Q: I don’t know what I have. It’s made of wood and has two hinged lids that open up to reveal metal containers. Can you tell me what this is?

A: You have a fireless cooker made by The Toledo Cooker Co. Fireless cookers were an early version of the crock pot or slow cooker of today. Before electricity, food could be heated and then put into a pot in an insulated box or buried in the ground for several hours to finish cooking. Some early fireless cookers, called “hay boxes,” used hay or straw for insulation and heated stones to keep the food warm. The Toledo Cooker Co. made the first electrically heated fireless cooker in the United States in 1900. Metal cook pots were set into a wooden box insulated with asbestos. By 1916, the company was making two lines of fireless cookers, “Ideal” and “Domestic Science.” They were advertised as economical because they saved fuel, and practical because they kept the kitchen cool during hot weather. You can date your cooker by determining how it was heated. Early cookers had radiators that acted as separate heating units. Toledo Cooker introduced fireless cookers with built-in heating units in 1918. Value of a two-hole cooker, $150-$200.