TURNER BRASS WORKS
The company was founded in Chicago in the 1870s and made a variety of fittings in brass. By the 1890s Turner was making blowtorches and around 1906 they moved to a new factory in Sycamore, Illinois and around the same time they took over the White Manufacturing Company eventually becoming the largest US blowtorch company.
Turner Brass Works – No 58 Pocket Torch
(Alcohol ¼ pt. – abt 1904-1906)
Notes: This small nickel plated brass torch was useful for jewellers, linesman, electricians and laboratory work. A cotton wick drew alcohol to the flame and a rubber tube was blown into by mouth to obtain a pointed hotter flame. The torch was manufactured by Turner Brass Works from a White Mfg. Co. design called the Gem and branded with the White trademark of ‘Hot Blast’. The blowtorch is from John Rugotzke’s collection.
© 2000-2026 Terry Marsh