The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1894-06-14
TRIMS FOR STOVES.
IA DEALER IN HEATERS TELLS HOW
4 THEY CAUSE TROUBLE.

When They Desire to- REPAIR Them That
Their Ignorance Is Appalling.
The life OF dealer in stove repairs
is not one Of unalloyed bliss ho has
all classes of people to deal with, and
tho greater portion of them seldom
know what they want. They think they
do, but they don't. This will be readily
understood when it is known that there
are manufactured today between 70, 600
and so, 900 different stoves AS each va
riety has from to 10 component parts
this will make total of between &c.,
900 and $40, 900 different pieces It
will be seen that unless minute details
are given there arc possibilities of hav-
ling mixed stove on your hands. A
visit to one of the largest repair shops
i'm tho country was productive Of some
interesting information as we'll as some
amusing incidents.
cit is singular, " said the manager,
show little the general public knows
about stoves. People will handle stove
for years and still be a stranger to it.
Then, when something happens to it,
they come to us and expect us to know
what part is wanted by q general de-
Escription. We carry supplies of about
$50, 600 different stoves. There are about
BOO stove manufacturers in this country,
and they turn out on an average 5000
new designs every year AS we are
called upon to supply the different parts
of all of them, we have to keep pretty
large stock ON hand
eve have four stories full of sup
plies, which weigh 2, 900 tons. Besides
these we have 800 tons of patterns and
pay 500 yearly for new designs
Our stock is an accumulation Of over 22
years Some of our supplies are for
stoves That haven't been manufactured
for years One would think that people
would want the latest pattern in stoves,
but they don't. They will hang onto
stovo as long as there is anything to
patch up Why, only the other day we
were asked to supply CRATE for stove
that was made i'll 1886. You see there
are lots of people, especially in the
country, who use the old fashioned wood
stoves, and although one of the new
stoves would save them enough in ono
season to pay for itself they stick to the
odd ones
"Wo have amy number of amusing
experiences, although some of them
would try the patience of a saint. Peo-
ple will come to us who think they have
enough information if they give us the
namc of their stove An Irishman
walked into our place the other day.
He was one of those positive Irishmcn
who think it impossible to make n mis-
take
Good mornin, he began Oi was
laid off yesterday, an Oh just came
down to git some tiXins for the stove
The ould woman's been lackin for a
now back this long tonne.
"'What kind of n stove is it?'
'Oh, Just common livery dav
stove
Does it burn coal or wood?'
It's q coal stove an burns divil
of a lot OF coal. Sure, it takes the best
part of me wages buyin coal.
'FWhat is the name and number of
No 8 Star.
Areyou sure?'
bana Oh sure? OF course Dim sure
--ye suppose Olive sat in front of it for
the last eight years an not know what
kind of q stove it is? Plat do you t'ink
Oh am, choomp?'
But there is no such stove made
&C Is that so? Maybe you tinll you
know more about it than Oh do, m yc
niver sane the stove at all, at all.
'' But there are several kinds of
Stars. Who is the maker, what is the
date OF the patent, and what is the size
of tho oven?
An do you have to know all that?
Sure, the next tonne Oh come down for
job loille this DIN sind some one
else.
"Then there is the handy man, who
comes in with a piece of string CT il
stick There arc knots i'll the string nd
hicks on the stick to show that the stu;c
is so long and so deep When we tell
him what is necessary before he can be
accommodated, he beats hasty retreat
And there is the lady who thinks we arc
Just horrid. when we tell her that we
don't know what kind of stove she
has, that there are between 20, 600 and
80, 600 for which we have repairs, and
that hers might be amy one of them.
'Tho other day Il German who keeps
secondhand store was in here for some
parts to two stoves that he had bought
He could not speak English very well,
and Us near as the clerk could make out
the names Of his stoves were the San
sage and the 'Maggots As 10 such
stoves were made to our knowledge, we
were somewhat puzzled. Finally the
catalogue was rcsorted to- and the Ger
man triumphantly pointed out the
names of his stoves. They were the Sue
cess and the 'Nfopnptic
Occasionally n man of the SpoODen