Old Kodak He-Ne Pointer

[Eidetic]

Just received laser #250 into the Vintage Laser Archive. It's this 1989 Kodak "Ektalite" he-ne laser pointer, "Made in the U.S.A. by Imatronic, Inc.". It outputs <1mW but still incorporates a manual shutter on the nose! Also included are a 1/4-20 hole on the bottom for tripod mounting, and a vinyl pouch. Runs on two 9v batteries. There's a jack for a transformer, but that's missing.

When I started collecting these "cabinet grannies" about eight years ago, I never thought the collection would grow this big. There are also 210 laser related artifacts, 370 publications, and 550 holograms (though mostly small commercial samples) on the lists. Although seemingly a lone obsession, I'm certain they'll be appreciated 50 years from now when we're (they're) well into the century of light. I hope they make it that far. It's gone from curiosity, to project, to obsession, and now welcome duty.

[logsquared]

My college physics prof. had one of these. I thought it was really cool back then.

[Lasermad]

Yana ..... Yana ..... Yana

[flecom]

very cool man, do you have some kind of online museum or something with all these things?

I remember my first pointer, was a 660 or 670nm .5mW I got at RadioShack, ran off like 2 AA's IIRC... was huge

[absolom7691]

Reminds me of Tango & Cash! I loved that movie when I was youger.

[dzodzo]

cool, are you planning to open a museum? i'd have one more reason to travel behind the great pond

[Eidetic]

Thanks guys! The whole collection is on a Google site temporarily that can only be accessed if one has a gmail account. Send me your address and I'll add it to the viewing list. A proper web site is in the works, and will probably be up in a few months. It's my intent to use this collection to establish a real world Laser History Museum to include a display of holography (of course), a performance space for light shows, maybe Laser Tag or a Maze, corporate sponsored exhibits, a classroom, and working labs where students can explore.

[Draco]

I my self try to snatch up any laser gear that i find, that Kodak is realy neet, i never knew they had HeNe laser pointers (aside from a 5mw i hid in a tool box when i was in my teens) or weapon sites

[WolfMax]

I never knew they had HeNe laser pointers or weapon sites

When I made my first He-Ne laser back in the late 80's (see here), A workmate asked me if I would take a look at a shotgun laser sight he had that wasn't working. It wasn't more than 6 inches in length and had the smallest He-Ne tube I'd ever seen. Sadly the tube was cracked so that was that. I've never seen one since and do not know the make but these things did exist.

[Eidetic]

I grew up in Lockport, Illinois, a town right next to both the old Joliet prison and Stateville. The earliest I heard about laser pointers used as gun sights was from buddies whose fathers were guards, in the late '70s. I brought a SP-134 (few mW he-ne) home from school in the summer of 1980 and was in a second floor apartment shining the spot down to the sidewalk in front of drunks as they left a bar (one dancing with the spot!) when I heard a big rumble up the back stairs. Next thing I know there are a handful of cops with guns drawn rushing in the door thinking a sniper was in there! They were good about it, nobody got shot (probably wouldn't be the case today), but that was the end of my messin' with people with laser beams! Anyway, here's a Laser Devices he-ne sight from the early '80s. It has a flip up output cover, and runs on eight AA cells.