Cannon A150 Gas Cooker

[aquarius1984]

In November the Creda Chatsworth I had in my house gave up the ghost with a dodgy thermocoupler in the oven and 2 faulty gas rings that would barely stay lit.
Try entertaining the clan here with 2 rings and a barely cool or roasting hot oven without going beetroot red at the table when all is tits up!

So it was out with the old and in with the older.

The Creda seemed well built to todays standards and was a brilliant cooker but 15 years of heavy use and a little bit of misery in its final years not being cared for took its toll.

One Cannon 150 later installed and checked - FABULOUS!

Oven is bang on with its thermostat, Gas rings of all the same power for total versatility. Very gentle simmer to a Full rolling boil. (and enough to keep the traditional chip pan up to temp)
Grill is a proper grill no weakness here- Id almost forgotten what crisp bacon and proper cheese on toast almost tasted like. Not to mention that toast done under the hot moist heat of gas is never quite the same from the toaster.

Did I mention its heavy enough too. Plenty of Steel and enamel here. Not a paint job in sight.

Excuse the camera phone pics.

 

[aquarius1984]

The grill hidden behind a fold down panel.

This feature had been on Cannon cookers since 1960

 

[aquarius1984]

Unfold the Grill and using the latch to the side as the regulator light the grill.
This latch also enables the grill to be refolded back up when not in use.

 

[aquarius1984]

Powerful.

But then it was 1979/80

 

[aquarius1984]

Its best feature IMHO.

Removable DW safe pan grids and spill bowls.

Cleaning is a breeze. Nothing to clean bung it in the dishwasher!

 

[aquarius1984]

Oven for a 24lb Turkey AND the stuffing, yorkshires, and roasties.

or the odd shortbread and berry cake.......

 

[aquarius1984]

Warming/Storage drawer.

 

[aquarius1984]

lots of nice stainless steel decals and chunky dials.

What was normal 30 years ago now seems to be TOL these days. Quality unknown to the main players nowadays, just the posh lot they know who THEY are..... cough ahem Brittania cough cough.

 

[vacbear58]

TOL these days .....

Congratulations on such a great vintage find Rob. However I must contradict you on one point and that is that Cannon back then were TOL models too - they always had a good reputation for the quality of their build. Believe me there were plenty of cheaper models around at the time which were quite flimsy - I remember very well teh Parkinson Cowan my sister had bought new in 1974.

Yours looks in lovely condition, I hope you get many years cooking with it

Al

 

[wayupnorth]

That is a cool stove, as we say on this side of the pond. I have an older 30 inch gas stove and wished I had easy to clean sealed burners like that and that broiler that is right at eye level is great where mine is where your storage is.

 

[seamusuk]

One of our local secondhand shops...

Hey Rob
I saw a slightly newer version of this locally- it had never been installed.
We don't have gas so I didn't pay much attention to be honest but it looked pretty impressive.
It was £150
Seamus

 

[aquarius1984]

Al its funny you should of raised that point, My Grandad who was a gas engineer for British Gas had said the same thing and that they were the best choice if one could afford back in the day.

However I had assumed there were semi proffessional offerings but thinking about it perhaps there was'nt back then.
Comparing it to the Leisure 5 Star Auto MkIII my parents had when I was growing up the Cannon does have a heavier more well built feel so I see your point.

Mind the Leisure was probably one of those glamour over guts jobs with its black glass and chrome trims.

Considering the Cannon has no timer or auto features not even a minute minder just shows the bells and whistles on a cheap framework for a premium price mentality has been around for quite sometime - im quite sure the Leisure was only a few pounds cheaper than the Cannon.

Not to mention the Parkinson Cowan models you mentioned which my senior school had a few of from the Era you mention. I never did like those. The Grill arrangement of a tray on nothing more than a cooling rack bolted to the splashback always felt flimsy so I avoided those like the plague opting for a newish Creda Concept Solarglo.

Im really enjoying using it, years of use? We can only see. Id like it to see me out but I know thats not going to happen so Il just enjoy it while I can. Bedtime reading on gas cooker failures made for some sleepless nights but so far so good for gas leaks and safety.

Lesson learnt, Never google such things. Mind Im quite the specialist on the Ronan Point Disaster of 1968 now LOL.

 

[peterlondon]

cannon

For a few more shekkles this stove could have a rotisserie as well.a small silver box which slid under the grill tap......as kebabs where becoming order of the day.

I also think cannon was the only stove here in the UK that had a microwave built into the main oven.
I am not a gas fan,but a very smart looking unit indeed
pete

 

[aquarius1984]

Peter

How amusing it is for you to pop up, Hope your well?

You almost got me in a cold sweat - gingerly scrolled down just in case you had posted a picture of your stove. Still not sure about those!!!! LOL.

Ironically the Cannon has a similar look I think to the Moffats especially with its fold down grill.

Rotisserie yes something I would of loved to have had, perhaps if the 155 or 160 pops up on ebay within reasonable distance and we are able to collect it then I could be tempted to Rotisserie a few chooks.
sadly the feature was not available to this model so its roasted all the way.
I tend to cook a whole chicken in my combi microwave anyway unless im also using the oven for other things too.

 

[vacbear58]

Not quite TOL

If I rememeber correctly there was a version of this cooker with timer etc. but still, that is not essential and you do get the benefits of good solid construction with this model

Al

 

[peterlondon]

oven

Thats why no mneed one of theses fab moffs,two ovens and electricly controlled food warmer drawerkI JUST LOVE IT,,,,,,AHEM,,,,MEED ANOTHER PICCIE?

