G.T. Price and L.A. Screw Code 4 Lights

Code 4s are a really interesting, and often overlooked, professional flashlight. Everyone knows about Kel-Lites and Mag-Lites but Code 4s were marketed to a far greater audience than just law enforcement. They were also light years ahead of their time in terms of technology.

Originally produced by L.A. Screw starting in 1976 and from 1985 on by famed flashlight manufacturer George T. Price these were really a do it all light. The light had many variants. The Code 4 is by far the most popular. Code 4 in cop speak is the code for "everything ok", "situation normal", or "no further assistance required". L.A. Screw chose the latter, "no further assistance required" as their marketing tag line for the light. However, these lights were also produced is several configurations that included the following models:

Code 4 - Black anodized with a smooth reflector for Police use
Medical - Silver anodized with a 2 stage reflector and a re-reflector attached to the lens that cut down on glare for EMS use
Smoke Cutter - Red anodized with a re-reflector attached to the lens that cut down on glare in smoke filled buildings for Firefighter use
Power Probe - Blue or silver anodized with a smooth reflector for Civilian use
Sea Probe - Gold anodized with a 2 stage reflector and a re-reflector attached to the lens that cut down on glare for Diving use
Executive - Silver anodized with a smooth reflector for Civilian use

Shown below are some vintage advertisements for these models that came from an old L.A. Screw authorized dealer.

As can be seen in the spec sheet below the flashlights were actually a modular system that could be configured in a number of ways. The entire flashlight could be broken down into pieces, even the switch and the head unlike other flashlights of the time. A light could go from a 3 cell to a 5 cell or the switch could be moved around in the light assembly. The idea was that the user benefited from the switch being in the middle of the light because it was a better balance point. This proves true with the lights I've held. They have a much different feel than a Maglite or Kel-Lite.

I have a couple L.A. Screw lights in my collection. The first is one of their very early 2 cell lights. The tail cap is stamped "Pats. Pend." and was likely from 1976 to 1979 before the patent was approved. The grip is bare aluminum and doesn't ever appear to have been anodized. Opposite the serial number the switch is stamped "Police Equipment For Police Use Only". This predates the Code 4 branding. This light was carried very briefly by a police officer in Kentucky before he acquired a Maglite.

Below is a very rare New In Box (NIB) L.A. Screw Code 4. This is one of their models from 1979 to 1985 which had "Pat." stamped on the tail cap and Patent # 4,185,583 stamped below the Code 4 logo on the switch. What's interesting abut this patent and the switch design is that the switch is not a "clicky" switch like found on the Maglites even though it looks that way. It goes through the flashlight and protrudes out either side depending on whether the light is on or off. It does not click back automatically into its original position. It is more similar to a slide switch. You'll notice one switch seal is red and one is black so user could orient the light correctly.

Starting in 1985 G.T. Price, a long time maker of right angle, military, and scouting flashlights bought out L.A. Screw and re-branded the lights to a G.T. Price Code 4. Around this time or before most models were dropped. The Executive, Power Probe and Sea Probe were dropped form the lineup. The Executive and Power Probe were dropped because they were slow sellers and the Sea Probe because it proved to not be as water proof as hoped. L.A. Screw also did a special light for Monadnock, a New Hampshire police equipment supply company. Monadnock was later bought out by Safariland and Safariland still markets Monadnock batons to this day. These lights do not have the Code 4 branding.

Shown below is my GT Price Code 4. These lights are rare today but not expensive and not well sought after by collectors. One of the reasons that I'll detail in a future post is the switch module can be finnicky. I've done a lot of repair and restoration on these lights so I think I have some advice on getting them into working order again. These lights switched to a "clicky" style switch over the older style "dual" switch where there was only one protrusion from the barrel and the switch returned to position automatically just like a Maglite.

