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The Petromax and oillamp supplier from Germany
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A History of the Petromax Lantern and the Graetz Family
On January 2nd, 1866, master plumber Albert Graetz (1831-1901), together with
the distributor Emil Ehrich, founded the "Lampen-Fabrik Erich and Graetz OHG"
(Erich and Graetz Lamp Factory, Unlimited), on Dresdener St. in Berlin. Albert
Graetz felt compelled to end the "dark times" of what he referred to as
"Rueboelfunzein" (vegetable oil lamps), through the introduction of improved
lamp designs. Thus, Ehrich and Graetz manufactured and sold, quite
successfully, air-draft kerosene lamps under the brand names "Akaria", Matador",
and "Iris". In 1889, Albert Graetz handed over management of the company to
his sons Adolf (1860-1909) and Max (1861-1937), Emil Ehrich having left the
company some time earlier.
Kommerzienrat Max Graetz
Max, an inventor and athlete, was well versed in the latest manufacturing
methods, having spent prolonged periods in the United States from the age of 17
(where he eventually made the acquaintance of Henry Ford). Along with his
brother Adolf, a worldly-wise distributor, the two successfully assumed leadership
of the company, which soon became well known worldwide, thanks to extensive
exportation of its products. By 1899, the year the company moved to Elsen
Strasse (Street) in the Berlin suburb of Treptow, the company employed 1000
workers, as compared to only 100 laborers ten years previously. Yet more
factories were later founded in Bridgeport (Connecticut), London, and Paris. On
November 9th, 1911, the German emperor bestowed the highest civil honorary
title of "Kommerzienrat" upon the Graetz family name (a dignity for which Max
was charged 3000 goldmarks, however).
Max Graetz was the driving force behind the technical design and development
of new products. In 1905 the "Graetzin-Gasanzuender" (Graetz gas igniter) was
developed, an impulse ignition system which eliminated the necessity for manual
ignition of coal-gas street lamps. In 1908, an electric light bulb was introduced,
under the brand name "Esso". In 1909, a coal-gas fueled incandescent
(Welsbach mantel) lamp was developed, named the "Graetzin-Licht" (Graetz-
Light). Along with the already commonplace alcohol-fueled incandescent mantel
lamps, the "Graetzin-Licht" design helped provide the inspiration for a completely
new type of light developed in 1910.
For this, a portable lantern, Graetz used liquid kerosene as a fuel, instead of
coal-gas. In a similar manner to the earlier "Graetzin-Licht", vaporized fuel was
mixed with a measured amount of air, and ignited to produce a hot and clean
blue flame, which in turn heated an attached mantle to the point of strong
incandescence (light emission). Compressed air in an attached fuel tank was
used to force the liquid kerosene up into a vertical "vaporizer" (or "generator", as
it is sometimes called) located very close to the superheated mantle. At this
location the kerosene was heated to the point of vaporization, thus providing the
gaseous fuel necessary for the lantern's continued operation. The new design
proved to be reliable, safe, and easily portable. Depending on the actual size
and configuration of the individual unit, effective light output levels from 200 to
1000 candlepower were possible.
Max Graetz was nicknamed "Petrol-Max" by his friends, singer/musician Paul
Lincke and the locally celebrated composer Eugen d'Albert, both of Berlin. In
turn, it was Paul Lincke who proposed that the new lantern design be called the
"Petromax",
instead of "Graetzin-Licht".
On Nov. 5th, 1920, the "Petromax" name was registered as a trademark. Later,
on April 9th, 1921, Max Graetz applied for the patent to a refined lantern design
using a vertical vaporizer. Thus was born the "Petromax" lantern in the form we
are familiar with today. From the outset, the "Petromax" was manufactured in
various configurations and sizes, with maximum possible light output varying
accordingly. The design was a great success, becoming a worldwide bestseller
and boasting production running well into the millions of units. As a side note of
interest, in providing a surface treatment for their lanterns, the Graetz company
pioneered the modern chromium/nickel plating process, still in use today.
Following Germany's surrender at the end of World War One, the company's
foreign factories were lost, and the Ehrich and Graetz Company had to fight for
economic survival. However, these hard times were overcome and in the 1920's,
new factories were built in Lunzenau/Rochlitz (Saxonia), and in the Austrian
Bregenz at the Bodensee.
On May 20th, 1922, the "Ehrich und Graetz AG" (Erich and Graetz Corporation)
was created. The principal shareholders were Max Graetz, his sons Erich, Fritz,
Hans, and Rudolf Graetz, and son-in-law Hans Pahl. Max's sons Erich and Fritz
had joined the company earlier, in 1910, and once again the cooperation
between engineering design and sales/distribution carried the company forward.
