Waterbury evening Democrat., 1888-10-30
THE STOVES HISTORY.
SOMETHING ABOUT THE WONDER
 FUL IMPROVEMENTS MADE.

Crude Inveatioi.-Davy's Discoyery-THe
 Favorite Styles of Today.
 What nowadays appears as 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. It is true there were stoves in this country even in ante-revolutionary times, but they were imported from Europe; they were clumsy and unsatisfactory, ac- 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 beginningsl The cooking stove first in vogue was q 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. Tken 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 CTS. They continued to be popular for about q 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 Littlefeld in Albany, N. 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. Littletield 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 It was thought at that time, ane for years after, that this stove (which was q rather clumsy affair at besn was his own invention, and he got much credit for it. But one day young man in Albany, employed in a rival estab~ Ishment, when searching through the libra ries, came across a foreign book 1n which were drawings of a stove similar in construc- tiop, only more perfect and handsome than LittefieId'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 Littlefelds They were sued and ill court they told of their discovery. They went on making their stoves then without let or hindrance. The firm made q big fortune. From that time on one small improvement after another has been made ill 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 lO JUG uuOS Ol DIT fI1uupufe1 hbNy. SOttA 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 q sanitary sense, as they constantly rob the air in the room of its oxygen, q most indis- pensable clement, without replacing it in any way. Thus practically, the gas stove is still a thing of the future.
 But what a variety of coal stoves there are The ware rooms on Lake street which the reporter visited contained alone about 300 varieties, and there are hundreds more which were not there represented. Begin ming with the best and most high priced, the self feeders, they arc now made so as to suit all tastes and nearly all pocket books. When first introduced, about thirty years ago, they were round ill shape. Then the back part of the stove began to swell out, so as to put ascending and descending fues ill and to fit them with double bottoms In this way the radiating surface for the heat was increased and the heating capacity of the stove heightened. Some five or six years ago the square stoves of the same pattern were introduced They first came out in New England They were square in shape and had Q square chamber. This style seems to have originated so as to correspond with the change i'll fashion in furniture. This class of stove had, however but short run. It was followed by a modification in style, leaving the stove itself still square, or nearly so, but making the fire chamber again oval or round.
 Another kind of stove is the surface | burner" It is not self feeding, but a base | heating and surface burning stove. In New | England, where people practice economy more scientifically and consistently than we people of the west, this stove is considered | the most economical-i. e., giving the great l est heat for the amount of fuel consumed. l This style of stove is usually made with ! cast iron base, square, with rounded corners, double bottom, the upper part of sheet iron, lower part lined with cylinder brick, making the fire part very strong and durable, and | giving much radiating surface.
 l A cheaper kind of stove is made, known to the trade as the cylinder stove. The bottom and ash pot of this stove are made of cast
 iron, while the body of the stove is formed of sheet iron in cylindrical shape. The bottom 1 is used for fire chamber and is brick lined 1 This stove is cheaper, because there is no
 diving flue and no double bottom-simply Q
 direct -draught. This stove, though cheaper
 in cost is not so economical It is, however,
 very good ventilator, and is, perhaps. on | that account the most appropriate stove for
 places where many people usually assemble,
 such as depots, public halls, saloons etc The
 cast iron cylinder or cannon stoves are used
 in the west mostly for soft coal. They heat
 very quickly and are durable, besides being
 cheap. Then there are the wood heaters,
 which are made in great variety and at every 1 price.-Chicago Herald.
 The New PlaidS.