Hi all, I posted this lamp on other forums while the CPL was "read only" for a couple of weeks, so many of you may already seen this post. Nevertheless, here it is on CPL now. This is an unmarked, unknown table lamp with a burner assembly I've never seen before. I got this lamp from England a year ago, in a trade. I have search information about it, contacted collectors in England, Germany and France, but no clue of a maker for this lamp. I've searched thousands of patents in the patent data bases, both in Europe and US, without any success, so still this is a mysterious lamp. I received this tall lamp ("25) with a fantastic even brownish patina, and haven't done anything to it, except for a soft clean up. I had to solder the chimney holder as it was loose and I ordered a customized mica chimney from Fred Kuntz. The control knob for the cleaning needle mechanism was gone, so first I put on a modified red fibre wheel from a slaughtered Radius lantern. After cleaning out the font for the second time a thing came out from inside and it happened to be a small L-shaped metal handle with the remains of a fibre knob. It fitted well to the cleaning needle control shaft and with a new similar fibre knob from my French parts pile the lamp was completed. There are no paperwork to confirm the lamp as it looks now, so we can't know for sure, but my gut feeling says all parts fit, even the very strange burner assembly with the chimney holder. The most disturbing for me is the need of a hole/slot in the glass/mica chimney, as the cleaning needle mechanism valve goes through that area. We have though seen this type of solutions also in other lamps/lanterns, where the controls are penetrating the glass globe. No on/off fuel control and a pre heater suggests kerosene as fuel. I used a mix with gasoline and it worked OK. No good performance as the jet had an enlarged orifice, but with the cleaning needle plugged into it, it made good enough for the money shots. A peculiar feature is the hat shaped flame spreader inserted into the mixing tube. Looks very much as the flame spreader used on big round wick burners from Germany. So where does this lamp come from and which is the manufacturer? The upright mantle burners for portable pressure lamps/lanterns are kind of rare, more common for hollow wire and gravity lamps, used in the early years of 1900 until mid 10,s. I've seen the upright burner type used as late as mid 20,s in French lanterns and lamps, so my guess is that this lamp is made around 1920. The font is similar in style to early (ca1920) German Hirschorn Aida lamps, and the only patent found with some similarities is a 1914 patent from Erich & Graetz. So German or French. Or even English, an unknown Kitson prototype lamp that never came into production. Is there anybody out there have any information of this lamp, please send me a PM or answer this post. I will also thank Ross, Christer and others that was involved in the transfer to the new platform, well done! /Conny
@Conny C That is a very fine lamp! . I hope you are able to solve the mystery surrounding it. Cheers Tony
Hi all, Jürgen Bredenstein has today posted an Erich & Graetz 1913 catalogue on his "Hytta" forum. In that catalogue one can see this table lamp as the Nr. 822 " ´Petromax´ Tischlampe ". With that as an evidence I can now positive identify my lamp as a Petromax table lamp. The only thing missing on my lamp from when I acquired it, was the top brass shade ring and the slotted glass. As said earlier in my post the only patent I could find, which was near to the burner construction on this lamp, was an Erich & Graetz 1914 patent. This patent is a GB patent, so I think there may be an earlier German patent from maybe 1912/13. This may be the earliest Petromax table lamp ever made by the Erich & Graetz compnay I hope the mods, Ross or Christer, can move this post to Gallery/German/ Petromax with a new head line - " 1913 Nr. 822 Petromax Tischlampe " /Conny
What a stunning old lamp and it seems to use a hybrid system part way between an Aladdin wickie and a standard pressure lantern! Amazing!
Hi all, When reading the 1913 E&G catalogue a bit more meticulous, I detected that my version of the Petromax Tischlampe is numbered as the "882" lamp. The nickel plated version is however numbered as the Petromax Tischlampe "822". /Conny
I suspect the 822 is a typo. The parts diagram for that table lamp only mentions models 882 and 883. There is no mention of model 822. That omission leads me to believe there was no model 822 at the time. I see the reference to nickel plate but I can't see any other finish type mentioned. ::Neil::
@Conny C Congratulations to this most beautiful and extremely rare PETROMAX. I found something in my paperwork about PETROMAX 822. Regards,Reinhard
Thanks Reinhard, Yes that Petromax table lamp is what we are used to see as the Nr.822 lamp, maybe 20 years later in the 1930,s. A problem is that E&G seem to have a habit to reuse lamp numbering. Here is an example as this later Petromax lamp has also been numbered as "882", as my early Petromax table lamp. The 822 nickel plated lamp numbering in the 1913 catalogue could be as Neil suggest, a typing error. But I am not quite sure it is! /Conny
Well maybe it is and maybe it isn't a typo. I would have thought if they were offering two versions they would have said so in the main lamp page and in the parts page would have given both numbers as being suitable parts for both lamps. However they don't, in each page there is only the one number given. Also 882 is in sequence with the other two indoor lamps so 822 would be an oddity and I can’t see any evidence of a non nickel plated lamp. We may never know for sure but I think there is only one lamp listed so in the absence of better evidence I will go with what I believe is the balance of probability and with thanks to The good William call it 882.::Neil::
Neil As the conversation unfolded above, and before you had posted your “good William” commment, I had the same thought - hence my “” above. Cheers Tony
