Tappan Deluxe in a Craftsman Bungalow

Tappan Talk reader Jack sent me the following great email (excerpts) and photos.  How perfect is the Tappan Deluxe for his wonderful craftsman bungalow?!

"First of all, I moved in to a 1916 craftsman style house about a year ago.  Two ranges came with the house — a GE Electric circa 1970 with push button controls, which was in the kitchen, and a tappan deluxe that was in the basement.  I was in the house for several months before I realized that the gas stove in the basement was hooked up.

About three weeks ago, the GE went out on me, so I decided to move the Tappan to the kitchen.  The plumber disconnected the Tappan in the basement and ran a gas line to the kitchen. I had my electrician replace the cord in the back with a grounded cord, so now all the electrics work.  Well, mostly work.  The oven light is a little idiosyncratic.  Sometimes it goes off when I close the door and sometimes it does not.  The “peek light” knob works fine, but the catch for the oven door-closed shutoff does not always turn off the oven light.  I love the “oven on” light behind the far right “philgas”   951-X18 is my model number with serial number 3504.  It was made for LP gas, but I think that the nozzles must have been switched at some point.  Anything you can tell me about the age of the stove or how to research based on the model and serial numbers would be helpful.  

But my biggest question is how to work the auto plug, or where to get a manual for the stove.  The clock works fine, as does the timer, and I have plugged in a little night light in the auto plug to see when it comes on or turns off.  It was on for a while, is now off, but I cannot figure out for the life of me how it regulates.

I doubt whether the Tappan has seen active service since the 1960s or so, but an oven thermometer shows that the temperature is spot on, so I am pretty confident that things are mostly working correctly. 

The Tappan is not only a great conversation piece but cooks like a dream and fits in well to my home. "

Thanks, Jack for the great pictures!

Colby's Pre-Deluxe Tappan Stove

Colby emailed me photos of his stove and asked if I was able to tell him how old his Tappan stove is.  The stove was purchased with his 1930's bungalow and has the model # W-55.

The stove is obviously pre-Tappan Deluxe...but has essentially the same body as the Deluxe (it's 38" wide). Whenever I see pictures of these earlier stoves, I pull out the Sales Manuals I have for 1940 and 1941 Tappan Philgas stoves. Sure enough, I was able to find an almost identical stove in the 1941 Ads.  Colby's stove is not a Philgas, but it narrows down the year of his stove to the early 1940's.

One item, Colby's stove has that the Philgas (model # 541) stove does not have is a timer on the back splash. Tappan also made a Philgas model #741 that included a back splash timer, but had a window in the oven door that Colby's does not.

The Philgas Tappan model 541 sold for $118.50 in 1941.

Colby, what do you think? Make sense? Also, I'm curious...what does that patch on the oven door say?

More of Chaz's Tappan Stove

Chaz sent on some additional pictures of his pre-Deluxe Tappan stove for our enjoyment. We figure this stove was just pre-Deluxe. You can already see the Deluxe design. You can read more directly from Chaz on his blog.

According to the vintage sales material I have, the handles on this stove's burners and storage compartments were just changing over to the Deluxe style around 1940.

I particularly like the back splash on this stove with the "opal glass floodlight" (as the sales brochure calls it). The metal sign showing how to turn the burner knobs is charming. I also like the written instructing how how to light the oven pilot. I think the white switch above the thermostat knob on the main control panel is a "peek switch" to turn on the oven light.

At first we thought this was a Tappan-Philgas stove, but the more I look at the photos, I think it was a Tappan stove propane that was made at about the same time as they were making gas stoves for Philgas.  It doesn't have the typical "Philgas" badges, the model number doesn't seem to follow the Philgas-Tappan system (which would make this a 1943 stove), and the badge on the back splash says "Tappan" alone. Chaz, what do you think? Possible?

Again, thanks for sharing!

Chaz's Early Tappan Stove

Another reader has volunteered to let us see his stove. Chaz has a 1934 Tappan (pre-Deluxe). You can definitely see the Deluxe model starting to emerge. The metal plate on the top of the left storage compartment makes me think this stove is a Philgas-Tappan stove. The right burner shows one of the early burner covers. It looks as if the little box in the center of the back splash is an "opal glass" floodlight (?)

Chaz's stove looks a lot like Model 640 from my 1940's Philgas Sales Manual (could it be a model 634?). The turn handles on the side compartments must have been changed to "trigger touch" lift release knobs about 1940...because there are also photos in the same Sales Manual that show the turn handles.

Chaz - thanks for the photo.

Someone's In Trouble

Here is a page out of a 1941 Sales Manual for Philgas-Tappan stoves.

White Salt and Pepper Shakers

Here's one more page out of a 1940's Philgas Tappan sales manual. This is double oven, double broiler model 1040 that sold for a whopping $199.50. Note the white salt & pepper shakers on top of the back splash.

(Later - as I look through the Philgas-Tappan sales manual, I've come to realize that this model may not have been made by Tappan even though it's a Philgas stove.  I'm going to leave the picture on the blog....just be aware this may not be a Tappan)

Before the Deluxe

Here's a sales manual picture of a precursor to the Tappan Deluxe. It's a 1940's model 840 that was a collaboration between Philgas and Tappan. Notice the griddle on top of the left side burners. Also, catch the stove price label on the bottom.