Before stoves for cooking came into use in the home, food was cooked in open fireplaces. Even when wood was the only fuel known, a stove for burning it, called the Franklin stove, was invented by Benjamin Franklin, but not until coal came into use as fuel were iron stoves made. For a long time stoves were used mainly for heating purposes, as many housewives preferred to cook at the open fireplace. However, this method of cooking has practically disappeared and a stove of some kind is in use for cooking in every home.



For each fuel in common use there are many specially constructed stoves, each having some advantageous feature; yet all stoves constructed for the same fuel are practically the same in principle. In order that fuel will burn and produce heat, it must have air, because fuel, whether it is wood, coal, or gas, is composed largely of carbon and air largely of oxygen, and it is the rapid union of these two chemical elements that produces heat. Therefore, in order that each stove may work properly, some way in which to furnish air for the fire in the firebox must be provided. For this reason, every stove for cooking contains passageways for air and is connected with a chimney, which contains a flue, or passage, that leads to the outer air. When the air in a stove becomes heated, it rises, and as it ascends cold air rushes through the passageways of the stove to take its place. It is the flue, however, that permits of the necessary draft and carries off unburned gases. At times it is necessary to regulate the amount of air that enters, and in order that this may be done each stove is provided with dampers. These devices are located in the air passages and they are so designed as to close off the air or allow the desired amount to enter. By means of these dampers it is possible also to force the heat around the stove oven, against the top of the stove, or up the chimney flue. A knowledge of the ways in which to manipulate these dampers is absolutely necessary if correct results are to be obtained from a stove. The flue, however, should receive due consideration. If a stove is to give its best service, the flue, in addition to being well constructed, should be free from obstructions and kept in good condition. Indeed, the stove is often blamed for doing unsatisfactory work when the fault is really with the flue.

Probably one of the most important things considered in the construction of stoves is the economizing of fuel, for ever since the days of the fireplace there has been more or less of a tendency to save fuel for cooking, and as the various kinds grow scarcer, and consequently more expensive, the economical use of fuel becomes a necessity. While most stoves for cooking purposes are so constructed as to save fuel, many of them do not, especially if the method of caring for them is not understood. Any housewife, however, can economize in the use of fuel if she will learn how the stove she has must be operated; and this can be done by following closely the directions that come with the stove when it is purchased. Such directions are the best to follow, because they have been worked out by the manufacturer, who understands the right way in which his product should be operated.