Erich Graetz helped to further the development of electrical products for the
company. Beginning in 1913, different types of electrical appliances, such as
clothes irons, hot-water kettles, and portable space heaters under the brand
name of "Graetzor" were introduced. It was also Erich Graetz who introduced the
famous Graetz radios of the thirties, following years of experimentation and
refinement. The 1930's were doubtlessly the golden years for the "Petromax"
lantern, and the Graetz company along with it. On May 9, 1935, a patent was
applied for the design of the now familiar kerosene preheater "blowtorch"
mounted on the lantern's side. This final configuration was trademarked under
the name "Petromax Rapid" on Feb. 13, 1936, and effectively completed the
lantern design and gave the distinctive appearance which it retains to this day.
In 1942, the "Ehrich und Graetz AG" name was changed to simply "Graetz AG".
This occurred at presumably the same time that the "AIDA, Gesellschaft fur
Beleuchtung und Heizung AG" (AIDA Company for Heating and Lights), up till
then a part of the competitor company "Jacob Hirschhorn AG", was acquired by
the Greatz corporation. Pressure lamps and lanterns continued to be produced
and distributed under the brand name of "AIDA", however. By this time, the
Graetz corporation effectively ruled the world market for kerosene-fueled
pressure lamps and lanterns, controlling a market share of 80%.
Graetz plant in Berlin Treptow
However, following the Russian invasion of Germany at the end of World War
Two, the Graetz family was left with virtually nothing, thanks to the Soviet
expropriation of the main plant in east Berlin along with the family estate at
Ostprignitz Brandenburg, and compulsory Soviet management of the factory in
Bregenz. Thus, in 1947 brothers Erich and Fritz Graetz, along with three other
workers, initiated the beginnings of a new production line in a vacant barracks
located in the Westphalian Altena (West Germany). While the original company
had always been family owned, this new company, under the name of "Graetz
KG" (Graetz, Limited ), was funded with investment money (stock sales) from the
public.
Fritz Graetz and Erich Graetz
Meanwhile, the original "Graetz AG" company, expropriated by the Soviets,
continued to operate in East Germany. In 1945, following the formal end of
World War 2, production of the Petromax lantern was continued in the old Berlin
plant, this time under communist management, headed by a former pipelayer
and staffed by a greatly reduced workforce of only 40 laborers. By February 8,
1948, the old Berlin factories were renamed "VEB Graetz Werk" (People's
Enterprise Graetz Factory), and again on February 4, 1950, the name was
changed to "VEB Fernmeldetechnik Treptow" (People's Enterprise
Communications Factory Treptow), reflecting the manufacturing plant's shift to a
primary emphasis in telecommunications equipment. All production of the
Petromax lantern in East Berlin ceased shortly thereafter.
Back in West Germany, however, "Graetz KG" managed a remarkable comeback
throughout the 1950's and 1960's. Following the manufacture of their first new
Petromax lantern in the fall of 1949, production rates rose to the hundreds-of –
thousands in early 1950's, and into the millions thereafter. 99% of this
production was exported abroad, while the remainder was sold to the German
Federal Railways, the German Federal Postal Administration, and in-country
construction companies. The growth of the Graetz company led to the creation
of several new factories in Altena, with branches in Bochum, Dortmund,
Letmathe, Duderstadt, and Geroldsgruen, along with a compliment of 5000
laborers. By this time, however, the Graetz company had evolved into a firm that
was primarily concerned with electronics, and in which the Petromax lantern and
related products played only a very small part. During the 1950's, the "Petromax"
brand name (trademark) was held by the "Graetz AG" of Hamburg in West
Germany, a non-manufacturing successor company to the old Berlin "Graetz
AG", until 1959 when the brand name rights were acquired by "Graetz KG". Also
in 1959, the "AIDA Company for Heating and Lighting" was combined wholly with
the "Graetz KG", and thus ceased to exist as an independent company.
