"Union" Lamp Stove

Description:

Three-burner, tabletop kerosene or oil stove having one tapered rectangular fount for three oblong rectangular burners, each wick tube containing one long wick, and three inverted tapered chimneys cast as one piece, each with a pivoting rectangular window on front; topped by a fixed rectangular grate. Red and gold product decal "UNION" on one side of fount. Burner plate screws onto fount, while chimneys hook onto back side of burner and are secured by a spring latch or clasp on front. Fount top has a filling spout at one corner and is cast in with foundry name and location on ends.

Maker is the Central Oil & Gas Stove Co. of Gardner, MA; started by William H. Wilder in 1875, but not known when ceased operations (sometime after the early 1920s).

Lamp stoves such as this have been identified for being used to heat irons during the summer months, but were, in reailty, a portable multipurpose appliance used for cooking, heating and lighting in houses, at camps and elsewhere. According to the donor, his mother used this lamp stove in rural Caroline County, VA, during the 1930s to "heat food and bottle for him as a child."

Date Made: after 1897

User: Collins, Herbert Ridgeway

Location: Currently not on view

Place Made: United States: Massachusetts, GardnerPlace Owned; Place Used: United States: Virginia, Bowling Green

Subject: Household Tools and EquipmentCookingHeatingLightingLaundry

Subject:

See more items in: Home and Community Life: Domestic Life

Exhibition:

Exhibition Location:

Credit Line: Herbert R. Collins

Data Source: National Museum of American History

Id Number: DL.308112.0004Catalog Number: 308112.0004Accession Number: 308112

Object Name: lamp stove

Physical Description: iron, cast (overall material)brass (burners, wick tubes material)cotton (wicks material)mica (windows material)Measurements: overall: 9 3/4 in x 9 5/8 in x 7 1/8 in; 24.765 cm x 24.4475 cm x 18.0975 cm

Guid: http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746b4-527f-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa

Record Id: nmah_311837

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