Master Kraft?

ayetchvacker

I received a very nice letter as a gift dated 1940 from the Harvey-Whipple company, manufacturer of Master Kraft. I am trying to find any information on this company but especially the Whipple name as it may be an ancestor of my wife. 

Thanks in advance 

Steamhead

Harvey-Whipple was one of many, many manufacturers to enter the market for oil burners as they became popular. They also marketed boilers and furnaces using their burners. Not sure what happened to them, but once the market became saturated, many of these companies could not survive. There are a lot of examples in various industries- for example, cars made by Packard or Studebaker, and computers made by AST, Gateway or Zeos.

Your best bet might be to contact a local historical society in Springfield, MA.

EBEBRATT-Ed

Yes Harvey Whipple used to be in Springfield about 3 miles from where I sit.

@Steamhead another old one did you ever see a "Waltham Dyna jet" It looked like a normal burner but had two blast tubes with two nozzle assemblies.

When the Ma turnpike was built in the 50s all the maintenance buildings had those burners

Another more common old burner was "Gilbert & Barker. They were also made here in Springfield (or maybe West Springfield) they moved out of town in the early 60s lots of jobs lost as they made boilers, gas pumps and even commercial rotary oil burners. They were not real common but we used to see them around here.Some of there burners were ok.

EdTheHeaterMan

I remember several Philadelphia customers with Gilbert and Barker.  

My family’s Fuel oil delivery business used to install an oil burner made by the Lynn manufacturing company.  Same people who still make combustion chambers today. There were adjustments similar to the Shell oil company oil burner that produced a sunflower shaped flame. I remember installing several of those back in the 1960s.

CLamb

A search of the Internet archive turns up more than a thousand references. https://archive.org/search.php?query=%22Harvey-Whipple%22&sin=TXT

Steamhead

EBEBRATT-Ed said:

Yes Harvey Whipple used to be in Springfield about 3 miles from where I sit.

@Steamhead another old one did you ever see a "Waltham Dyna jet" It looked like a normal burner but had two blast tubes with two nozzle assemblies.

When the Ma turnpike was built in the 50s all the maintenance buildings had those burners

Another more common old burner was "Gilbert & Barker. They were also made here in Springfield (or maybe West Springfield) they moved out of town in the early 60s lots of jobs lost as they made boilers, gas pumps and even commercial rotary oil burners. They were not real common but we used to see them around here.Some of there burners were ok.

Haven't seen a Dynajet, but there were plenty of Esso "Gilbarco" burners around here. This was my most recent encounter with one:

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/160431/any-hope-for-my-national-heat-extractor-100-series-oil-boiler

EBEBRATT-Ed

Seems to me I remember some of the old Gilbert & Barkers had a clutch for the oil pump. They used it for a prepurge so the burner was up to speed before you got oil. Like a delayed oil valve

Steamhead

It was called the "Economy Clutch". But it actually allowed the fan to freewheel on shutdown so it would add some more air after the motor stopped, which took care of any oil that sprayed out before the cutoff in the fuel unit could operate.

ayetchvacker

Thanks all for the replies