This light has an optional Vari-Probe attachment. The Vari-Probe was an optional filter and attachment system for the light. This one included a red filter which was popular for aviators and cops on the night beat. Red light does not deteriorate night vision as does white light. This particular light was owned by a professional test pilot and M.I.T. professor who used it to work in a cockpit late at night. The soft, red light did not deteriorate his night vision and was perfect. He carried it for many years up until his untimely death. His obituary and the wonderful story of his life can be found here. Shown below is how the light looks when turned on.

Shown below is an ad explaining the Vari-Probe system.

And here's one more ad from after the acquisition of Code 4 by G.T. Price along with the different configurations it could be ordered in.

These lights were produced into the late 1980s with the Code 4 being the most popular model by far. Executives and Sea Probes are extremely rare as they were discontinued early on and even the distributor I talked to had never seen either in the flesh. Brinkmann eventually bought out G.T. Price and they produced an almost identical model, albeit in LED, to this day. Shown below is the light Brinkmann currently produces.

I do not know anywhere near as much as I'd like to about the history of L.A. Screw or G.T. Price. I've only ever talked to distributors of these lights and not anyone that worked for the companies directly. If you have any info please feel free to give me a shout. My contact info is at the right.

As always I'm looking to buy vintage and rare aluminum flashlights. Please let me know if you have any, top dollar paid.

3rd Generation Kel-Lites and Streamlight Excalibers

In 1983 Streamlight acquired Kel-Lite. This was a deal orchestrated by Norm Nelson, the 2nd president of Kel-Lite after Don Keller. For a long time Streamlight, as well as Safariland, were distributors for Kel-Lite. Streamlight also manufactured the first in house rechargeable flashlight, the SL-20, and a variety of large handheld spotlights for the likes of NASA. Shown below is a reprint of the announcement from the January 1983 issue of Police Marksman.

Kel-Lite had been working on a re-design of the Kel-Lite for a while before 1983. The main complaint of the Kel-Lite was the external slide switch which was prone to sticking when dirty and often snagged on belt loops and holsters. Several other manufacturers had been producing internal barrel switches for years and Kel-Lite had little choice but to modernize. Shown below are my two 3rd Gen D cell Kel-Lites.  They are both 3Ds which was their most popular size. Like Maglites, the early colors are rare. These lights had the tail caps stamped Barstow, PA and Norristown, PA as manufacturing was located in both towns. The packaging on these lights marketed them as Kel-Lite IIs or New and Improved Kel-Lites because the Kel-Lite name was synonymous with law enforcement lights.

The other 3rd Gen Kel-Lite I have is a 4C. What makes it rare is that it's a C cell and Camo pattern. All of these Camo 3rd Gen Kel-Lites had a D ring (lanyard) tail cap as they were designed for hunters, hikers, woodsmen, and campers who would frequently use the lights in conjunction with a lanyard so they wouldn't be lost or fall and break if they were dropped while maneuvering outdoors. Those that have hiked and hunted in PA are familiar with the rocky terrain that has destroyed many a lights.

Like most other companies the C Cells sold very poorly compared to D cells. So much so that Streamlight dropped the C cell when switching over to the Excaliber series. This is a ~31,000 serial which is near the end of the production run. This light went unused over the years as it was bought by another flashlight company for R&D use.

Shown below is a 3rd Gen Kel-Lite next to an Excaliber. For all intents and purposes the lights are the same except the Excaliber has a one piece head. The lens and barrel are pressed in so they are not removable. This was certainly less expensive to produce but made for a less durable light. I'm a big fan of the 3rd Gen Kel-Lites but not so much the Excalibers.

Shown below are the two Excalibers I own, one 2D and one 5D. The 2D is a KF serial and the 5D is an KD serial. The changeover to Excalibers was likely around KD. I'll explain the serial numbering scheme below. Very briefly Streamlight had white lettering around the bezel of the light instructing users to turn clockwise or counter clockwise for spot and flood. Maglite claimed this circular inscription around the head of the flash light as their own Trademark and sued Streamlight into stopping production. I don't own one of these but there are several examples of them on the web.

