A stove is an appliance used for cooking or heating that operates by using electricity or burning fuel. The first historical stove was built in 1490 in France. It was made of brick and tile and had a small chimney. Next was the Scandinavian stove which had a tall iron chimney with iron baffles. This design allowed maximum heat to be extracted. The Russian stove had several thick stone walled chimneys and are still used by some countries today. The stove would often be installed at the intersection of interior partition walls. A portion of the stove would be inside each of the surrounding rooms with a flue chimney to disperse heat to that room. A fire was maintained in the stove until the flues were hot. The fire was then put out and the flues were closed to store heat. In 1557, the first wood burning stove was patented in Strasbourg. In 1642, the first manufactured cast-iron stove was produced in Massachusetts. In 1740, Benjamin Franklin invented the Franklin stove also known as the Pennsylvania Fireplace which was used to heat homes. It burned wood on a grate and had sliding doors that could be used to control the air flow. Since the stove was small, it could fit inside a large fireplace or could be placed in the middle of the room with a flue. In 1800, Isaac Orr of Pennsylvania manufactured the first round cast-iron stove with grates for cooking food. Over the years, stoves were used less for heating and became predominantly for cooking. Iron stoves radiated a large amount of heat and it was not pleasant during the warmer months of the year. In the 20th century, iron stoves were replaced by steel ranges or those that used natural gas or electricity.
The Limoges Stove Box is designed like a modern style stove including metal pots and a crafted knob clasp.
