black light

I saw a pocket flashlight in a hardware store yesterday, it shines UV. Such a package is new to me.

What is it good for? What's inside?

And whence the origin of the term 'black light'? I recall days gone by, the wall posters were popular, is that still in fashion?

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Rich
Reply to
rdelaney2001
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Checking bills for forgery. Checking minerals for fluorescence. Checking bedsheets for eh. you know eh...

What's inside? Either a LED or a small fluorescent tube(got one with that).

You cannot see UV light, so they called it blacklight.

?????

Reply to
Sjouke Burry

currency checking. reading UV security marks. curing UV-cure resin. erasing EPROMs. searching for lost flourescent items. making candy glow wierd colours. etc...

a UV light emitting diode.

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  When I tried casting out nines I made a hash of it.
Reply to
Jasen Betts

Hello, and not knowing the footprint of what you saw, I've got small, handheld a 25 year old flashlight that incorporates both a miniature incandescent bulb (like the #222 but rated at 4.8 volts) and 4" F4T5 white fluorescent tube and uses 4 penlight batteries. A 4" UV tube, F4T5/BLB can be substituted and then you have a small, portable UV source that also doubles as flashlight. Don't know if what I have can still be purchased (NOS perhaps). Sincerely ,

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J. B. Wood	            e-mail: arl_123234@hotmail.com
Reply to
J.B. Wood

Well over 50 years ago I bought an ex-WW2 aircraft "blacklight", possibly from a Lancaster. It was on flying leads, with a black-painted metal body about a couple of inches in diameter and long. Inside was a small filament bulb (I can't remember the voltage - possibly 12?). The front was a domed, very dark violet glass. When the bulb was on, you could just about see the filament in a dark room. I also had a couple of instruments from a WW2 plane. Both had paint which glowed well in the dark under that blacklight.

See here about 3/4 of the way through.

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Jeff
Reply to
Jeff Layman

One would hope not. The UV band is generally split into three, UV A, B and C. To erase EPROMS you need the UVC, most blacklights, most blacklights, especially the commodity devices for banknote checking, UV curing etc are UVA. UVA is what those insect killing lamps you see put out, albeit generally in white rather than blacklight form. UVC is much shorter wavelength and a massive risk to your eyes if exposed to it. Think the kind of masks used for arc welding. There is a reason EPROM erasers invariably have safety lock that cut out if you open the drawer when it is operating.

Could be. Could be a small fluorescent or a filament bulb.

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Andrew Smallshaw 
andrews@sdf.org
Reply to
Andrew Smallshaw

ok. not EPROMs then.

I have a LED one here. It's I0 cm long so definately pocket sized.

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  When I tried casting out nines I made a hash of it.
Reply to
Jasen Betts

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