Cast iron ELECTRIC radiator

Tom_10

Has anyone ever seen or heard of(and its pretty old) a Jiffy Electric Radiator. Its actually a Utica 4 tube cast iron rad. In the bottom 1-1/4" tapping is an electric element with low,medium and high settings and on the face of the element it says Jiffy Electric Radiator, Tuckahoe N.Y. I plugged it in and it actually began to get hot. The 1/8" vent tapping is plugged as are all the tappings. My question is: Is it similar to a Clow Gas steam rad. in that it needs a little water to operate, or is the electric element all there is. I felt slightly uncomfortable when I plugged it in because with all the tappings plugged it seemed just a bit unsafe. Do any of you old timers remember these? Does anybody remember these? Does it need to have a vent. I dont plan on using this thing but its always neat to have something really old that still functions. Any help would be appreciated.