40's? Westinghouse range

[piglet]

It was imperative we make the 2 hour drive to Spokane Washington to get this from a 1940 home just purchased by a new owner, who supposed this to be from the original kitchen in the house. The photos of it all caked in dirt and grease had me instantly hooked!
Please tell me what you know about this range?
Sadly the missing handle has me stumped... I've searched everywhere I can think of for a couple months now, to no avail.
The clock works, but one knob missing, the oven works, burners and deep well work. Fluorescent tube not yet purchased.
The drawers are a soft aluminum, and tracks are just pressed in square troughs on the side of the drawer that ride on round bars attached inside the frame of stove. The troughs have deformed over the years, so one must wrestle to get the drawers to slide, they judder and jam and I scarcely can imagine what would happen if the weight of pans were in them. Can I somehow press a steel insert into that trough that might ride easily on the bars... or... should I opt to re-suspend them with modern drawer slides from a rigged framework inside? Wondering if anyone else may have some good solution to this? Is it anathema to meddle with original equipment like this?
I do not know the model name. Photos included here.
Any help with locating a missing handle and clock knob would be most welcome!
I have not yet been able to figure out how to get messages from this website to drop into my inbox... but will try to check back and see if I can locate this post again... not too computer savvy.

 

[firedome]

there are several...

vintage appliance specialists who restore and/or sell parts, try Google-ing 'antique appliance" or "vintage appliance" specialist, Antique Appliances in GA is one and believe there are several in CA.

 

[rp2813]

I can't get anything past "photo 1 of 5" to display.

 

The stove is from the '40s, probably 1948 or a little earlier, but I'm pretty sure it's not a 1940.

 

That is an odd glide situation on the drawers.  My mom had her 1949 Westinghouse until she went into skilled nursing in 2007 and the drawers on that stove worked smooth as silk. 

 

A replacement handle will not be an easy find.  Depending on the clock's manufacturer, the knob is likely the same as on vintage wall clocks or clock radios of similar vintage by the same maker if you come across one. 

 

Burners are tough to find.  Don't bang pots around on them.  Stir things instead.  That's what made my mom's stove's burners last for 60 years.  Bake and broil elements can be replaced if necessary.  Any independent appliance parts shop should be able to assist if you need either one.

 

[customline]

Well...............

That looks to be an early 50's Kenmore missing ALL of it's original handles.
Those handles are replacements.

 

[circlew]

The range IS a Westinghouse, and this style was available as early as '46, and ran until about '48 or '49. This particular cabinet version was introduced before WWII, but had a different backsplash with an incandescent rather than florescent light. Link shows Westinghouse appliances for '46-'49.

http://www.ghostofthedoll.co.uk/retromusings/westinghouse-kitchen-electrical-adverts-1946-1949/

 

[customline]

Yes !!!!!!

I see it now. Thanks for the info. I stand corrected.

 

[piglet]

thanks for the help!

I sure appreciate the responses here. I did write two of the vintage repair places, one advertising multiple warehouses of parts, the other in Georgia, and both kindly and quickly responded that they did not have parts to help. I did not, however, use those search terms, so I'll give that another go.
I know other less attractive Westinghouse ranges in that era also used those handles, though I have considered changing them out for some old Thermador ones that have two screws instead of one and would cover the old holes, if I could locate those.
I've never seen drawer failure like this before on any of the older ranges I nurture in our rental apartments and I concluded it has to do with all aluminum construction of the drawers, the aluminum is not the hard variety we see on newer extrusions, but somewhat softer. The tracks have developed small dimples in them presumably from downward pressure on the drawers while drawer was part way open, and they are so soft it wouldn't take much to cause this. I repeatedly slid a wood piece through the track, just pressing on the dimpled areas to try to smooth them. That actually reduced (but did not cure) the problem. Realizing that the tracks can be deformed, and reformed again with just hand pressure on the end of a stick made me realize that the metal is not resilient enough to use it with the drawers loaded with the average amount of modern pans and such. I've only seen steel drawers previous to this... never 100% aluminum ones. Perhaps it's wisest to just figure out an alternative glide support system, since no one here seems to think that this would be a foolish mistake, or devalue the range substantially.
I would Never have thought to check out old clock radios or wall clocks for that knob... thanks for that tip!

 

[circlew]

Aluminum drawers

It's possible - especially if yours is a '46 model - that due to material shortages immediately after the war, that they used aluminum for such parts. Ralph said his mom's had steel drawers, as does my '53 model, so it wasn't used for long.

 

[norgeway]

Best Baking!

Oven you will ever use!!!Truly balanced heat

 

[rp2813]

Ditto what Tom said.  There had to be an impossibly huge demand for steel after the war ended.  It took until around 1949 to see change in most industrial designs from what was on the market before the war, probably because even the process of retooling for style changes required steel as well.

 

[piglet]

Aluminum composition

One engineer friend who has an unadvertised Museum of Obsolete Technology in Wallace Idaho wrote me

"The earliest "retail" aluminum products seem to have all been made of a
dead-soft pure aluminum, rather than the harder alloys developed for
aircraft use, so they wear out faster, and bend easier, than they would if
made nowadays."

 

[combo52]

Late 40s WH Ranges With Aluminum Drawers

I have seen these earlier models with aluminum

drawers and they did not hold up as well as the later steel drawers, probably the best thing to do is to steal the drawers from a slightly later model, these ranges show up fairly often.

 

You bigger problem if you actually want to use this range much are thromostat and surface unit switch problems.

 

John L.

 

[piglet]

interchange of drawers

John, I'm so glad to hear for certain that drawers will interchange! I will watch diligently in the local 3 hours drive circumference round me for another like this range. I have not succeeded in the last 4 or so months in finding a donor. Amazingly, the thermostat works, the burner controls work, even the clock works... for as long as it lasts.
Roberta