A portable range is one that may be moved if necessary, while the "set" range is built into the chimney.

The fire box is lined on the sides with a kind of brick above which the fire should never come. The revolving grate is the most common in recent styles of stoves. There is a grate underneath, and below is a place for ashes or a pan which may be taken out to empty. The oven is surrounded by spaces through which hot gases circulate.

The housekeeper should investigate her stove thoroughly when the fire is out, take off all covers, open doors, remove the "clean out" plate for the space under the oven; then see Low the dampers work and explore all passages with a lighted match or candle if need be.

The draft given by the chimney depends upon the difference in temperature between the air of the room and the gases of combustion. The hot gases are more expanded and therefore lighter and tend to rise. The hotter the fire the greater the draft will be.

The supply of air is as essential as fuel for a good fire; combustion depends upon both. Smoke and an accumulation of soot are indications of incomplete combustion.

Several drafts and dampers are common to all wood and coal stoves and ranges. They should be open to start the fire, but closed to keep it. The slide under the fire box supplies the fresh air necessary for perfect combustion. A check in the pipe or at the back of the stove under the pipe, or in both places, is usually known as the chimney damper. A slide in the stove pipe or connected with the chimney damper admits cold air into the stove pipe when opened and thus lessens the draft.

The Draft

The oven damper turns the heated air away from the pipe so that it goes over the top, down the side, under the bottom, and up the back flue in most stoves and heats the oven before it makes its escape. These differ slightly in different ranges but the purpose of each is the same. Experiment with your own stove until you can control it.

Many ranges have a slide or door above the fire box which may be used for broiling. Hoods are sometimes placed over large ranges to gather odors and excessive heat and convey them to the chimney.

Whether the fuel be coal or wood, the starting of a fire and its care afterwards are much the same process. First remove ashes, brushing off the top of the oven under the covers. When the fire box is clear, put in crumpled paper, bits of wood, and then larger wood and a sprinkle of fine coal.. See that all drafts are open. Replace the covers and then blacken the stove, if necessary, but polish after the fire is started. Light the paper and as the wood settles down, add coal, little by little, till it is even with the lining of the fire box. When the blue flame of coal disappears, close the oven damper, and a little later shut the slide under the fire box and the chimney damper. Open the damper when more coal is added. When coal is red it is nearly burned out.

To keep a fire several hours shake out the ashes, fill with coal, close the dampers, and partially open the slide above the fire.

Oven Damper

Kindling: the Fire

To Keep the Fire

For continual use it is better to add a little fuel at a time, but not in the midst of baking anything. With wood and soft coal the chimney damper cannot be closed as much as with hard coal, because there is more soot and smoke which must be allowed to escape. Gas is an invisible fuel obtained from several sources.

Pure coal gas is more satisfactory than natural gas, or than the so-called "water gas." The escape of the latter is less easily detected and it is much more poisonous, hence there is more danger in using it.

For institutions at a distance from large towns a private supply of gas which is fairly satisfactory is made from gasoline, and acetylene gas is now often made even for the single house.

For fuel purposes, the burners are so constructed as to admit sufficient air with the gas for complete combustion. A bluish flame is produced, which is much hotter than the yellow blaze used for light.

It is possible to admit too much air, which causes a loss of heat. If the air supply is adjustable, close the opening for the air until a yellow flame is produced, and then open it until the flame just comes blue again.

If a burner in a gas stove "burns back" and shows a yellowish flame, leaving a deposit of soot on the bottom of kettles, turn it out and light it again, being careful that the gas does not ignite back in the pipe before it mixes with the air.

Gas stoves should be connected with the main supply by a pipe large enough to insure sufficient supply of fuel under all conditions. The amount used can then be regulated by the cook for each burner. Care must be taken to keep the burners and all parts of the stove perfectly clean.

The gas stove is especially adapted to the conditions of the present age; it is far less care than either wood or coal ranges, and at ordinary rates for gas, less expensive when properly operated. Even at high prices for gas it is a cheap fuel if human energy and time are considered. The application of a match makes the full power of the stove available at once and as soon as work is done, the flame may be shut off. Any desired degree of heat may be obtained at short notice with no waste of fuel and no debris to be cared for. The stoves occupy small space and each part may be used independently.

Bunsen Burner

Gas Stove with Oven. Broiler, and Hot Water Heater Attachment

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