Economy Stove Company of Cleveland Stove Tool

Stove Accessories & ToolsAttributed IronOhio ManufacturersSSC Museum CollectionOhio Foundry Corridor

Aug 12

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The Combination Stove Wrench Behind Two Trademarks: Economy Stove Company of Cleveland and What the Period Trade Press Confirms‍ ‍

Catalog No. SSC-ECO-WRN-ND-001 | Cast Iron Combination Stove Wrench / Lid Lifter | Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, Ohio‍ ‍

The piece is a single flat cast iron combination stove tool, star-shaped at the working end with pointed, notched arms designed to grip stove lids, damper collars, and hexagonal nuts of varying sizes, tapering to a rounded handle. One face is cast in raised, arched lettering reading "ECONOMY STOVE CO. CLEVELAND, O." above the star head. The reverse face carries different raised lettering, arched the same way, reading "ECONOMY GAS STOVES & RANGES." No patent number, size number, or foundry gate mark is visible in the available photographs. The original catalog listing for this item carried only the seller's title and no historical detail; this post reports a deeper research pass against the item.‍ ‍

What follows separates what a period trade-press listing and Ohio corporate records actually confirm about the Economy Stove Company from what still needs primary-source verification, including the company's exact founding and closure dates.‍ ‍

Finding the Company‍ ‍

Because the tool carries no patent number, the research started from the two company names cast into the piece itself and moved to period trade directories and exposition records for Cleveland's stove and hardware trade in the early 1900s.‍ ‍

The clearest match comes from a national hardware trade journal listing exhibitors at a 1909 trade show. The March 4, 1909 issue of The Iron Age lists, verbatim: “Economy Stove Company, Cleveland, Ohio: Economy Gas Stoves and Ranges. Represented by C. S. Smith, M. C. Boher and A. L. Gassett.” (The Iron Age, March 4, 1909)‍ ‍

This single line ties the two names cast into the tool together directly: “Economy Stove Company” was the corporate name, and “Economy Gas Stoves and Ranges” was the firm's own product-line descriptor for its gas range line, used side by side in contemporary trade literature exactly as they appear on the two faces of this tool. This is a plausible reading of why the piece carries both phrases, though the tool itself does not state which face was cast first or whether the two dies were used concurrently.‍ ‍

Who Were the Makers?‍ ‍

The original catalog entry for this item made no claim about the company's founders, dates, or personnel. A period-published biographical directory of Cleveland businessmen gives one confirmed name associated with the firm.‍ ‍

“GASSETT, Arthur I., Cleveland. Secretary of Economy Stove Co. Born Joliet, Ill., Jan. 19, 1867. Educated in the schools of Cedar Rapids, Ia., and Cleveland, O.”‍ ‍

Source: Progressive Men of Northern Ohio (Cleveland: Plain Dealer Publishing Co., 1906) — archive.org‍ ‍

This entry confirms that Arthur I. Gassett served as secretary of the Economy Stove Company by 1906, and that he was Cleveland-educated after growing up in Joliet, Illinois and Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The 1909 Iron Age listing above names an “A. L. Gassett” as one of the company's three trade-show representatives — very likely the same Arthur I. Gassett, though the middle initial discrepancy (I. versus L.) has not been independently resolved and should be treated as a probable match rather than a confirmed identity.‍ ‍

Ohio corporate filings, reported through a Cincinnati court index, show the company was still an active, growing Ohio corporation nearly a decade later:‍ ‍

“The Economy Stove Co. of Cleveland increased its capital stock from $20,000 to $50,000.”‍ ‍

Source: Cincinnati Court Index, July 1918 — Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library Digital Collections‍ ‍

A capital-stock increase of this size (a 150% jump) points to an actively expanding manufacturing operation in 1918, not a company in decline. The company also appears by name in Ohio's Secretary of State annual corporate report for 1910 alongside other Cleveland manufacturing corporations of the period, corroborating that it was a registered Ohio corporation in good standing at that time.‍ ‍

Source (corroborating): Annual Report of the Secretary of State, State of Ohio, 1910 — archive.org‍ ‍

Cleveland's Stove Trade in the Early 1900s: Historical Context‍ ‍

Cleveland was a significant Midwestern center for stove and range manufacturing in the first two decades of the 20th century, home to firms ranging from large, well-documented makers to smaller regional shops that left thinner paper trails. The Cleveland Industrial Exposition of June 7–19, 1909 listed the Economy Stove Co. among its gas-appliance exhibitors, grouped with other local gas-heating and range manufacturers of the period such as the Cleveland Stove Trimmings Co. and the Dangler Stove Co.‍ ‍

Source: Souvenir Book of the Cleveland Industrial Exposition, June 7–19, 1909 — Wikimedia Commons‍ ‍

Placing the Economy Stove Company in that exhibitor list, alongside its appearance in the same year's Iron Age trade-show coverage, situates the firm as an active, exhibiting participant in Cleveland's gas-range manufacturing trade during 1909 specifically — not simply a name listed once in an incorporation register.

