Stove

a well known household necessity. Cast iron stoves were made in Alsace, Germany, as early, it is thought, as 1490; but prior to the eighteenth century European heating stoves were ordinarily large tiled affairs. . The Nuremberg stove required hours to become heated and hours more to cool off. In fact the high earthenware stove is still in use in Germany and Russia. In the latter country the peasants sleep on it for warmth.

The American colonists depended on open fireplaces and brick ovens. Pots were hung over an open fire in the fireplace by a crane, an iron rod hinged to the wall so as to swing to and fro. The pots and kettles were suspended from the crane by S-shaped pothooks. Potatoes were roasted in the hot ashes. Bread was baked in a covered pot swung over the fire, or else in a brick oven with an iron door. In case of the latter the oven was first heated by building a fire inside of it. When the dough was ready to bake, the coals and ashes were removed from the oven, the loaves placed inside, and the door closed again. Baking day was an event in the household. In place of warming churches by a stove or furnace the colonists expected each old lady to be provided with a foot-stove or foot-warmer, such as are carried nowadays on a cold drive. A common form of foot-stove was a small sheet iron box, well encased. It was provided with a shovelful of live coals from the fireplace and was carried to church by a bail.

A heating stove with an open front was invented by Dr. Franklin in 1744. Box stoves of six iron plates, a top, a bottom, two sides, a rear, and a front door date from 1752. Attachments for baking, holes for kettles and frying pans were afterthoughts. The cooking stove superseded the fireplace about 1819. A history of the various improvements and patents would fill volumes. The modern wood heater is a combination of cast iron and sheet iron. The more expensive cooking ranges are built of steel plates. Coal stoves are provided with mica plates for greater cheerfulness.

Stoves are manufactured in no less than twenty-five states. Ten states manufacture stoves to the value of over a million dollars a year, but the American industry may be said to center in Detroit. The annual output for the United States in 1900 was valued at $35,446,600.

See Fire; Heating; Ventilating; Fireplace