Baking and Roasting.
It is only natural to suppose that manufacturers of electric stoves of both light and heavy duty should next turn their attention to ovens, since oven cooking is even primary to cooking that is done on open burners and is now coming to be even of more importance. The first oven herewith shown ([Fig. 17]) is of the lamp-socket type, equipped with three heats, providing a very efficient oven for small operations. The second one illustrated ([Fig. 18]) is of standard size and accommodates a quantity of food equal to that of any large range oven. It is provided with a heavy wattage and therefore requires special wiring.
Fig. 18.—Electric Standard Oven
To meet the requirements of the many families in which such a small amount of baking is done, and to cater particularly to apartment-house dwellers, the manufacturers of the line of radiant stoves described and illustrated have brought forth a small cylindrical oven called the ovenette. This little oven fits either the radiant stove or the round radiant grill. It is made of pressed steel and finished in highly polished nickel. This ovenette, in combination with either the radiant stove or the round radiant grill, provides complete cooking equipment upon which an entire meal can be prepared, whether it be heating rolls and preparing crisp bacon or chops for breakfast, or baking a roast, a loaf cake or even bread for the dinner. It will bake pies, cake, biscuit, potatoes, roast meats, etc., up to its capacity, at a less current cost than is possible with the larger oven and in less time. This ovenette has what is called a middle ring, which makes it adjustable to two sizes when large or small quantities of food are to be prepared.
So you see, the woman of today who utilizes current furnished through the light socket, can bring to her command genii as wonderful as those at the command of Aladdin when he stroked the wonderful lamp. Her household duties are made easier. There is far less preparatory work and she is able to place her home on a much more efficient basis than with ordinary methods.
Electric Aluminum Comfo
The home electrical is not complete without containing at least some of the electrical appliances which have been designed for the purpose of alleviating pain. One of these is an electric heating pad made of steel units, so hinged as to make the appliance sufficiently flexible to be wrapped around an arm or limb and to conform to the curves of the body. The other is a pad made of aluminum which is concave on one side and convex on the other and may be used in a wet pack. Each of these heating pads is covered with a high-grade cover of eiderdown which provides a soft contact for the skin.
Electric Flexible Comfo (Metal)
Perhaps next in importance along this line of electrical appliances is the small immersion heater shown in [Fig. 19], and which requires so little space that it can be easily carried even in a woman’s handbag. This style of heater will quickly heat a glass of water by simply immersing the heater in the water. This device is very extensively used by mothers in heating milk for the baby, by men in heating water for shaving, and by doctors and dentists who require small quantities of hot water for sterilizing and other uses.
Fig. 19.—Electric Immersion Heater
One thing most desirable in connection with practically all of the lamp-socket appliances described and illustrated in this section is the very small cost of operation. Lighting companies have so reduced the cost of current within the last two or three years that a breakfast may now be prepared electrically for not more than a couple of cents, while one of the pads may be used an entire night at a cost of less than one cent in soothing rheumatic pains or in driving away the chill for outdoor sleepers.
Fig. 20.—Electric Vacuum Cleaner
But one of the hardest domestic tasks is that of keeping the house clean. To obviate the difficulties encountered in this connection and to make the home sanitary, electric vacuum cleaners are provided by several manufacturers, a very recent acceptable type being illustrated in [Fig. 20]. This type of vacuum cleaner, which is reasonable in price, is made of steel and finished in very highly polished nickel. It operates from any light socket and consumes but a very small amount of current, much less than is consumed by a toaster. It can also be purchased with different attachments with which curtains, radiators, clothes and walls may be cleaned. The possession in the home of one of these vacuum cleaners makes it unnecessary to take up rugs, carpets, tear down curtains and go through the semi-annual worry, wear and tear of house cleaning. The vacuum cleaner will do it better and many times quicker without removing a single article of furniture or disturbing a rug or curtain; and instead of scattering the dust-laden germs in the air, to be drawn into the nostrils and lungs of the family, the cleaner sucks them up into a dust-tight bag from which they can be deposited on a paper and burned.
The evolution in cooking and heating appliances for the home in the last ten years has indeed been rapid, but it is very recently indeed that the housewife has been able to satisfy the longing and the desire that has kept getting stronger from day to day, since first she began to use electric cooking appliances. She has been dreaming of that which would make her kitchen a domestic-science laboratory, and her dream can come true because now she can purchase an electric range patterned in general style after the more acceptable gas or other fuel ranges, but infinitely more efficient.
Fig. 21.—Electric Range
The particular type of range herewith illustrated ([Fig. 21]) uses a burner of the open-coil type, both for the surface burners and for the oven. The ovens are highly insulated with a thick packing of best grade mineral wool, which reduces air leakage to a minimum and retains the heat generated for a long period. Many cooking operations which are performed in ordinary ovens with the burners on, can be prepared in this particular style of oven by using stored heat for the last half of the operation. The range is simplicity itself in operation. Each burner is operated by an indicating snap switch which has three separate heats, full, medium and low; medium being one-half of full and low one-half of medium. There are no matches; there is no danger from fire. There is no vitiated, foul air because of noxious gases from ordinary cooking stoves. There is no soot or grime, no ashes, no wood or coal to carry; there are fewer steps; there is less watching of the range; practically none at all, because when a burner is turned to medium, for instance, you know that you have a certain degree of heat for just as long as the switch is in that position. Results are eminently satisfactory and there is a sufficient saving in the weights and the nutritive value of foods cooked, especially in the oven, to make the electric range indeed a most desirable and economical addition to any home.
Today, the housewife, whether the provider of the home be a laborer or a merchant prince, can, with a simple touch of the button or a snap of the switch, bring to her immediate command, and subservient to her wishes, that subtle something which came in the snowflake, and which, while invisible, yet provides the greatest boon to mankind—electricity.