On Wed, 14 Feb 2007 00:22:40 GMT, "wff_ng_7" >
wrote:

>"Mark Lloyd" > wrote:
>> The old electric stove my grandmother had had one burner that was
>> thermostatically controlled. The other burners didn't have knobs, but
>> rows of buttons (labeled something like "high", 'med-high", "medium",
>> "med-low", "low", "simmer", "warm", "off"). BTW, it also had a 120V
>> outlet on it. I guess people usually didn't have enough countertop
>> outlets then.
>
>I know I've lived on one or more houses as a kid that had the push button
>controls for the surface elements. The last one I remember my parents
>replaced in 1965, so the stove must have been from the 1950s or even late
>1940s. I think push button controls were gone by the mid 1960s.
>
>I do have a 120V outlet on my gas stove, circa 1973. It comes in handy since
>the nearest outlet on that side of the kitchen is six feet away. The house
>was built in 1963.

My grandmother got this stove in 1967, but it was used at the time.
I'm not sure exactly when it was made, but I'd guess around 1960.
--
Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.laughingsquid.com

"Unlike biological evolution. 'intelligent design' is
not a genuine scientific theory and, therefore, has
no place in the curriculum of our nation's public
school classes." -- Ted Kennedy

I grew up in a house built in the early 1970s that had a four burner
General Electric cooktop with a push button control mounted on the wall
behind it. Each burner had eight or so buttons to regulate its heat
output. When I visited last Thanksgiving, it was still in service.

"wff_ng_7" > wrote in
news:kDsAh.3688$Aa5.1057@trnddc01:
> I know I've lived on one or more houses as a kid that had the push
> button controls for the surface elements. The last one I remember my
> parents replaced in 1965, so the stove must have been from the 1950s
> or even late 1940s. I think push button controls were gone by the mid
> 1960s.

Mark Lloyd wrote:
> The old electric stove my grandmother had had one burner that was
> thermostatically controlled. The other burners didn't have knobs, but
> rows of buttons (labeled something like "high", 'med-high", "medium",
> "med-low", "low", "simmer", "warm", "off").

GE and Hotpoint ranges of the 50s and 60s typically had dual coil
surface units with five switched heat levels:

High -- 240V across both coils in parallel
Second -- 240V across one coil
Third -- 240V across both coils in series
Low -- 120V across one coil
Warm -- 120V across both coils in series

The "infinite level" time regulated controls in modern ranges require
much less wiring than the old style (less cost) and provide more user
control.

Ï "Bill" > Ýãñáøå óôï ìÞíõìá
...
> Does anyone manufacture a "variable heat" electric range, where when you
> select the heat setting, it would have a constant heat at a certain
> temperature? (Like you can do with a gas range...)
>
> This would be sort of like a dimmer switch for a light where you can
adjust
> how much light is output from the bulb.
>
> The way electric ranges work now is they go on and off, on and off.
>
> Less heat means the "burner" goes on for a little while, then off for
quite
> awhile. Then with more heat, the "burner" is on for a long time, then off
> for a little amount of time.
>
Well, traditionally stoves (or ranges) here in EU (certainly in Greece) have
3 elements for each hob, and a dial for each hob, that is numbered from 0 to
3 with 1/2 subdivisions(thus 0-1/2-1-11/2...)and the three elements are
turned on and off, respectively.So, for full heat, all 3.For 1/2 set.the
smallest one etc.
> With a gas range, you can adjust the heat so it is constant - no off and
on.
> Seems they could do this with an electric range as well....
>
>

--
Tzortzakakis Dimitrios
major in electrical engineering
mechanized infantry reservist
dimtzort AT otenet DOT gr

"Tzortzakakis Dimitrios" > wrote:
> Well, traditionally stoves (or ranges) here in EU (certainly in Greece)
> have
> 3 elements for each hob, and a dial for each hob, that is numbered from 0
> to
> 3 with 1/2 subdivisions(thus 0-1/2-1-11/2...)and the three elements are
> turned on and off, respectively.So, for full heat, all 3.For 1/2 set.the
> smallest one etc.

They used to have burners with multiple elements here in the USA, but I
think they disappeared by the mid 1970s. I have a catalog of home and
apartment repair parts that lists a few replacement burners that have two
elements in the burner. The listings for these say for GE through 1975.