Technabob » torch

Go Rub-a-Dub-Dub to Bring the Lightstarter to Life

Hazel Chua — Fri, 13 May 2011 01:45:21 +0000

It used to take rubbing two twigs to start a fire, but to get some light out of the Lightstarter, you only need one. And it’s not exactly a twig either, but it can certainly pass for a stick, albeit a very artificial one.

Michael Kritzer’s Lightstarter actually has an accelerometer embedded in its core which determines how long the light will shine based on the length of time you rubbed it between your hands.

Three seconds of kindling gives you 30 seconds of light while 1 minute will give you ten minutes. In short, the ratio of kindling time to light is 1:10.

The Lightstarter is battery powered though. The only thing I can think of that would really make it a hot product is if it could somehow convert the motion or heat produced by friction from rubbing the Lightstarter to energy.

It’s still a concept for now and a page for it on Kickstarter is currently in the works.

[via Yanko Design]

Cherkassy Motherland Statue’S New LED Torch Still has a Touch of Retro

Lambert Varias — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 11:40:34 +0000

I’m a bit surprised that this isn’t in Japan. Look at them pixel flames burn! That’s the new “torch” of the Motherland statue in Cherkassy, Ukraine. The statue is one of several Motherland statues built in several locations across the former Soviet Union to commemorate the people who fought or died in World War II. The statue used to have a gas-lit flame that was kept burning at all times.

Unfortunately, when the Union disbanded into independent states, one of the free amenities that disappeared was free natural gas. Apparently it became expensive for the local government to maintain the flame. As the article in English Russia puts it, “the memories don’t cost much in wild capitalistic realities!”

Unfortunately I don’t know when exactly the awesome turn of events occurred, but the important thing is that officials found a way to keep the fire burning by installing a cellphone transmitter with what I think are LED panels, which displayed the pixelated flames.

I don’t know how much utilities cost in Ukraine, but we’ll just have to assume that the cost of the powering the new torch is much cheaper than the old one.

[via The Presurfer]

Torch Flashlight So Hot You Could Fry an Egg on It

Technabob — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 04:16:43 +0000

How many times have you pulled the flashlight out of your utility drawer only to find out it can barely light up 2 feet in front of your face? This insanely bright flashlight certainly doesn’t have that problem.

As a matter of fact, the Torch flashlight is so intense that it generates sufficient heat to fry an egg before you can say “Egg McMuffin” ten times fast.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Personally, I prefer mine over easy. The Torch is even hot enough to ignite a small fire (or better yet, toast a marshmallow) in seconds flat.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Cranking out an unbelievable 4100 lumens of brightness, you’ll have no problem finding your way around in the dark with this bad boy.

The Torch gets its mighty strength from a 100-watt halogen bulb which runs on a 14.4-volt rechargeable battery. Of course all this intensity does chew up some power – battery life is only about 15 minutes per charge – so you’ll want a spare battery or two.

The $299 Torch flashlight is available from Wicked Lasers.