A radial
ERS fixture has the lamp enter the
reflector housing along a radius of the ellipse as opposed to an
axial fixture where the lamp enters the reflector on axis of the ellipse. The radial
fixture was a long time standard, though the reflector is less efficient than an axial reflector. The most popular radial ERS was probably the
Altman Cat#360-6x9, pictured below.
360-6x9.jpg
Radial ERS fixtures are also occasionally called "top loaders" due to the positioning of the
lamp cap.
The reason that the lamp had to enter the reflector off axis is because
incandescent lamps of the period had a "burn position" specified by the manufacturer, due to the way the large and heavy
filament was supported. Lamps used in ERSs were "BU30," meaning "
Base Up, +/- 30° ". Thus when the fixture was hanging above and pointing down toward the
stage, the lamp ends up more or less vertical. Until the advent of T/H lamps and fixtures to take advantage of their properties (one of which was the ability to
burn in any position), all ERS fixtures were radial until about 1970. With the axial Altman 360Q having been introduced in 1974, the 360
line was discontinued around 1991.