The C cells didn't carry a letter prefix. The D cells carried a KA, KB, KC, KD, KE (possibly) or KF. I have a bunch of these lights, only one C cell though, they are pretty rare. The D cells started at KA000001 and when they hit KA999999 they rolled over to KB000001 and so on and so forth. Unlike the Maglites they didn't give any designation to cell size in the serial. When they made a batch of 4 cells they picked up where last batch of 3 or 2 cells left off. When they changed to the Excalibers with the one piece head the numbering scheme continued because the barrels were identical. The latest one I have is KF318849.

I think, but am not sure, that Streamlight switched over to Excalibers in 1986 or 87 when they gave the Kel-Lite name to Nordic. Nordic was a company Don Keller was a part of to produce small, AA and AAA professional lights. The Excalibers continued until 1990 or so. So all in all at least 6,000,000 lights were made from 1983 until about 1990 (F is the 6th letter in the alphabet and 318,849 is the latest serial I have). I've never seen a KE serial though and I'm thinking they may have skipped E so it could be 5,000,000. Interestingly enough this is on par with the Maglite D cell sales. By 1990 Maglite had sold about 7,000,000 D cell lights. Maglite would go on to sell 7,000,000 lights a year in the mid to late 90s, a huge increase in sales. The reason I believe you see so many fewer 3rd gen Kel-Lites compared to 80s Maglites is because the quality of the switch was not up to snuff with the Maglite and the warranty was not as easy to keep up with. Mag had service centers in every state where Streamlight did not.

Streamlight no longer makes or sells parts for any of these lights. I've also not been able to find many replacement parts from other vendors. If you e-mail Streamlight they will offer to honor the lifetime warranty by deeply discounting a new LED flashlight.

I'll include one more pic since I wrote so much. It is of a 2nd Gen Medium Head Kel-Lite next to a 3rd Gen. No parts interchange from one light to the next but the design similarities can be seen. It's also worth noting that the 3rd Gens used an aluminum extruded tube vs. the schedule 40 aluminum pipe of the earlier generations so the overall diameter and thickness was lower.

As always I'm looking to buy vintage and rare aluminum flashlights. Please let me know if you have any, top dollar paid.

Kel-Lite Repair

Kel-Lites are a good fun project light to repair. Lights that are not functioning can usually be had pretty cheap at around $20 - $30 and are relatively easy to source parts for. Don Keller has since bought back the Kel-Lite name and has a site that sells most parts for first gen lights. These can be found at: http://www.kellite.com/shop/. A common light in good condition can sell for upwards of $60 so assuming no major parts need to be sourced they are usually a pretty sound investment.

I picked up this 6C recently for $20 and it had 2 batteries stuck near the end cap. It's nothing special, it's from the tail end of the first generation in 1974 because it has the plastic switch, a serial number, but no Kel-Lite stamp, and a Barstow end cap. The dating guide for these lights can be found here. The light was in great external shape and looked decent aside from the stuck batteries.

I removed the batteries as per the post in my Maglite blog. Basically this entails soaking the light in vinegar until the alkaline is neutralized and the batteries break free. But there's more to this light than just breaking the batteries free. Kel-Lites are one of the simplest, easiest lights to work on. The switch mechanism is much simpler and easier to diagnose than a Maglite.

Basically the positive end of the battery sits right against the positive nub of the bulb as shown below in the head reflector assembly. The negative side of the bulb contacts the steel reflector which is isolated from the light by the rubber shock gasket against the lens and housing. A picture of this is also shown below. This gasket must be in place to isolate the negative side of the bulb from the body of the light.

The negative end of the battery sits against the tail spring which then contacts the body of the light through the tail cap. The slide switch which is made up of the plastic switch button and the copper contact strip then serves to complete the circuit by contacting the metal reflector and the body of the light when in the on position which allows current to flow and the bulb to light. The switch is secured by the screw and nut which go through the body of the light.

