Aida Lanterns

    I have seen many queries about Aida brand in older posts on the forum. I once upon a time heard this story, I wanted to post it up and see if anyone else here has heard it:


    Aida was a trademark owned by one Jakob Hirschhorn AG, a Barvarian manufacturer of outdoor sporting goods. Aida had invented the "rapid" preheater, which Aida called the "express" which was to solve the preheating problem with the original gas pressure lantern designed by Max Graetz. I am told that this was because of a complaint by the German army that the lamp was difficult to start but otherwise excellent. Through the agency of the army contract, Aida and E&G co-operated on the upgrading of the lantern an standardization of their respective variants, which are very similar but not identical.


    During the rise of the Nazis, Hirschhorn had a dilemma. He was Jewish and needed to close his business and leave Germany. His company was acquired by the Graetz brothers (E&G's proprietors) who bought it for full market price - which they did not need to do, but did anyway to help their friend. They quietly retired the Aida tooling, and kept it in storage near the original Aida plant during the war.


    After the war, E&G found itself in the Soviet occupation zone. The Russians seized their tooling and moved their factory to the east, leaving them with nothing. But the Graetz brothers had an ace in the hole - the Aida tooling was in the Western zone, unscathed by the war.


    Because of their kindness to their friend Jakob in his time of need, his old tooling was there for them to relaunch Petromax after the war. It was the hand of God. This is the reason that the Aida express reappeared after the war before the Petromax rapid did. Once they had made enough money to make new tooling, they started making new Petromax rapids on an assembly line next to the Aida expresses. They again quietly retired the Aida tooling after the Petromax line was fully in production, and so Aida faded into history.


    That's the way I heard it. If anyone out there knows different - I'd love to hear it.

    Hello Kerosene,


    well I've read the Story in nearly the same way. So I do hope that this part of history is true and not a kind of legend.
    Let's hope for the best...


    From which source did You get it?


    Greetings
    Christian

    Hier wird das Licht von Hand gemacht...
    ... und der Motor gehört nach hinten!

    Nice Story and i am hope the same like KSBulli.
    But there is a little Hook.
    What about the Heinze-factory in Altena? Located in the west of germany.
    They started to produce for Petromax in 1930.
    Please google "Die Petromax und die Familie Graetz".


    Hi Kerosene,


    sounds like a nice story. But there is more than only one catch in it!


    Zitat von Kerosene

    [...] Aida had invented the "rapid" preheater, which Aida called the "express" which was to solve the preheating problem with the original gas pressure lantern designed by Max Graetz. [...]


    I don't think that this is true. There are several patents from Ehrich & Graetz concerning those preheaters. So i don't see any reason why Ehrich & Graetz should not be the inventor. I think you should search for patents of such preheaters applied by Hirschhorn to verify this part of the story.


    Zitat von Kerosene

    I am told that this was because of a complaint by the German army that the lamp was difficult to start but otherwise excellent. Through the agency of the army contract, Aida and E&G co-operated on the upgrading of the lantern an standardization of their respective variants, which are very similar but not identical.


    There are so few lanterns that are verifiable used by German army (like the Petromax 827B) that i could not imagine that the army was the initiator for this invention. And - the first patent (Nr. 385043) for preheaters from Ehrich & Graetz was applied in 1923 where the German army was nearly not existing.
    (In addition the "good old" spirit preheater is much more fail-safe than the newer "Rapid"-preheater - as long as you got spirit with you).


    Zitat von Kerosene

    [...] But the Graetz brothers had an ace in the hole - the Aida tooling was in the Western zone, unscathed by the war. [...]
    This is the reason that the Aida express reappeared after the war before the Petromax rapid did. Once they had made enough money to make new tooling, they started making new Petromax rapids on an assembly line next to the Aida expresses. They again quietly retired the Aida tooling after the Petromax line was fully in production, and so Aida faded into history.


    I have never heard that the new manufacturing facility in Altena after war ever was a Hirschhorn facility before. I thought it was a completly new site.
    In my opinion the only reason for selling Aida branded lanterns was to keep those customers who prefered to buy Aida instead of Petromax.


    Altogether i think this story has some true contents - e.g. that Ehrich & Graetz bought Aida for a fair price. And this core of the story is really pleasant!
    Unfortunately this content is pimped with several imaginary parts to let it sound more exciting and to work out the unexpected great fortune which was brought to the fair partner. Especially the involvment of German army (and of course the Russians) always seems to be an indispensable ingredient.


    The main problems with these stories is that there are often no proofs, documents or sources - but after reading the same story in different forums, everybody believes in its truth...


    Grüße
    StefanEs

    2 Mal editiert, zuletzt von StefanEs ()

    The is such an amazing and true story and I definitely believe it, regardless of what any negative, questionable or unbelievable postings there may be about it.


    Thank you Kerosene for posting and sharing this.