Here's a fun little device, a pump action flywheel-powered dynamo light (or squeeze flashlight). The fun goes out of it quick, as the pump handle has to be actuated almost continuously. The bulb lens cover is missing on this one.
According to Wikipedia these were made in occupied Netherlands during the war.
5 comments:
It seems the earliest one was the Swiss Lucifer:
https://collection.powerhouse.com.au/object/262913
It reminded me of inventor Trevor Baylis who came up with the wind-up radio to help stop the spread of AIDS in Africa in the 90s.
Makes sense, what with Philips being a Dutch company. D.
I remember playing with one of these when I was a small child. My uncle had brought it back from the Netherlands, where he was stationed during his service in WW2.
Batteries were not always available, and Dutch ingenuity came up with this as an emergency substitute.
It wasn’t very efficient though, and trying to use it for more than a minute resulted in a very sore or cramped hand.
I remember a handpowered radio, I think they had a better flywheel and would run long enough to give your hand a rest. Or maybe it wound a clockwork spring?
The original Baylis design was based on a wind-up spring,
he lost all the benefits of his patent when manufactuer Baygen
merged with Freeplay Energy and switched to a crank-charged internal battery.
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