TLDR: First patented in 1895 and still newly produced today. Burns on the not highly flammable Kerosene or lamp oil. The operation and maintenance of the lamp are extremely simple. No pre heating required, just remove the glass chimney and light it with a lighter then place the glass chimney back again. Turn the flame up or down to the preferred intensity. Don’t turn up the flame too high in the beginning as the glass might overheat and break. Since there is no fragile incandescent gas mantle like in a Coleman Lantern or Aladdin Lamp you don’t have to worry about braking it. Since it is not a pressurized system there is absolutely no sound and you don’t have to worry about sealing rubber parts that might leak. Besides a nice cozy light output it also has a significant heat output. Therefore it is usable as a tent heater and even as a camping stove.
Oil lamps were the main source of light from roughly 1850 to 1950. They usually were made out of a oil reservoir with a wick holding and moving mechanism, the wick itself and a relatively long glass chimney. They burned on the petroleum product Kerosene. On itself not flammable but with the help of a wick it burns in a controlled manner. The chimney is to accelerate the air flow and draw extra air into the flames for a good combustion. Without the glass chimney the lamp will fail to burn properly and will start to smoke. These oil lamps were made for indoor usage since even a slight breeze will cause flickering of the flame.
One of the most popular and copied designs in continental Europe was the size 20 ligne Matador burner from Berlin based company Ehrich & Graetz. This company is known for their sub brand Petromax for pressurized lamps and stoves. The patent for the Matador burner was registered in 1895. The design principle of the Matador burner is: a side draft burner (flat wick that folds round with a air inlet gap from the side instead of down the bottom of the oil reservoir) with flame spreader on top of the wick and a glass chimney with a bulge just above the bottom around the flame. The wick is moved up and down with a special system consisting of a gear wheel and a gear rack (rack and pinion). The gear rack is placed in the center and is connected to 3 outwards poking clamps that holds the wick in place. This system was patented in 1880 and ensures a smoother and more precise adjustment of the wick and therefore the hight of the flame.
In bull fighting, a practice done in Spain, Portugal, parts of Latin America and southern France, a Matador is the showman fighter who pushes several spears into a bull before finally killing the animal. This spear action might very well be the inspiration for Ehrich & Graetz to give this name to their wick adjustment system. The outwards poking of 3 spears inside a Matador 20”’ can be seen in the following movie clip.
Up till the introduction of the Matador wick adjustment system oil lamp wicks where moved up and dow by direct clamping between two gear wheels (for example in a Kosmos Brenner) or with a gear rack that is connected to a ring clamp and placed at the outside of the wick (for example in a Aladdin Lamp) This design was followed by virtually all European lamp manufacturers. Resulting in lamps with interchangeable parts and Matador as a type denotification rather than a brand.
Ideal Brenner. Since Matador (and Salvator) were registered trade names, other companies that copied this design after the patent expired had to give it another name. One of these companies was BJB, Brökelmann Jaeger Busse that made a copy under the name Ideal Brenner. Dutch company Den Haan Rotterdam (DHR) took over their original tooling and equipment during the 1990’s and is still producing this wick holder and moving mechanism up to this day. Now that’s a time tested design.
DHR’s most well known lamp is the Trawler lamp for lighting in cabins on board ships.
The original Erich & Graetz, DHR Ideal Brenner and various lesser known copies of this Matador style burner can still be found on flea markets and in antique shops. A more seldom found version of the The Matador burner is the one with a gallery lifting system. This can be recognized by the extra large key. The purpose of this lifting system is that you can light te lamp without removing the glass chimney. Sometimes this lifting system isn’t function anymore due to clogging with oil residues or corrosion. Other things to consider are that the oil reservoir pot might be leaking or sweating oil or that the original wick is clogged up. Dried up residues from lamp oil will cause a bad smell when burning these lamps. Usually burning a few liters of oil will remove most residues and therefore remove the bad smell. If this doesn’t work sufficiently you can soak the burner plus installed wick for a few days in white gas. Even worse is that dried up oil residues might completely block the wick from moving up and down. What will usually help is to soak the burner plus installed wick for a few minutes in a warm solution of caustic soda. After soaking rinse the whole with water. It might be necessary to repeat this procedure a few times before the wick can be moved up and down again. Don’t apply force to the wick moving knob since it will easily break.
