Breckinridge County KyArchives History .....Cast Iron Cooking Stoves ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ky/kyfiles.html ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Dana Brown http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00005.html#0001067 September 18, 2006, 6:35 pm Book Title: A Glimpse Of The Past Cast iron cooking stoves, symbolizing the warmth of home, have long been part of American heritage. These giants with names like Queen Atlantic, Star Kineo, Home Comfort, Crown Acorn and Glenwood heateed and cooked in millions of American homes primarily between 1845 and 1945. An early cook stove patent was issued to Philco Penfield Stewart in September 1838. It was called the Oberlin Stove. He later originated the "P. P. Stewart Summer and Winter Cooking Stove." The stove proved to be a financial success-- over 90,000 was manufactured during his lifetime. By 1845, Henry Miller developed his "Parlor Cook Stove" which had an oven placed above the stove between two smokestacks. American's accepted the idea of cooking on and heating from the same kitchen stove. Fireplaces were sealed and ranges were placed on kitchen hearths; the era of the cast iron giants had begun. Many kitchen ranges were designed to burn either wood or coal. To change from one fuel to another, a different set of grates were put in the firebox. An efficient cook stove could perform a multitude of functions all at once. The oven, surface burners could all be used at the same time. The stove surface pies were kept hot on shelves or in warming ovens. On the back of the stove a copper teakettle bubbled, adding humidity to the room. More complex setups had water reservoirs or pipes placed through the firebox to heat water that was stored in a brass water tank above the stove. Closely related to the full size kitchen ranges were the "parlor cook stoves". Designed to heat and warm food in the parlor or dinning room, these smaller stoves had a cooking surface, which was usually hidden by an ornate moveable top. Some models also had warmer ovens. Several decades have passed since cook stoves have been manufactured in any quantity. Although beauriful and versatile they required too much labor for busy American's in post World War II America. New gas and electric stoves were purchased; they represented modern living, and wood or coal sotves were discarded as reminders of the drudgery most housewives wanted to forget. With the fuel shortage of the 1970s, wood and coal cast-iron stoves were again needed to fill the energy gap. Although most stove buyers turned to modern airtight, others discovered that antique stoves and ranges were also designed to be technologically efficient and still are if properly preserved and operated. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ky/breckinridge/history/other/castiron131gms.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/kyfiles/