too far away either to see the face of the clock or hear it strike. ”

“ Indoor photographs are made much better with the use of a flashlight than by depending on light from windows. The lighting can be made from any direction to suit the operator. If lighting flash powder when not in a regular flash lamp the flash cannot be depended upon and in some instances is dangerous. To make a simple and inexpensive flash lamp, first secure from your druggist an empty salve box about 3 in. in diameter. While at the drug store get 3 ft. of small rubber tubing ”

“ Except for my little pocket flashlight which my pop had given me for Christmas, we didn't have any light, and we couldn't waste the battery by keeping it on all the time, so I turned it off, but it felt so spooky with it off and nobody answering Circus's knock that I turned it on again just as Dragonfly who was always hearing things first, said, "Psst!" which meant "I heard something mysterious! Everybody keep still a minute," which we did ”

“ Finally, their messages are often picked up through the earth by your opponents with some apparatus invented for the purpose.
There are the semaphore and flashlight methods of signaling, and signaling by flares, all naturally very limited in variety of use, the latter particularly so. But flares are of great service when a hurried artillery retaliation is desired, S.O.S. flares then being sent up. The wireless apparatus on aeroplanes and the throwing of flares by aviators are also used to good account. But there are times when all these different methods are found wanting. ”

“ In quick succession, from the same hiding place, an automatic, a black silk mask, an electric flashlight, that thin metal box like a cigarette case, and a half dozen vicious-looking little blued-steel burglar's tools were stowed away in his pockets, the flooring carefully replaced, the oilcloth spread back again ”

“ Concentrated filament lamps are made for stereopticon and motion picture projection, floodlighting, etc., in sizes from 100 to 1000 watts, for street railway headlights in sizes below 100 watts and for locomotive headlights in sizes from 100 to 250 watts. For series circuits, used in street lighting, lamps are made from 60 to 2500 candlepower. Miniature lamps cover those for flashlight, automobile, Christmas-tree, surgical and dental services, etc. They range, depending on the service, from 1⁄2 to 21 candlepower, and in voltage from 21⁄2 to 24.
92
Standard Tungsten Lamps, 1923. ”

“ Fenton Hardy moved over toward the door.
"We haven't any time to lose," he said. "I have the revolver. If we meet any one—"
He opened the door cautiously and peeped out. There was no one beyond. There was nothing but a flight of steps leading upward into darkness.
The detective went forward, his sons following close at his heels.
Step by step they made their way on up in the darkness, for Joe had closed the door behind them and Frank did not dare make use of the flashlight.
At last Fenton Hardy came to a stop. He was fumbling at something immediately above. ”

“ A very pretty picture may be made by placing the powder in the fire-place, and firing it—placing something between the light and the camera—giving the effect of the room being lighted by the firelight.
If the subject does not look toward the camera when the flash is made the expression of the eyes will not be noticed. In firing either a lamp or the powder it is a wise precaution to protect the hands by either putting on an old pair of gloves or wrapping a cloth round the hand used in firing the flash. ”

“ It all depends on the light. The best flash-light powder gives a flash about one ten-thousandth of a second in duration, but that is by no means the speed limit of the film. The only trouble is enough light and sufficient shutter speed. Pictures have been taken by means of spark photography with an exposure of less than one three-millionth of a second. The whole secret of this machine lies in the shutter. This big disc with the slots in the edge is set up before the lens and run at such a speed that half a million slots per second pass before the lens. ”

“ Anyhow, I have given you a picture of a great train in the war zone, winding its way toward the front, in complete darkness.
FLASH-LIGHTS
Flash-lights have come into their own in this war. One would as soon think of living without a flash-light as he would think of travelling without clothes in Greenland. It simply cannot be done. In any city, from Paris to the smallest towns on the front, one must have his flash-light. The streets of the cities and towns of France are a hundred times more crooked than those of Boston. ”

“ The great fault with flash-light pictures is the poor lighting of the subject, especially if one photographs a group or even a single individual. The sharp high lights and the dense shadows make a picture which might be called a Rembrandt gone mad. In making a portrait by flash-light the effect of the flash-lighting may be seen by placing a lamp at a point where the best effects of lights and shadows are obtained. The lamp should be at a height of at least four feet from the floor, or at the place where the strongest light from a window, if there were one, would shine on the subject. ”

“ The danger-signal may be one of many kinds—a misty, star-like glimmer thrown from a buoy dancing on the waves, the radiant orb from a lightship bobbing up and down and swinging rhythmically to and fro, a fixed flare-light, or dazzling, spoke-like rays revolving across the sky. If sight be impossible owing to fog, he must depend upon his ear for the measured2 tolling of a bell, the shriek of a whistle, the deep blare of a siren, or the sharp report of an explosive. ”

“ If, then, a body in swift motion be illuminated by an instantaneous flash, it will be seen to stand motionless for the fraction of a second at the point where the flash falls upon it. A rifle-bullet passing through the air, and illuminated by an electric flash, would be seen thus motionless; a circle like D D', Fig. 33, divided into black and white sectors, and rotating so quickly as to cause the sectors to blend to a uniform gray, appears, when illuminated by the spark of a Leyden-jar, perfectly motionless, with all its sectors revealed. ”

“ As a gun fired there flamed out in front of the battery a blinding sheet of light that threw up every detail of men and guns and patch of wet ground in glaring hot light or hard black silhouette. On the instant, the light vanished and darkness clapped down on the tired eyes, to lift and leap again on the following instant from the next gun’s spurt of vivid sheeting flame. ”

“ Another class of war store which naturally suggests itself is that used to give light for the purpose of signalling. The light is either burnt on the ground as a hand light or fitted to a rocket. Fireworks for this purpose have been in use from earliest times, being the logical development of the signal beacon, but it was not until the introduction of genuine colour—that is to say, colour distinguishable at a long distance—that they reached their full standard of utility. ”

“ And so it is that the flash-light has come to its own, and every private soldier, officer, and citizen in France is equipped with one. He would be like a swordfish without its sword if he didn't have it. ”