Chambers stove

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The Vintage Chambers Range was a gas cook stove created by John Chambers of Shelbyville, Indiana in 1909^{[citation needed]}. His patented method of manufacture used thick rock wool insulation to insulate the oven on all sides. This made it possible for the heat inside the oven to build up over a short period of time. The gas was turned off, and a series of dampers closed, isolating the oven compartment from the outside air. The food would continue to cook on retained heat, conserving fuel and reducing food shrinkage. This method of cooking also increased the food value of the cooked items^{[citation needed]}.

The Chambers Corporation produced these stoves from 1912 through 1956^{[citation needed]}, when the company was sold and moved several times^{[citation needed]}. It was sold many times after that, eventually becoming a part of the KitchenAid Division of the Whirlpool Corporation^{[citation needed]}. The last Chambers factory was located in Oxford, Mississippi^{[citation needed]}. In later years, products carrying the Chambers brand were outsourced^{[citation needed]}. Production continued until approximately 1990^{[citation needed]}, although no Chambers-brand free-standing ranges had been offered since the late 1960s, when the ill-fated D-series (a failed attempt at cosmetically updating the C-series) was discontinued due to lagging sales^{[citation needed]}.

The earliest Chambers ranges were very primitive, looking more like expensive, enameled furniture^{[not specific enough to verify]}. The ovens were small, but all were well built and well insulated, and all were designed to cook on retained heat using cooking charts - and later The "Idle Hour" Cookbook - to show the homeowner how to do so safely and effectively. Later versions developed into what are known today as stoves, but Chambers kept the original term, ranges. The most advanced version was the C-series, which was produced from 1949-1963, followed closely by the B-series (1939-1949).

All of the Chambers ranges beginning with the "A" (circa 1934) series had a top-mounted griddle/broiler, along with a recessed ThermoWell (descendant of the earlier ThermoDome) for cooking soups, stews, etc., using special aluminum kettles designed and built for Chambers by the Wearever Corporation.

Other features that were years ahead of their time included:

• Child-protective locking thumb-latches on all gas valves.
• Full porcelain finishes - guaranteed by the factory for 25 years.
• Chrome cooktops.
• Patented "daisy" burners - extremely efficient and uniform in their distribution of heat.
• Traveling "Cooking Shows" - which pre-dated even television - were big hits. John Chambers' daughter, Miss Alma Chambers,' traveled coast-to-coast for over 20 years conducting large cooking shows to promote the Chambers Range.
• The use of "ThermalEye" (1950's) - developed by Robertshaw and marketed by Chambers as "The Burner With A Brain", this device made it possible to set the desired cooking temperature of a pot that had been placed on the special burner on the top of the range, and the heat would be regulated automatically.
• Some of the first built-in ovens and cooktops (early 1950s) made in America.
• Automatic Oven Safety Systems - to shut off the oven gas should the pilot light go out.

Chambers also built large, industrial-sized units, called the Imperial line, for use in hotels, restaurants, dormitory kitchens, etc.

Famous owners of Chambers ranges included Lee DeForrest^{[citation needed]}, Mrs. Harvey W. Wiley^{[citation needed]} - well-known American housewife in the 1920s, and countless others^{[not specific enough to verify]}.

The Chambers Range was awarded the Good Housekeeping Institute's Seal of Approval in 1925, and was featured at the World's Fair Exposition of 1939 in New York City.

Sold by the tens of thousands^{[citation needed]}, thousands are still in use today^{[not specific enough to verify]}, mostly due to their extremely rugged and high-quality of manufacture, along with their superior performance over modern stoves^{[opinion needs balancing]}. A recent uptick in popularity of the Chambers stoves is due in large part to the exposure of the stove in the popular media, most notably on the televised cooking show of Rachael Ray.

Vintage Chambers fan sites have sprung up to provide information about these stoves. At least one site (vintagechambers.com) offers free downloads of scanned original service manuals and scanned Chambers cookbooks, an Internet Forum where advice on cooking and restoration can be found, in addition to step by step instructions with photos for do-it-yourselfers to restore the old ranges.