INDEX side draft incandescent mantle burner

Index side draft burner

Manufactured by Hermann Hurwitz In Germany. Offered in America starting in 1907. So far I have yet to find any information regarding who imported and marketed these burners in North America. They do show up for sale on occasion. I have yet to find one that appears to have been sold on a lamp base.

Index burner wick knob

"D. R. P.
Index / ang "

D.R.P. stands for "
Deutsches Reichs
Patent"
which means German Empire Patent

Index burner with gallery and upper outer wick tube removed

The Index burner has an upper and a lower outer wick tube. The wick stays stationary and the upper outer wick tube is raised or lowered to expose different amounts of the wick. Note the dimple on the inside of the inner wick tube. There is another one on the other side. The flame spreader locks into the inner wick tube bayonet style.

Index burner outer wick tube
Adjustable upper outer wick tube

Index burner outer wick tube bottom view

Index incandescent mantle burner side view

The outer wick tube adjuster is a brass shaft inside a fixed brass tube. The dial is on the fixed tube and the pointer on the rotating shaft. The dial pointer was painted red.

There is a gear fixed to the rotating shaft that meshes with the rack gear on the upper outer wick tube raising and lowering the tube. There is a bracket on the lower outer wick tube that holds the rack gear against the rotating shaft gear.

NOTE: The gallery on the above picture is incorrect for this burner.

Index burner dial

Index burner adjustment gear

INDEX gallery and burner top

INDEX flame spreader

Index burner ad
1906-7 issue of the magazine Light
Provided by Anthony Trueman

Most German burners that were imported into North America were imported by entrepreneurs selling just burners or pairing the burners with American made lamp fonts. They only remained in business for 7 or fewer years before the beginning of World War I in Europe. With few exceptions German designed and manufactured burners have a brief and simple history in North America that can often be summed up in just a couple of sentences. Which is unfortunate because the evolution of a new lighting technology is told in their designs. Early American burner designers examined the existing German designs and built their first incandescent mantle burner designs based upon the best German designs available to them at the time.

These German burners have a richer history in the country where they were designed. If you would like to learn more about the history of these burners and how their designs evolved, the place to look is a book by Anton Kaim called "The Evolution of the Kerosene Mantle Burner". This is a self published book sold directly by the author and does a very good job of covering the inception and comparative evolution of the mantle burner. This book an excellent reference for burner and parts identification. The book covers the Burners developed in Europe, German burners imported to North America and Aladdin brand burners. I consider this book to be a must for the book shelf of anyone interested mantle burner design, evolution and history.

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