Antique Stove

Anybody have any info on an antique stove. It's a Walker # 12. patented April 10th 1883. I used it in my last house to burn wood (not knowing what the grate was for ). Apparently can burn wood and coal. I got it from my mother in laws house when she moved. It was on the third (finished attic) floor and it looked to pretty too leave behind. It is about 4 feet high barrel type with a top feed option and a finial. Has ash pan, shaker grate, lower vent. I have googled Walker and don't come up with much. It is starting to rust in my garage so I just moved it to my finished basement. I want to use it. Wife wants fireplace "glow" . I can take a pic tomorrow and post. Just wondering if anyone heard of the name before.

Thanks, Scott

Scott,

I don't know anything about antique stoves but you could try asking some places that sell them. The http://www.stovehospital.com/ is right in RI.
**Broken Link(s) Removed** is right in Goshen, Massachusetts. Post the pic's and let u know what you find out, good luck.

I will try sending pics to those stove places and see what they come up with. The rust is very superficial from moisture. Steel wool and it's good to go. The foot rails are nickle and the fire bricks are in good shape. Like I said, I used to burn wood in it to heat my basement. Here's the pics in case anyone knows about this stove.

Looks like a coal capable stove.
http://www.barnstablestove.com/ if you are close to the Cape, a computer or a phone.
Does it have an adjustable outlet on the back? The older Base-Burners had a back outlet pipe that could be flipped to get a lower outlet height.

Scott that's going to look very nice once it's all cleaned up and painted.

I would bet on the coal stove doing much better and efficient heating with a ton less work than the fireplace. It looks very nice. I think the old coal stoves are very neat and interesting. I was interested in a coalbrookdale darby, but the guy wanted way to much and it wont put out the heat i'm looking for.

Thanks for all your help!
CapeCoaler,
I have PMed you in the past and thanks. As far as the outlet in the back, I haven't looked to deep into this but the rear flue and everything back there is riveted so changing doesn't look easy. However there is a slide lever on the bottom rear that closes off the lower vent. Old technology alludes me. I need more research. What I don't know is what the small door above the shaker grate is for. Maybe to help shake the ashes down with a poker? From grate to top of fire brick is 13" and diameter is 9". I will send a pic of doors with the shaker handle and slide lever (loop ring) I am talking about.
Adimiscold,
This stove literally has the surface rust in the last 8 months out of it's 120 years of life. My fault for not seeing it's significance. It was in a 3rd floor quarters for its entire life. I plan on cleaning it up and using it in the family room of my house just for conversation as well as heat.
sharkman8810,
Was the stove you were looking at an antique? From what I heard, These stoves were up to 80% efficient! Thats amazing for that age. As far as work, hell yeah. They only needed attending every 12 hours. I feel like scrooge with my lumps of coal . My wife would still rather have a wood fire when we are downstairs that I have to feed every 20 minutes during a movie . Thats why I want to put this unit upstairs and flue it into the downstairs flue. We use that flue about 6 times a year. Movie night of course .

ScottD here are some more links Iam sure one of them will be able to help you Nice stove good luck

http://www.barnstablestove.com/index.htm

http://stovehospital.com/

**Broken Link(s) Removed**

What I don't know is what the small door above the shaker grate is for. Maybe to help shake the ashes down with a

Scott, the little door above the grate is for fishing out clinkers. Great looking stove, by the way.

Scott that stove looks like it's going to be too much work for you to clean up and maintain, you'd be better off giving it to someone who has the time and energy to give it the proper care it deserves.

Adamiscold,
I see you have your eye on it but you will have to fight me to get it :box:. Just kidding. If it needs a new home I'll let you know.
One feature I really love about the stove is you spin the cast iron top around and there is a grate for heating and cooking things and under that is a steel plate you remove to add coal from the top instead of the front.

It won't take too much effort to shine up this stove. A soft wire brush and some old fashioned stove black will make it look like new. If this is a true base burner (I have been doing a lot of research and asking) it is specifically for anthracite use. As I don't see any slide dampers or ports for secondary air, it is most likely for hard coal. I guess the idea is to leave the loading door cracked when there is a need for over fire air Someone correct me if I am wrong, but; base burners move the exhaust through a baffle system before the smoke exits at the rear, hence; extracting most of the heat out of the fire. I would suspect that your chimney must have a good draft to pull the exhaust through the baffles and finally out of the back.

At the very least, I bet you have a powerful heater which when running wide open will probably run you out of the room with the heat it will kick out. If you are going to install it in front of the fireplace in your picture there, I would think about moving the TV and shelving next to it to another location.
I don't think you ever felt its true heating potential while burning wood in it.

One last thing. If you look at the links provided for you there, you will find that similar stoves fetch a pretty penny at the antique stove stores. You have something that is both functional and will continue to have great worth.
Please let us know how it performs for after you get it put in. I have just bought an antique parlor stove from the same era. Let's compare notes come this fall.

Wsherrick,
Thanks and take a look at these 2 pics. First is the slide vent in the ash pan door for air intake and second is the slide vent in the rear of the ash pan leading out to the lower part of the flue. This is adjusted externally in the back of the base. I am not overly familiar with the function of this stove, especially the rear vent, but I am dying to see it fired up. I will definitely keep in touch this fall. Any info on this stove is appreciated.
Do you know what size coal this should burn?

Scott

http://books.google.com/books?id=z8gJAAAAIAAJ&pg= ... #PPA358,M1
Page 357-359 nice description and development of the coal stoves. 1890-1910 was the best years for the coal burning designs.
Burn Nut size to start.
http://www.barnstablestove.com/html/baseburners.htm

from http://www.stovehospital.com/
Base heaters came in around 1905 and were produced by several firms in Taunton, Mass. The smoke travels up the main body, down the back pipe,under the ashpit, back up the back pipe , then out of the stove. It may travel 10 to 12 feet inside the stove so that a maximum amount of heat is transferred to the room. These represent the peak of coal burning technology and are serious heaters.

The Stove Hospital and Barnstable Stove are fun to visit if you want to see some old soves in various stages of rebuilding.

CapeCoaler,
That makes sense. Once it was burning well, I could shut the upper flue damper and open the vent at the rear of the ash pan allowing the heat to go up and down the sides and then out the lower vent to the stack.
Thanks, Scott