 

[aquarius1984]

Yes
Cannon it seems had 3 models within a range at any one time all on the same solid base with core features.

The 150 as above

The 155 as above but minute minder and clock- possibly a glass oven door iirc.

The 160 as the 155 but also Auto oven, Rotisserie potential and Glass oven door.

 

[fido]

My uncle used to be a gas fitter and he had I high regard for Cannon products. He still has the gas stove he and my aunt got when they moved into their own house in the late '60s, I think that is a Cannon. My first house in Coventry that I bought in 1981 had a Cannon Miser fire, also a very well made piece of kit.

 

[davey7]

Could you gentlemen explain the high level broiler for an American? It seems to be a uniquely UK item.

 

[electron1100]

Eye Level Grills

These are my favourite type of cooker Rob, well done on getting this beauty, eye level gas grills are the best as far as i am concerned, great to cook with and yes the toast is much better than with an electric toaster.

Green with envy down ere with the cows an sheep ;-)

 

[whirlcool]

Those are some powerful flames in that cooker on the top level. I imagine most American housewives would just faint at the sight of them. I imagine that would warm up the kitchen quickly.

That is a nice compact cooker. You can see the built in quality to it.

 

[davey7]

So are they are for like toast rather than a roast?

 

[vacbear58]

Broiler

It works just like a conventional broiler only in this case it can be folded away flat. I cannot swear to it but I think the TOL model may gave had a rotisserie as well.

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s eye level broilers were almost always fitted to gas cookers, usually with space to warm plates as well, in this case it can be seen above the broiler. If memory serves there were a couple of models with eye level ovenettes - not temperature controlled (Moffat, Main & Leisure) but mostly it was just a broiler as shown below.

There were a couple of electric models with eye level grills (and a couple with ovenettes too) but mostly electric cookers had the broiler in a separate compartment under the hob/hot plates - later on these had more elements added to make them a second oven - I believe that current US 30" double oven ranges (with a smaller oven above the larger main oven) can trace their origin back to this singurarly British design which was hardly, if at all, used in Europe

 

[davey7]

What is "Honey Mink"? And what other gas than natural did the UK cook with?

A friend of mine in London had one of those high level broilers and, frankly, it creeped me out a bit. I imagine needing safety googles to cook with it.

 

[fido]

Gas used to be made locally by burning coal and was known as "town gas". Every town had big "gas holders" which were very large tanks for storing the gas. North Sea gas is a relatively new development which required changing the burners on appliances all over the country.

 

[davey7]

I kind of figured it was coal gas.... We used to have gasometers too (I remember the big ones in St. Louis).

 

[tomturbomatic]

Ah yes, manufactured gas. Very toxic stuff to plants in a household. The toxic by-products of its manufacturing poison the environment even today.

I am surprised that none of these high level broilers used ceramic burner technology, introduced here in the late 50s which used a ceramic, later stainless steel mesh burner to burn gas to produce intense infra-red heat like a proper electric broiler. Have any of you in the UK or European communities seen this burner technology?

Link to an article about manufactured or illuminating gas.

http://www.hatheway.net/history.htm

 

[tomturbomatic]

While we are on the topic of gas

There is a process of dripping water on calcium carbide CaC2 to produce acetylene for lighting. While most often seen in small lamps like miners' lamps, I remember reading about a grand house in the middle of nowhere built in the early part of the 20th century that had an acetylene plant behind the house that made gas for the lamps in the house. Such an installation is mentioned in the link.

If anyone remembers the TV show, The Real McCoys, there was an episode where some character from back home in West Virginia was coming out to see them. He was apparently remembered as somewhat of a loser and they joked that they would probably see them from a distance by the smoke from the carbide lamps on their car. The McCoys, if you will remember drove a Model A. This guy pulls up in a current year Ford with all of the trappings of great success. For some reason, the term "carbide lamps" stuck in my memory. Daddy gave us a brief explanation before sending me to the encyclopedia.

http://www.rexophone.com/?p=1372

 

[davey7]

I recall being in Oxford many years ago. My mom and I had a private tour of the University Museum (Natural History) and the guy who was showing us around told us about the gas jets - that the gas lighting would have had a different quality and luminance than modern (I assume natural) gas would have had. They were trying to figure out if it was possible to restore use of the system for decorative purposes - the chandeliers were still intact.

In Chicago a lot of condo conversions in the mid to late 70's did gas lights out front to create "vintage charm". One down the block from me just replaced their gas with fancy custom electric inserts in the old gas fixtures.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Oxf-uni-mus-nhi.jpg

 

[kb0nes]

Acetylene

Calcium Carbide acetylene generators were also used years ago in larger welding shops. Storage of compressed acetylene has always been dicey as the gas itself is unstable at pressures over about 1 atmosphere. Most people don't realize that a typical acetylene cylinder is filled with a sponge like material saturated in acetone. The acetylene is dissolved into the acetone to keep it stable for storage. Before large cylinders existed the generators would just create acetylene as needed.

Acetylene is scary stuff, there is a lot of energy in it. I can't imagine having a large generator in or near a home! See the attached video to witness what happens if its mixed with oxygen!

For even more useless acetylene trivia, the original Prest-O-Lite cylinder sizes were named "B" and "MC" for Bus and Motor Car respectively. Of course this dates to the days when acetylene was used for motor vehicle headlamps!