The Latrobe Stove, also known as a "Baltimore Heater", was a coal-fired parlor heater made of cast iron and fitted into fireplaces as an insert. It served both as a heater and a stove. They were patented in 1846[1] and were very popular by the 1870s. The squat device was invented by John Hazelhurst Boneval Latrobe (1803–1891).[2] He was the son of noted engineer and architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe II. Latrobe became a patent lawyer and was shy about taking credit for his stoves which succeeded Benjamin Franklin's much larger Franklin stove.[1]
In 1980 there were a small number of antique stove restorers but most old stoves were used for decoration or as planters.[3]