Flashlight

The flashlight combined three recently invented technologies—the dry cell battery, the incandescent bulb, and the tubular metal case—into something genuinely new: portable electric light. Before 1899, carrying light meant carrying fire: candles, oil lamps, or gas lanterns. David Misell's patent for an 'electrical device' described the design we still use today: a hollow tube with dry cells stacked inside, a bulb and reflector at one end, a switch to close the circuit.

The adjacent possible for the flashlight required two specific advances. Gassner's dry cell of 1886 provided portable, spillproof power—wet cell batteries couldn't be carried easily or used in any orientation. Edison's incandescent bulb of 1879 provided light from electricity without fire. But early carbon-filament bulbs were power-hungry, and early dry cells held little charge. The flashlight couldn't run continuously; it was meant to be turned on briefly, for a 'flash' of light, then switched off. Hence the name.

Misell, an inventor working for Conrad Hubert's American Electrical Novelty and Manufacturing Company, received his patent on January 10, 1899. Hubert, a Russian immigrant who had changed his name from Akiba Horowitz, proved to be the marketing genius the technology needed. He assembled prototype flashlights and distributed them to New York City policemen, who provided testimonials that appeared in his catalogs. By March 1898, the product was already gaining traction with law enforcement.

Hubert branded his flashlights 'Ever Ready'—later shortened to Eveready—and sold them through catalogs that depicted his product illuminating the world. His 1899 catalog featured 25 different battery-powered products. The combination of invention and promotion worked: National Carbon Company bought a half-interest in Hubert's company for $200,000 in 1906, then purchased it outright for $2 million in 1914.

The flashlight did more than make light portable—it made electricity personal. Before flashlights, electricity meant fixed installations: wired buildings, street lamps, stationary equipment. The flashlight put electric power in individual hands, literally. It was among the first battery-powered consumer products, establishing the template for the portable electronics that would follow: devices that combined power storage, electrical components, and human convenience into handheld packages.