Hullo Gadge & Jack,

The story of Gustav D is more than interesting. He must have been one of the world's true geniuses. Thanks for the links, Mathew Blake has been most helpful over the period of my ownership and is in almost constant contact.

The reason for the advice on care in moving these things, particularly the 4 oven cookers is that the RH ovens and the furnace are joined, with the furnace sitting on a couple of leveling "feet" which are easily dislodged, causing the furnace and ovens to separate and the cast to crack & break off. I can see that this sort of thing could be construed as major, but in reality its simply a bit more work to remove and weld. We're lucky these days with the technology that is at hand.

The 4 oven models can easily have their "back broken" when the LH side becomes detached from the right while moving. You can see the join down the side of the left ovens. The chassis is also in 2 pieces and this is the weak point. Gadge the 2 oven that you had is all but the same except for this LH addition.

My cooker is a model E standard and is a solid fuel type ie. coke or coal or hard wood. The problem I discovered is that ( I think) she had burned soft woods and the air breather was chocked & completely blocked, however I have been able to manufacture a new exhaust pipe so that problem has been overcome (I hope). She must have been a bu##@r to light and keep going because she wouldn't have been able to breathe.

Anyway, thanks for your interest and the helpful comments. While in the midst of restorations, times can be frustrating and lonely & its good to share.

The photos below show the blocked & broken exhaust breather pipe, & you can see where the bolts or leveling legs should be at the side of the furnace & this has caused a separation of furnace & ovens. Thankfully no big deal, but it does require some additional welding, which is the current stage of proceedings.

John A

[Linked Image]
[Linked Image]

aussie