Sashalite photoflash bulb
Category
Photographic technology
Date
1930 - 1939
Materials
Metal, Glass, Foil
Measurements
114 mm (Height); 170 mm (Diameter); 10 mm (Diameter)
Order this imageCollection
Fox Talbot Museum, Wiltshire
NT 1524995.3
Summary
A Sashalite screw-in flash bulb. A “Sashalite” screw-in flash bulb, which fits with the Enwell battery flash is clear glass filled with foil which would have ignited in the bulb filled with oxygen from a spark caused by the battery. Printed at the top of the bulb with “Sashalite. Made in England” and the patent number (illegible). A large plain metal reflector clips on to the battery flash to house the bulb inside. The flash bulb was a significant develoipment in flash photography as it provided an opportunity to use flash in places where flash powder use was questionable or dangerous. Comprising of an oxygen-filled bulb in which aluminum foil was burned, with ignition being accomplished by a battery. The light of the bulb, although powerful, was soft and diffused, therefore less dangerous to the eyes than flash powder.Using a flash bulb produced neither noise nor smoke when the charge was fired. The first photos using the "Sashalite" flashbulb were of the interior of a submarine and were published by The 'Morning Post.
Provenance
Part of the Fenton Collection. A gift from British Film Institute in 2017. From 1986-1999, part of BFI collection for the Museum of the Moving Image. BFI purchased collection in 1986 from James Fenton's Museum of Photography, Port Erin, Isle of Man 1976-1986