Toledo Cooker Steamer
Q: A friend gave me this steamer, which is in good condition. Can you tell me how it was used, what it’s worth, or anything else about it?
A: Charles E. Swartzbaugh founded Peerless Cooker Co. in Buffalo, New York, in 1884. He invented both a steam cooker and a “fireless cooker.” By the early 1900s, the company moved to Toledo, Ohio, and was renamed the Toledo Cooker Co. Swartzbaugh was granted a patent for a steam cooker with “new and useful improvements” on Feb. 5, 1907. His patent drawing shows a funnel at the top of the cooker where water could be poured into a long tube to fill the receptacle at the bottom of the cooker. The funnel had a whistle in it that would make noise when the water level sank too low to cover the end of the tube. The water was heated by putting the cooker over a fire. Then food was placed on the racks and steamed. Swartzbaugh’s improvements allowed either of the two doors to be opened to remove food without disturbing the food on the other shelf. Your steamer doesn’t have the same funnel at the top as the one in the patent drawing, so it may be a later model. Value of your steamer: about $75. (Toledo Cooker Co. was also mentioned in Collectors Concerns in our Feb 23, 2011, ezine.)
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Does the phrase ” pat’ Appl’d for “
Mean this was pre 1907
Thx
G
7/8/13 – There is an ad for an Ohio Cooker on eBay that may indicate the item pictured here was a very early Toledo Cooker model, succeeding the Ohio Cooker Company model; or, the “funnel” at the top may have been added from an Ohio Cooker. The funnel itself add some value as it pre-dates the more standard funnel found on essentially all Toledo Cooker models I have seen listed for sale.
cynle,
If you still have the 2 pot cooker, I would be interested in purchase; and I am the right person as the company founder was my great-grandfather and direct decendents worked in sam or successor companies through my father. If you still have it would you send pictures? js@ecdg.org
Thanks!
I have a 2 pot cooker I am wanting to sell to the right person. It is in perfect shape and has been my pride for many years.
We recently purchased a Domestic Science Fireless Cookstove made by the Toledo Cooker Co of Toledo Ohio. Is dated 1917. This oven is a large metal rectagle over, two hole with the drop in soapstones and metal pots, one with a lid. It is missing the mercury thermometers. Would love to send you pictures. Let me know if you would like to see it.
I would be interested in purchasing one of these if you would like to sell or know of where I can get one. CE Swartzbaugh is my great-grandfather. Thanks.
I’ve had one of these things in my garage for many years. Someone told me it is a “field cooker.” Glad to finally know what it is and how it was used.