Gas Ranges

The Chambers stove is a generic name for several different kitchen cooking appliances sold under the Chambers brand name from 1912 to approximately 1988. They were known for their patented insulation methods, which enabled them to cook on retained heat with the fuel turned off. more...

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History

The Chambers Fireless Gas Range was a gas cook stove created by John E. Chambers in 1910, Two years after inventing his fireless cooker, John Chambers organized the Chambers Company in 1912. Chambers' patented method of manufacture used thick rock wool insulation to insulate the oven on all sides. This made it possible for the heat inside the oven to build up over a short period of time. The gas was turned off, and a series of dampers closed, isolating the oven compartment from the outside air. The food would continue to cook on retained heat, thus conserving fuel and reducing food shrinkage. This method of cooking also increased the food value of the cooked items.

The Chambers Corporation manufactured successive versions of this design in Shelbyville, Indiana from 1912 through January, 1955.

The company was sold by the Chambers family in 1950 to the Flato brothers, who were the Chambers distributors in Houston, Texas. Rangaire purchased Chambers in 1964, and operated it out of the Oxford, Mississippi plant built by the Flato brother in 1963 until 1983, when they sold it to the KitchenAid Division of the Hobart Corporation. During their ownership, manufacture of the famous insulated range continued into the 1970s. KitchenAid was sold to Whirlpool in 1986. By the early 1990's, Chambers-branded appliances were no longer in manufacture.

In 2007, the Thor Corporation of Los Angeles resurrected the Chambers brand name.

The earliest Chambers ranges were small, but all were constructed of heavy gauge steel and porcelain enamel. All models had thickly insulated ovens, designed to cook on retained heat. To assist their owners in learning how to use this feature, Chambers had a large Home Economics Department in their Shelbyville, Indiana factory, where recipes and cooking times using the insulated properties of their products were carefully tested and perfected. These tests resulted in charts which indicated the amount of time - and at what temperature - the gas was to be burned in the oven and the Thermodome (which was succeeded by the Thermowell), before it was to be turned off completely while the food continued to cook on retained heat. By 1927, Chambers published a Cookbook for the homemaker to not only learn how to care for and operate her appliance, but also to assist her in menu planning, proper table setting, etc. This publication later became known as The Idle Hour Cookbook. The Idle Hour Cookbook was revised until it was replaced in the late 1960's by Rangaire with an actual Operation Manual. Chambers promoted the ranges using traveling cooking shows which pre-dated television. John Chambers' daughter Alma Chambers, traveled coast-to-coast for over twenty years conducting large cooking shows to promote the Chambers Range.

Read more at Wikipedia.org