Wick size. In 1865 the flat wick that was fouling round was invented by Wild and Wessel and launched to the marked as Kosmos Brenner. By doing so the air can be transported into the burner from the side since the lower part of the wick is folded open. The so called side-draught burner was born. Before this the tubular round wicks were fed with air through a hollow shape in the oil reservoir. Main difference with the Kosmos Brenner is that the Matador Brenner has a flame spreader on top of the wick to divert the flame into the bulb of the chimney. The required flat wicks for oil lamps are available in different sizes. 6 Ligne, 14 ligne, 20 ligne, 30 ligne etc. The 20 Ligne is used in the matador burner and Ideal Brenner. Although the Matador burner was also made in a 15 ligne and a 30 ligne size. Erich & Graetz also made a 16 ligne version of the Kosmos burner under the name Salvator. Important to know is that the flat wicks are sometimes available in different thicknesses. Thicker wicks will absorb more oil and are less prone to glowing and gradually eaten away while burning. For all flat wick oil lamps it is important to use the correct width of the wick. To small will cause a gap and therefore unevenly burning. The result can be soot or a broken glass chimney. Too wide wicks will cause jamming of the moving mechanism.
Glass chimney. The glass chimney on a kerosene lamp is essential for diverting enough air into the flame so that the lamp doesn’t produce smell or soot and the light output is maximum. A well designed chimney will turn the flames from orange to yellow and almost into white. As the flame of a Matador burner is diverted sidewards, the glass chimney has a widening at that point instead of being more straight. The glass chimney had a typical design of a bell shape at the base. Although a version with a slimmer bell was available for improved combustion this design was the most common. Den Haan Rotterdam uses a much shorter glass chimney but with the same bell size and base diameter in their Trawler lamps.
A very recent development is the glass chimney Neo-Vulcan Matador 20 made by Miles Stair Wickshop(pe). This glass chimney aims to divert the air flow more vigorously into the flames. This is done by a wasp like pinch under the bulge at the base of the chimney. The principle is based on the 1884 patented Vulcan Brenner designed by Emil Wild from Wild & Wessel also from Berlin. Besides this pinched shape at the base the glass is also ticker and heavier plus the straight tube has a smaller diameter. Another design feature is that the base is 63 mm wide instead of the usual 65 mm. This allows the glass to expand when it’s hot and ensures a smooth installation on the galley of the lamp. Normal Matador chimneys might vary between 65 and 68 mm width and are sometimes hard to insert on the galley. Ultimately causing cracking of the glass.
Heat output: The heat output of these lamps is significant, rated at 400 Watt. This makes it very suitable as space heater for in a tent or cabin. Even in a normal living room it can elevate the temperature noticeably. This is a feature that is almost not known in the outdoor community. During winter camping the nightfall is early and both light and heat are useful then. Taiwan based Instagrammer Sunnyparaffin_taiwandealer makes even more usage out of the heat generated by this lamp. He builds pot holder racks for heating pans on top of the lamp and so use it as a camping stove.
More info:
www.base-camp.co.uk The ‘Matador’ burner
www.dhr.nl Take-over of the Ideal Burner production
YouTube SPQR-Z DHR (Den Haan Rotterdam) 20iii line burner in Trawler nautical lamp, antique Kerosen lamp lantern.
YouTube SPQR-Z Aladdin 23, Brenner Matador Kerosene-oil lamps, Coleman 202 compare. Vintage camping, survival.
YouTube SPQR-Z Ehrich & Graetz lamp Matador burner service & polish
www.hytta.de A History of the Petromax Lantern and the Graetz Family
www.dhr.nl Explaining the Ligne
www.milesstair.com New neoVulcan 20”’ Matador Chimney
www.armyandoutdoors.co.nz
www.armyworld.pl (Poland)
www.desertrat.se (Sweden)
www.raeer.com (Germany)