of Smethwick and Telford
The name AGA is an abbreviation of Aktiebolaget Gas Accumulator.
In 1912, the Nobel Prize-winning Swedish physicist Dr. Gustaf Dalén (1869 - 1937) lost his sight in an explosion. Forced to stay at home, Dr. Dalen discovered that his wife was exhausted by cooking. Although blind, he was determined to develop a new stove that was capable of every culinary technique and easy to use. It is also capable of heating a house.
Adopting the principle of heat storage, he combined a small and efficient heat source, two large hotplates and two generous ovens into one robust and compact unit: the AGA Cooker.
It is said that Dalen took some ideas from the Flavel Kitchener cooker[1]
AGA AB introduced the cooker in Sweden in 1922.
1929 The cooker was introduced to England by Bell's Heat Appliances.
1935 Aga Heat Ltd of Smethwick was acquired by Allied Ironfounders[2]
1947 Most production of the iron castings in the cooker was moved to the Coalbrookdale foundry in Shropshire, the site of Abraham Darby's original iron works where modern iron smelting was invented.
1969 Allied Ironfounders was taken over by Glynwed[3].
2001 After much of the Glynwed company was sold, the remaining part was renamed AGA Foodservice Ltd[4].
The cookers are made in a factory in Telford alongside Rayburn, but the Coalbrookdale foundry was sold and has now been closed.
See Also
Sources of Information
- [1] Wikipedia