I believe that is a thermostatic burner. It was designed to allow you to choose a temp and then keep it there. Is the control knob different from the rest? Unsure of what the post by the pilot tube is. Have you tried putting a pan on the burner and giving it a minute to light?

Might the post in the center allows it to only light if a pot is pushing it down? Try turning on the burner with a pot sitting on top of it. I think that's probably how it works. In other words, it will only light if the post is pressed down by a pot then automatically goes out once you lift the pot off. I have no idea why a person would need this but probably in 1970 it sounded like a brilliant idea. HA!

It is a thermostatic burner. One of the burner controls should be labeled in ðF instead of the usual High, Medium, Low. If not, could be the control went bad and was replaced with a standard control but the original burner parts remain.

It is not labeled in ðF but you might be right about it being replaced. Do you know what that part is between the pilot and the burner? none of the other burners have that. It seems to be preventing the pilot from lighting but it had to have worked at some point. Thank you!