Model of a Bread Oven

Entry

Wooden model of a mechanical bread oven mounted on a rectangular base.

It is a box-like structure with a chimney on top. The top half can be taken off to show the interior. The long front has a hearth in the middle with an ash pan below. Inside, the hot gases are ducted to the four corners through flat conduits and up into a metal double ceiling above the actual bread oven and subsequently to the chimney, which has a valve that can be operated from the exterior. The conduits in the corners also have valves that can be operated with keys from the exterior. The actual bread oven is a large area in the middle with two endless chains running from one end to the other, on which the trays for the bread are placed. The oven can be accessed from both sides. The trays are moved on the chains from one side to the other with sets of toothed wheels on each side at the front. The height of the trays can be regulated by means of ten screws in the roof. Inside, four long rods are fixed: as they shrink or expand they indicate the heat with a hand on a dial to each side of the oven doors. On both short sides the following doors can be located from top to bottom: three doors that provide access to the space above the double ceiling, a broad oven door for the trays, two doors to the conduits for hot gases in the corners, and finally, one door below for a separate ordinary oven. In the roof a boiler is also installed, which has a draincock at the front.

This mechanical bread oven was used by the Dutch Navy at its base at the Nieuwediep, Den Helder, and was also called a ‘chain-oven’.

Scale unknown.