Feuerhand Quality since 1893

Hermann and Ernst Nier founded their Production Site in 1893

The Feuerhand lantern finds its starting point in Beierfeld in the Saxon Ore Mountains. Hermann Nier ran a plumber’s workshop there in the 1870s and made lanterns, amongst other things. With the increasing industrialisation, workshops were replaced by factories that manufactured their products thanks to machines – that was also the case in Beierfeld, which was well-known for its metalworking. There the brothers Hermann and Ernst Nier founded a production centre for hurricane lanterns in 1893.

Hermann Nier Factory

Five years after the foundation, the company Frankonia Albert Frank metalware bought up the production site and the brothers Nier became production managers. Owing to differences with Frankonia, Hermann Nier finally started its own hurricane lantern factory “Hermann Nier Feuerhandwerk” in 1902. In the same year, he applied for a patent for the manufacturing of lanterns using the stamping and folding techniques with tinning by hot-dipping and without hand-soldering.

The Beginning of the Baby-Series

In 1914 the trademark “Feuerhand” was registered for all products as a utility model of the German Reich – in German: “Deutsches Reichs-Gebrauchsmuster” (DRGM) – and in 1920 the round Feuerhand emblem was added to the brand. Finally, in 1926 the patents as well as the trademark “Firehand” were also registered in the USA. The manufacture of the well-known small hurricane lanterns – the Baby series – with fireproof borosilicate glass from the Firma Schott from Jena started in 1933.

The Biggest Producer of Hurricane Lanterns in the World

Between 1918 and 1938, Nier Feuerhand became the biggest producer of hurricane lanterns in the world. Over this period of time, there were quite a lot of applications for new patents, amongst other things for the improvement of the burners and the development of a windbreak, the so-called “Sturmkappe”. With the beginning of World War II, the international market collapsed and a drop in the production was recorded. Like most factories, Nier Feuerhand ended up focusing on the military production.

Post War Period

After the war, the Nier family was expropriated, the machines were dismantled and brought into the Soviet Union. The family fled to the West to Lüdenscheid in Westphalia and built there a small serial production, which was transferred to Hohenlockstedt in Schleswig-Holstein in 1949. In Beierfeld, the buildings as well as the original blueprints were taken over by the metalware Publicly Owned Operation – in German: “Volkseigener Betrieb Metallwaren” (VEB MEWA). The brand name “Feuerhand” still belonged to the family Nier, which is why the production in the GDR used the prevailing trademark “BAT”. This production continued until 1990.

The Feuerhand Baby Special 276 to this Day: Made in Germany

Since 1989, the cold blast lantern Feuerhand Baby Special 276 was the only model produced. The worldwide renowned brand and its production of hurricane lanterns perpetuate a tradition that is more than one hundred years old.

Since autumn 2014, the trademark “Feuerhand” belonged to the Petromax group. The Feuerhand Baby Special 276 is plated with zinc and available in various colours. It continues to be produced in Hohenlockstedt and reads proudly „Made in Germany“.