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About the Museum History of Gas Making Gas Gas Distribution Lighting Heating The all gas Kitchen Gas in the home Strange but true! Return to Home Page |
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| Gas Cooking |
The earliest recorded use of gas for cooking was in 1802 when a Moravian chemical manufacturer Zachaus Winzler gave dinner parties at which the food was prepared on a gas
cooker consisting of four burners and a small oven.(Click on pictures with a blue border to see a larger version) In 1826 James Sharp, Assistant manager of the Northampton Gas Company installed an experimental gas cooker in his home and in 1834, under the patronage of Earl Spencer began producing cookers commercially. Several different models were exhibited at the Great Exhibition of 1851 and the fore runner of the modern gas cooker emerged with the Bower's Registered Gas Stove in 1852. 
Gas cooking became popular in the 1880's when rental schemes were introduced, the first was pioneered by the Manchester Gas Committee in 1884.Over the years gradual improvements were made, the two most significant were the introduction of the gas oven thermostat in 1923 and enameled cookers in 1928. By 1948 six million families in the UK used gas for cooking and today the figure is around 11 million. 
The advertising poster of the 1920's (left) refers to the Regulo as "the toast of the evening" and goes on to say that it "has been an inestimable boon to our wives and daughters, enabling them to prepare for us, with the minimum of attention, a repast cooked with automatic precision......".Right, a more modern (and PC) logo. |