San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1888-12-14
THE STOVES HISTORY.
SOMETHING ABOUT THE WONDER
Full IMPROVEMENTS MADE.

The Stove Practically Unknown i'm This
Country Fifty Years Aso-Littlefield's
Crude Invention-Davy's Discovery-The
Favorite Styles of Today.
Whatnowadays appears as a prime neces-
sity of life was practically unknown in this
country fifty years ago good many
people are still alive who will remember the
first introduction of the stove to an American
audience 1t is true there were stoves in
this country even in ante-revolutionary
times, but they were imported from Europe.
they were clumsy and unsatisfactory, &C
cording to our notions Of today, and they
were few and far between. Just about fifty
years ago stoves-cooking and heating stoves
first began to be generally used That was
when Americans began to make stoves for
the home market. And how modest were
these beginnings! The cooking stove first in
vogue was a sort of pot covered, and hot
ashes were used to fill the pan, and thus the
baking and the roasting was done. The
Dutch ovens" of that time were certainly
simple enough. Then came the step stoves,
having two steps ON them, very free-and
easy affairs.
The first parlor stoves, too, came into use
about fifty years ago The first and largest
sale made of these were so called surface burn
ers. They continued to be popular for about
a score Of years, and were then thought the
acme Of perfection in stove construction.
Then they began to be displaced by the self
feeding burners first introduced thirty years
ago. Dennis Littletield in Albany, Y,
took the initiative in this respect He called
them railroad heaters" and they were, for
spell, mainly used in railroad depots and on
trains. Littefeld got a big reputation on
the strength of this stove, and made, what
was even Of more importance to him, big
pile of money by their manufacture. 1t was
thought at that time, and for years after,
that this stove (Which was a rather clumsy
affair at best was his own invention, and he
got much credit for it. But one day young
man in Albany, employed in a rival estab-
lshment, when searching through the libra
ries, came across a foreign book in which
were drawings of a stove similar in construc-
ton, only more perfect and handsome than
Littlefeld's. He told his employers about it,
and they, quickly and without letting any
body become the wiser, set about manufac-
turing better and more perfect stoves than
Littlefeld's. They were sued and in court
they told of their discovery. They went on
making their stoves then without let or
hindrance. The firm made a big fortune.
From that time on one small improvement
after another has been made in stove build
ing, but in the main the stove of today Is just
what it was thirty years ago
The genesis of the modern stove goes back
to the days of Sir Humphrey Davy. Coal
was something new and untried then. Ex-
plosions with deadly results in the collieries
were things of daily occurrence. Only soft
coal was known as fuel, and several big COM
panies had bankrupted themselves in the
vain endeavor to introduce hard coal as fuel
Then it was that the English parliament
made a liberal appropriation for the
purpose of having Sir Humphrey Davy,
the eminent chemist and Inventor, ascertain
the exact properties of coal His safety
lamp, to be used in mines for the prevention
of explosions, was one result and the parent
of the stove of today was another.
The gas stove is as yet in its infancy. The
theory Of scientific men is, of course, that
fuel reduced to gas and then used for heat
ing purposes is really the most economical
way of utilizing fuel But, practically, this
theory has not yet been demonstrated. The
gas companies make the gas and charge
much more for it than it is really worth.
Again, many of the gas heaters are bad in
| sanitary sense as they constantly rob the
air in the room of its oxygen, a most indis-
pensable element without replacing it in
any way. Thus, practically, the gas stove is
still thing of the future.
But E5at,Ia variety Of. coal, stcyes ..ths-e
10 b COnti"Esd