The most common issue with these is that when the light is pushed into the on position the copper contact strip does not contact the metal reflector. This cam be fixed by bending and adjusting the strip but not so much so that it interferes with the batteries inside the tube. A second common issue is that the copper contact strip is corroded and it has a high resistivity which doesn't allow the bulb to see enough current. In this case the bulb may be dim or not light at all. The spot where the copper contact strip makes contact with the body of the light is especially susceptible to corrosion and needs to be extra clean.

My corroded copper contact strip is shown below on the left. This is easily fixed by soaking it in vinegar for a day or so and then brushing it with an old toothbrush. It should look like a shiny new penny when complete. The after picture is shown on the right.

Once this is all cleaned up and all the gunk and grime has been removed from the switch I'll re-assemble the light and try it out. If you've done everything correct it should look like the image below of the re-assembled switch and tail spring in tail cap.

And if you're really good it should light!!

Thanks for reading and if you need help diagnosing or repairing a Kel-Lite please feel free to give me a shout. My contact info is on the right.

As always I'm looking to buy vintage and rare aluminum flashlights. Please let me know if you have any, top dollar paid.

Brinkmann Legends

In 1988 Don Keller joined Brinkmann, a U.S. consumer products conglomerate. Brinkmann was well known for purchasing and producing products from rival brands from flashlights to BBQ grills. By this time Don had 20 years in the flashlight industry and was commissioned by Brinkmann to head up the newly founded Keller Co. A division that was to produce the most advanced flashlight at the time and aptly named after Don, The Legend. Below is a picture from the back of the package explaining Don's story.

So, you might be asking, who is Don Keller? The answer is Don is one of, if not, the most influential person in flashlight design. Don literally invented the first aluminum flashlight in 1968 and then went on to co-found Maglite with Tony Maglica. In his career he either influenced or worked for most major flashlight manufacturers. The Brinkmann Legend would be his first light he designed himself form the ground up since the Kel-Lite. Don would return to Maglite later on but this was one of the ventures in between his decade long stints at Maglite. 

Brinkmann Legends were manufactured from 1988 until the late 90s. However, Don left Brinkmann in 1994 and production was moved from Kansas City to China in 1995. The 1988 to 1995 lights are the highest quality and most collectible as they were made in the U.S. Below are three Brinkmanns currently in my collection.

This light is the standard 2D. All lights had plastic grips on the bezel and barrel. The lights are very durable and the inside switch is all metal unlike the plastic innards of the Maglite. Overall quality is higher than a Maglite but the aesthetics are very much indicative on the early 90s and didn't age as well as the Maglites.

This light is a 3C. Like other flashlight manufacturers Brinkmann partnered with retailers to make special edition lights. This was a partnership with Eddie Bauer and was offered for a limited time in the early 90s in their catalog. Several other models were also offered and were similar in appearance. Other similar models were made for MAC Tools.

The last light I have is a 3AAA special edition gold. This was made around the holidays in very limited numbers. These lights have a plastic rear push button switch.

Shown below is an early Brinkmann Legend advertisement showcasing their lineup early on.

I also have an article from the 1989 issue of Combat Handguns that gives a very early review of the Legend's 2AA Mini Mag clone. If you have trouble reading this try a larger monitor as the resolution was very high when I scanned it and I am able to read it just fine on a 21" monitor. You can also e-mail me for the source image and I'd be happy to send it over. At the time there was a high demand for a 2AA with a push button switch. Maglite refused to make such a model so several other companies entered the game around 1986 and there were even some aftermarket push button switches made for the Mini Maglite.

Brinkmann has somewhat of a negative reputation in the flashlight industry. They are famous or infamous for buying other's designs or sometimes even infringing on patents. Brinkmann almost went out of business in 1990 because it had to pay a $1.2 million dollar judgement to Mag Instrument for knocking off the Mini Maglite. This was part of the reason why Brinkmann hired Don Keller, so that they could produce an AA light of their own without infringing on other's patents.

Well, that's my brief Legend, Brinkmann, Don Keller history. Hopefully y'all enjoyed it and I have plenty more lights to come!

As always I'm looking to buy vintage and rare aluminum flashlights. Please let me know if you have any, top dollar paid.