Metters

File:Metters Improved Stove No 2 (Bridgetown, Western Australia).JPG

An abandoned Metters Improved Stove No 2. A small fire was built behind the sliding doors at top centre.

Metters was a brand of kitchen appliances originally made by Metters Limited, an Australian company established in Adelaide by Frederick Metters (1858–1937) in 1891. Production and distribution of Metters equipment was expanded to Perth, Western Australia, in 1894 where Metters formed a partnership with Henry Spring (1864–1937), and then to Sydney, New South Wales in 1902.

Fred Metters patented and manufactured a number of appliances including the 'top-fire' fuel stoves. The popular 'Metters Improved Stove No 2.' used an enclosed wood fire to heat a hob above and an oven below. Pots and pans could be exposed to direct heat by removing small plates recessed in the cooking surface. Metters also produced a large variety of other wood stoves. The Metters Adelaide foundry manufactured the: 'Beacon Light'; 'New Improved'; 'Barossa'; 'Royal'; 'Dover'; 'Bega'; and 'Wilga' wood stoves. The Metters Sydney foundry maufactured the: 'Beacon Light'; 'Dover; 'Bega'; 'Canberra'; 'Empress'; 'Regina'; 'Herald'; 'Newcastle'; 'Samson'; 'Edford'; 'Capitol'; 'Shearer'; 'Royal'; 'New Royal'; 'Improved'; 'Crawford'; and 'Early Kooka' wood stoves.

The Metters company introduced the 'Early Kooka' range of gas cooking appliances in 1937. The name of this oven, punning on 'cooker', was emblazoned over the enamelled image of a kookaburra gobbling a worm. Metters Limited was acquired by Email Limited in 1974, which continued to market electric and gas kitchen cookers under the Metters brand name, but was eventually phased-out in the mid-1980s.

References

• Joyce Gibberd, 'Metters, Frederick (Fred) (1858 - 1937)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Online Edition, 2006, updated continuously, ISSN 1833-7538, published by Australian National University
• Laurie Stevenson, 'Beacon Light Wood Stoves', Blurb Publishers, 2012. Accessed at http://au.blurb.com/b/4465321-beacon-light-wood-stoves