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Why This Piece Does Not Appear in Standard References‍ ‍

The Economy Stove Company of Cleveland does not appear as a distinct entry on castironcollector.com's Foundry Database (castironcollector.com/foundries.php) or its Notable U.S. Manufacturers page as of this research pass. This absence does not imply the company was rare, obscure, or otherwise significant beyond what is documented here — those reference pages are curated around cookware makers most commonly encountered in the collectibles marketplace, and a stove-hardware and gas-range maker like Economy Stove Co. falls outside that specific scope rather than having been evaluated and excluded.‍ ‍

Updated Piece Details‍ ‍

· Manufacturer: Economy Stove Company, Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, Ohio‍ ‍

· Company founded: Not verified — in operation by 1906 (per Progressive Men of Northern Ohio); a secondary source claims 1899, unconfirmed‍ ‍

· Company closed: Unknown — the company was still an active, expanding Ohio corporation as of July 1918 per court index records; no closure date confirmed‍ ‍

· Peak size / scale: Not documented‍ ‍

· Piece type: Cast iron combination stove wrench and lid lifter, star-shaped notched head‍ ‍

· Size/model: Not marked‍ ‍

· Casting/maker's marks: Obverse: “ECONOMY STOVE CO. CLEVELAND, O.” — Reverse: “ECONOMY GAS STOVES & RANGES”‍ ‍

· Associated patent (if any): None visible on the piece; no patent number identified‍ ‍

· Patent subject (verified): Not applicable — no patent found‍ ‍

· Relationship to maker: Confirmed — both cast names verified as belonging to the same company via 1909 Iron Age trade listing‍ ‍

· Date of manufacture: Best estimate: circa 1906–1918, based on the operating window documented in primary sources; not stated on the piece‍ ‍

· Place of manufacture: Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, Ohio‍ ‍

· SSC catalog no.: SSC-ECO-WRN-ND-001‍ ‍

· Acquisition: eBay, seller metaldoctor67, July 2026‍ ‍

Open Questions for Further Research

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In keeping with our own stated research standard — document what is verified, flag what is not — here is what this pass could confirm, and what still needs primary-source verification:

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· Confirmed: The Economy Stove Company was an active Cleveland, Ohio corporation manufacturing “Economy Gas Stoves and Ranges,” exhibiting at trade shows in 1909, verified via The Iron Age (March 4, 1909) and the Cleveland Industrial Exposition souvenir book (1909).

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· Confirmed: Arthur I. Gassett served as company secretary by 1906, verified via Progressive Men of Northern Ohio (1906).

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· Confirmed: The company was still operating and expanding its capital stock in July 1918, verified via the Cincinnati court index reporting Ohio Secretary of State filings.

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· Unverified — needs primary confirmation: A crowd-sourced wiki entry (MyCompanies Wiki, a Fandom site) claims the company operated “from at least 1899 until 1916,” but cites no source. This conflicts with the confirmed 1918 capital-stock increase, which shows the company still active after 1916. This claim should not be treated as fact; it would need confirmation against original Ohio Secretary of State incorporation and dissolution certificates.

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· Unverified — needs primary confirmation: Whether “A. L. Gassett” named in the 1909 Iron Age listing is the same person as Arthur I. Gassett named as company secretary in the 1906 biographical directory. The names and role are consistent, but the middle initial differs and no single source confirms both facts about the same individual.

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· Still open: The exact founding year and the circumstances and date of the company's closure. This would likely require direct access to original Ohio Secretary of State incorporation and dissolution filings, which were not available as full-text primary documents during this research pass.

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· Still open: Whether the tool was patented, and if so under what patent number — no patent marking appears on the piece and no matching patent has been identified in this pass.

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Why This Still Matters‍ ‍

This pass moves the Economy Stove Company from an unattributed name cast into a stove tool to a documented Cleveland gas-range manufacturer with a named company officer, a dated trade-show appearance, and a confirmed operating window running at least from 1906 through 1918. The connection between the tool's two cast inscriptions and the company's own contemporary trade-press listing adds a sourced paper trail for a maker that does not currently appear in the standard cast iron cookware reference databases.

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