Old Kodak Pointers

[Eidetic]

Today's laser porn shows the transition from He-Ne tubes to diodes in laser pointers, leading the way to popularization of lasers as toys. The black pointer in the center is a Kodak "Ektalite" made in July, 1989. It was a He-Ne with an output of <1mW, but still featured a safety shutter on the front (the red button). The other pointer is the Kodak "Ektalaser" made in January, 1990. It also has an output of <1mW, but no shutter. I guess that's because a mW at 670nm is less dangerous than a mW at 633nm. The brochure for the "Ektalaser" was printed in December, 1989.

I believe this is the second laser pointer introduced with a diode laser in it. Holospectra's HSD-1 "Spot" was introduced some time in 1989, but I can't find the reference for that. I think it was an ad in a Laser Focus I don't have here. Anyway, this set really shows the transition well.

[Draco]

I would love to find one of the HeNe versions to had to my horde

[Eidetic]

So I contacted Bob Arkin and he told me that "Spot" was introduced in 1988 and not 1989, so I looked through my back issues closer and found the ad below, from L.A.S.E.R. News, Vol 8, #4, Winter 1988/1989. This was a newsletter put out to the holography community by the Laser Arts Society for Education and Research, a San Francisco nonprofit back then. Holospectra was definitely the first out with a diode based laser pointer.

[photonenginemechanic]

This is Bob from Holo-Spectra, The "Spot" has a 5 mw 670nm diode but after the collimating optics it was about 3mw. No shutter but the BRH (at that time) made us put a green (opposite color) indicator LED at the button. We wanted not to include the LED as that was a draw on the battery about as much as the laser!