This stove recently sold on Ebay UK but was beyond my budget. Many thanks to the seller Darren, for scanning the instruction card, taking new images and giving permission for them to be added to the CCS Reference Gallery . Shown next to a Primus 96 for scale: I had always understood that this style of stove was for industrial use, but the instruction card clearly calls it a "Bath Heater": The instruction card is dated 2/53. Darren informs me that the box for the stove is dated 4/1953, so a production date of early 1953 is most likely. Regards, Terry
In his listing he says "this item is in a as new condition, not bad as it is 60 years old" but doesn't show the picture of the dent though. I have got no doubt that this buyer won't be happy.
Hi Terry, a shame it was outside your budget, most definitely mine also. A very nice quite rare example. I am sure either David or Trevor has one of these monster monitor bath heaters in their collection. I would love to see it working especially for its purpose as a bath heater.
Strewth. I'm amazed people were still using these sort of things to heat their baths in the 1950s, let alone manufacture new ones. Amazing.
Hi, Bath heaters were in use around 80-100 years ago, mostly in Australia/New Zealand, these were fuelled mainly by gas or wood chips,(See 'chip heater' on Wikipedia). Here's the link for hot water on tap. http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/57044357 It's likely that this monitor bath heater stove was designed to heat things like this copper chip heater shown in the second link. It gives us an insight how we used to live in times past. Best wishes John. --------------------- If in doubt, brew up.
I've got two in used condition - one splashed with bitumen so I suppose it was previously used by a roofing company or similar. One of mine can be seen working in a video clip taken by Henry at Newark in 2007-ish. Trevor has displayed his at Newark but not running - it's a mint, unused example... All three examples I've seen had the military crow's foot / broad arrow marking...
@Retro Camper My parents (and the other soldier settlers) lived without electricity when they first moved to the farm where I was raised in the 1950s. I still have their Tilley lamps. Chip (= wood) heaters and kerosene heaters were common for heating bath and washing water (usually in larger 'coppers'). When I first rented a house in Sydney in the early 1970s, in the old working class suburb of Glebe, the only way to heat water for washing clothes was a chip heater under a large copper. Cheers Tony
Hello Gents, My father was raised in an old house away back in the bush, in a Soldiers' Settlement Plot, balloted out after WWI. My grandparents had no power or running water in the conventional sense. Water was pumped to the house tank by a self-generating water ram. It was then fed to the kitchen sink, and to the header tank for the wood range. The wood range had a cistern attached which heated water for utility purposes such as cleaning and bathing. They also used a copper for laundry, and a very large mangle. When I was a child, they had moved into town and built a house. I had a wood range as well as an electric oven, and a chip heater in the laundry to assist in boiling water for that use. It could also be switched over to heat the hot water cylinder. Both of my father's siblings had chip heaters to supplement their hot water supply, and ran them off of off-cuts and scraps from the local mill. Then in the 1970's, they got that new-fangled "electrickery" that everyone was talking about. Just kidding, they had electricity in their town home, as it was available to all in town. Their farm plot was past where the power went to, so they lived "off-grid" before it was fashionable, or a "choice." It should be remembered that New Zealand is a young-ish country, and in their day, there wasn't a million people here. Similarly, electricity was not in every home, some were still lit by gas or kerosine. Much of our infrastructure for power generation was built between the late 1940's and the 1970's. I take my hat off to that generation, they were much hardier than mine, or the current crop. Here endeth my contribution. Best regards, Mike.
I have a little cabin in the forest about 140 Km north of where I live. My wife and I have had it for 20 years. Electricity only came to that street about 15 years ago. I have purposely kept it "off grid." We have a gas refrigerator, plumbed in gas lights and until recently, we still used a "chip burner" for hot water. If you're living with this level of technology, it becomes normal and not second best, Yes, you appreciate hot water and a wood heater more because you have to work (a little) for it. I used to read by the light of an Aladdin table lamp. You soon accept it as normal. I was worried about bushfire risk, so we replaced the "chip heater" with a gas burning hot water service - not as good and costs money. You adapt to available technology and as every stovie knows "just because it's old, doesn't mean it's bad." Norm
