Flashlight Casts Powerful Beam
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edited by Robert H. Williams
A rugged flashlight relying on light-emitting diode technology is literally
piercing the gloom. Produced by Pelican Products Inc, Torrance, Calif., the
Recoil LED flashlights recently were put to the test by firefighters at two
Air Force installations.
Military firefighters at one base filled a room with smoke produced by a machine.
They were able to read the words printed on a compressor at the other side of
the room with the new flashlight. With traditional flashlights, they were unable
to penetrate the smoke.
At the heart of Recoil is a 1-watt LED that is suspended by an aluminum bar
mounted across the lens. The diode points inward—firing at a reflector
that results in a collimated, or cylindrical, beam that harnesses 100 percent
of the available light, said a company spokesman.
This new configuration is 33 times brighter than a standard LED, which permits
Recoil to “cut through smoke, steam and other particulates without the
blinding back-scatter light common to conventional flashlights,” he said.
The LED module has an estimated life of 10,000 hours.