A Victorian cast iron wood burning stove or Nautilus Grate

A Victorian cast iron wood burning stove or Nautilus Grate, circa 1885, designed by James Bazeley Petter, of typical scroll form, with open grate and twin outlet pipes, the base indistinctly stamped, 51cm high, 65cm wide, 45cm deep In 1865, John Petter of Barnstaple bought an ironmonger's business in Yeovil as a wedding present for his son, John Bazeley Petter. Within a few years John Bazeley Petter had expanded the retail ironmongery and engineering business by purchasing the Yeovil Foundry and took into partnership the manager, Mr Henry F Edgar. They produced agricultural implements and machinery, the firm of Petter and Edgar prospered, but it was James Petter's invention of the 'Nautilus' grate and fireplace in 1881 which brought the firm to national attention when the grates were installed in Queen Victoria's residences at Osborne House and Balmoral. The design of the grate was based on the internal shape of the Nautilus shell by means of which the fumes and smoke circulated in a chamber before being drawn out through the flue.