Martha Washington stove
- Thread starter goatfarmer
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We had a (turquoise!) Martha Washington wall oven, cooktop, and hood in the house build in 1964. Someone said in a discussion long ago that it was a brand of one of those stove companies in TN back in the day.
That stove has a match light oven thats illegal in this state now for a gas company to even hook up. I grew up with a Kenmore that never blew up because we knew how to use it right.
You never turned the oven temperature dial from the "OFF" position until the match was burning.
e2l-arry
Well-known member
I had a match light Kenmore over for 7 years after college and loved it. Of course this was in the 1970's and as a kid had seen people use these so I knew what I was doing. I think anyone under 50 today would have no clue what they were doing and so these would be a danger to people today.
I always wondered how these worked to maintain the oven temperature since having no pilot, the flame could not shut off once the desired temperature was hit. So my curiosity got to me and I checked it out. I watched the oven burner from the broiler drawer below. When heating there's a large flame going. Once the temp. is hit the flame goes not out, but WAY down until it calls for more heat then fires back up. I assume some manual spring, non electric thermostat was used. Mine always worked well and maintaining the desired oven temp. Does anyone know why the manufacturers of gas stoves added pilot light for the surface burners but not to the ovens until several years later? I always wondered about that. It seems to me that pilot lights in the ovens didn't come along until the mid 1950's or somewhere around that time.
I miss the old gas stoves! Lighting the match, slowly turning the oven knob, hearing the gas start until POOF, the oven lit. Sometimes even blowing out the match you used to light it.
I always wondered how these worked to maintain the oven temperature since having no pilot, the flame could not shut off once the desired temperature was hit. So my curiosity got to me and I checked it out. I watched the oven burner from the broiler drawer below. When heating there's a large flame going. Once the temp. is hit the flame goes not out, but WAY down until it calls for more heat then fires back up. I assume some manual spring, non electric thermostat was used. Mine always worked well and maintaining the desired oven temp. Does anyone know why the manufacturers of gas stoves added pilot light for the surface burners but not to the ovens until several years later? I always wondered about that. It seems to me that pilot lights in the ovens didn't come along until the mid 1950's or somewhere around that time.
I miss the old gas stoves! Lighting the match, slowly turning the oven knob, hearing the gas start until POOF, the oven lit. Sometimes even blowing out the match you used to light it.
The reason Maine banned them because idiot people would just turn the oven dial, gas would build up and boom. My mothers Kenmore oven burner cycled up and down also. Pilot lights in the first ovens were on the more expensive models, especially those CP certified.
norgeway
Well-known member
Match Light
Is no big deal, Just stupid people who don't read directions have problems, Martha Washington was indeed a Tennessee stove, Kind of like Enterprise , Modern Maid what we call in the South a "Off" brand, meaning not a big name brand, there were tons of these small companies, Athens, Vesta, Enterprise, Modern Maid, Dixie ,Brown and im sure several more, Some pretty good, some not so good, In my book, Of all of the Tennessee stoves, Hardwick was the best.
Is no big deal, Just stupid people who don't read directions have problems, Martha Washington was indeed a Tennessee stove, Kind of like Enterprise , Modern Maid what we call in the South a "Off" brand, meaning not a big name brand, there were tons of these small companies, Athens, Vesta, Enterprise, Modern Maid, Dixie ,Brown and im sure several more, Some pretty good, some not so good, In my book, Of all of the Tennessee stoves, Hardwick was the best.
Adding a pilot light permitted gas oven burners to cycle on and off instead of just up and down and thus provide keep warm temperatures as low as 140F whereas with the modulating flame, the lowest temperatures were in the 170 to 200F range. Gas range manufacturers made a big deal of this in advertising in the mid to late 60s with the new 140F keep warm setting that allowed roasts to be held at "rare" without going to "medium" over a long holding period.
I lived in a place with a Western Holly oven where the gas valve did not modulate fully and after scorching the edges of a cake, I used an oven thermometer and turned the thermostat down, much like a surface burner to where the flame was low enough to hold the temperature I wanted. Modulating thermostats were not foolproof and could develop quirks with age.
I lived in a place with a Western Holly oven where the gas valve did not modulate fully and after scorching the edges of a cake, I used an oven thermometer and turned the thermostat down, much like a surface burner to where the flame was low enough to hold the temperature I wanted. Modulating thermostats were not foolproof and could develop quirks with age.