Graetz plant in Altena/Westfalen
In early 1961, Erich Graetz, having no family successor to take over the
company, sold 74.5% of "Graetz KG" to the high-bidding "SEL" (Standard-
Elektronik-Lorenz AG) (the "Phillips" corporation also being a bidder). The
remaining 25.5% of the shares were held by the "Westfaelische Kupfer-und
Messing-Werke AG" (Westfaeli Copper and Brass Factories Corporation), as a
purely speculative investment holding. "SEL", in turn, eventually sold the
factories to "Nokia", of Finland. At the Altena factories, the Petromax lantern
continued to be built in to the 1970's. Currently, however, the Altena factories
are closed and the "Petromax" lantern is now manufactured in China, holding to
strict production standards set by the original German manufacturers. The
modern day "Petromax" lantern is currently distributed exclusively by the Heinze
company in Wuppertal, Germany, who since 1959 produced spare parts for
kerosene equipment, and since 1971 manufactured pressure lamps and stoves,
all under the brand name "Geniol". The "Petromax" trademark, on the other
hand, is currently owned (since 1990) by the "Schott Glaswerke" of Mainz,
Germany, the company which manufactures the glass globes used in "Petromax"
lanterns.
The "Petromax" lantern lives on, and is as popular as ever. Since September of
2000, "Stuga-Cabaña" in Dortmund serves as the official liaison for private
"Petromax" and "Geniol" customers of the Heinze company.
Kerosene Pressure Lantern Principles of Operation
Auer von Welsbach invented the principle of the gas flame heated incandescent
mantle light in 1885. In the blue flame of a Bunsen burner he heated a woven
fabric which glowed six times more brightly than the flame itself. The fabric was
hung above the burner, the sole source of heat, in a shape which inspired the
name of "mantle" (i.e., a cloak). The mantle was composed of a loosely woven
cotton mesh, soaked in a liquid solution of thorium and cerium nitrate. Upon
igniting a mantle for the first time, the cotton burnt away, leaving a rigid, brittle
"skeleton" of thorium and cerium oxides. These oxides emitted brilliant light
when heated to very high temperatures -- the principle of incandescence. This
newfound principle was revolutionary, especially in the application of street
lighting, and quickly became widespread throughout the industrialized world.
Before long, the idea of using liquid fuels for this type of lighting was explored.
By the end of the 19th century, the first alcohol and kerosene fueled incandescent
lamps had been developed. These liquid fuel lamps used pressure to force the
fuel towards the burner, and the heat of the burner's flame to vaporize the liquid
fuel. They are thus often termed "pressure lamps / lanterns". One of the first and
most successful kerosene fueled pressure lanterns was invented in 1910 by Max
Graetz – the world famous Petromax. The Petromax lantern, and its smaller
cousin the Geniol lantern, remain popular to this day, both in the private sector
and for professional applications.
The Petromax lantern acts as a small "gasworks". The fuel tank is pressurized to
approximately 2 atmospheres (2 bar, or 30 psi) with air introduced by a built-in
hand pump. This pressure is then used to force the liquid kerosene up into the
vaporizer (or "generator", as it is sometimes called). Initially, the vaporizer must
be pre-heated to gasify the liquid kerosene within it, prior to igniting the lantern's
mantle. This preheating may be accomplished by burning alcohol poured in to a
preheating cup located at the base of the vaporizer. Alternately, a built-in
kerosene-fueled blowtorch, the "Rapid" preheater located on the side of most
Petromax lanterns, may be used to heat the vaporizer. Once in operation, the
heat from the lantern's blue flame (encased within the mantle) is used to gasify
the liquid kerosene rising through the vaporizer. The liquid kerosene boils away
into vapor at approximately 250° C (480° F), about halfway up the height of the
vaporizer -- see illustration. The gaseous kerosene continues its journey through
the vaporizer's circular loop, increasing in temperature, until it exits the small
orifice in the vaporizer's nipple at nearly the speed of sound (1000 ft./sec.). Upon
exiting the nipple, the gaseous fuel begins to expand and combine with air in
small square chamber at the side of the lantern's inner casing. The expansion of
the gas and turbulent mixing with the air are responsible for the hissing noise of
the Petromax lantern while in operation. The gaseous kerosene and air are
swept into the mixing tube where the two are thoroughly combined in the
turbulent flow. This ensures complete combustion of the mixture upon exiting the
ceramic nozzle, resulting in a hot, clean blue flame.
These principles of operation are generally applicable to any incandescent
pressure lantern or lamp (e.g. – Coleman, Tilley, etc.), although fuel types,
vaporization temperatures, and operating pressures / procedures may vary.
Copyright Juergen Breidenstein (www.stuga-cabana.com · www.stuga-cabana.de)
Images: Graetz-Nachrichten
Please visit our fine assortment of various oillamps and pressure lamps such as Petromax, Geniol, Aladdin, Tilley and Vapalux.
Have a look at our spares and paraffin stoves!