Spoke to him through email and mentioned a lot of us would like to see more of the Fireplace he was lucky enough to purchase on Ebay a few months back. If you have any additional questions, he asked to forward them to me and I will ask him. Thanks guys.
Enjoy!
(http://i442.photobucket.com/albums/qq142/A_Tame76/Weber%20Fireplace%20-%20Vintage/26b93f64-cf92-4042-b0e0-91a30259bc6f_zps2c00f5b7.jpg)
(http://i442.photobucket.com/albums/qq142/A_Tame76/Weber%20Fireplace%20-%20Vintage/37355e82-053e-4e7b-bc76-2cf11a7c2f64_zpseec5c9ce.jpg)
(http://i442.photobucket.com/albums/qq142/A_Tame76/Weber%20Fireplace%20-%20Vintage/WFP3_zps8df9cb73.jpg)
(http://i442.photobucket.com/albums/qq142/A_Tame76/Weber%20Fireplace%20-%20Vintage/WFP4_zps23cb2b7d.jpg)
This is the top rear grate holder, it is hooked for some reason. Maybe so the grate won't slip while you try to flip your steaks.
(http://i442.photobucket.com/albums/qq142/A_Tame76/Weber%20Fireplace%20-%20Vintage/4f58bf2f-1411-4677-8c68-30c295224ca0_zps0098991b.jpg)
Top vent, mounted on the inside.
(http://i442.photobucket.com/albums/qq142/A_Tame76/Weber%20Fireplace%20-%20Vintage/2db98485-3f8e-48f1-902a-84f74f2b2a43_zps5d3f873d.jpg)
Back view
(http://i442.photobucket.com/albums/qq142/A_Tame76/Weber%20Fireplace%20-%20Vintage/f9bd3688-4cab-4ec1-ab44-dc9a6066f834_zps65b9c419.jpg)
Base
(http://i442.photobucket.com/albums/qq142/A_Tame76/Weber%20Fireplace%20-%20Vintage/1bd42c46-05f4-4ac0-a847-e762cc358d33_zpsfd77ca7b.jpg)
Side view of base, notice the bracket in the back is slightly angled outward. It is to hold the bowl in, which has a tab that hooks into it.
(http://i442.photobucket.com/albums/qq142/A_Tame76/Weber%20Fireplace%20-%20Vintage/77d75366-d3f5-4961-af70-d3f69d3e079d_zpsa3c79c69.jpg)
Bowl
(http://i442.photobucket.com/albums/qq142/A_Tame76/Weber%20Fireplace%20-%20Vintage/WFP10_zps8be4aa1f.jpg)
Close up of bowl tab fitting into base bracket
(http://i442.photobucket.com/albums/qq142/A_Tame76/Weber%20Fireplace%20-%20Vintage/WFP11_zps517a5f2c.jpg)
Closer pic of tab in bracket
(http://i442.photobucket.com/albums/qq142/A_Tame76/Weber%20Fireplace%20-%20Vintage/WFP12_zps15c2bd18.jpg)
Side tabs loop over base
(http://i442.photobucket.com/albums/qq142/A_Tame76/Weber%20Fireplace%20-%20Vintage/WFP13_zps541f39d6.jpg)
Side view
(http://i442.photobucket.com/albums/qq142/A_Tame76/Weber%20Fireplace%20-%20Vintage/WFP14_zpsc5ef66f3.jpg)
Top vent close up
(http://i442.photobucket.com/albums/qq142/A_Tame76/Weber%20Fireplace%20-%20Vintage/WFP15_zps544c8032.jpg)
Pic of the base turned over
(http://i442.photobucket.com/albums/qq142/A_Tame76/Weber%20Fireplace%20-%20Vintage/WFP16_zps5f01afe5.jpg)
Coal grate has a stair step shape
(http://i442.photobucket.com/albums/qq142/A_Tame76/Weber%20Fireplace%20-%20Vintage/WFP17_zpsadf660fd.jpg)
It seems to be made that way to fit on tabs inside bowl.
(http://i442.photobucket.com/albums/qq142/A_Tame76/Weber%20Fireplace%20-%20Vintage/58c40ac8-2943-40b1-b909-71743894fef3_zpsc3725401.jpg)
Cooking grate has center rod bent on both ends pointing downward
(http://i442.photobucket.com/albums/qq142/A_Tame76/Weber%20Fireplace%20-%20Vintage/WFP19_zpsb2cb6381.jpg)
Close up of cooking grate
(http://i442.photobucket.com/albums/qq142/A_Tame76/Weber%20Fireplace%20-%20Vintage/WFP20_zps714b3039.jpg)
Close up of top grate secured by hooked tab
(http://i442.photobucket.com/albums/qq142/A_Tame76/Weber%20Fireplace%20-%20Vintage/cd13144a-7fc2-4482-9fac-b57a26a5bec5_zpsed42ef6d.jpg)
Close up of top grate with bent center rod. It lines up in front of side trusses.
(http://i442.photobucket.com/albums/qq142/A_Tame76/Weber%20Fireplace%20-%20Vintage/0143dad0-5c21-4e93-86b0-3967285f76b5_zps2ffbbe51.jpg)
Close up of interior with grates
(http://i442.photobucket.com/albums/qq142/A_Tame76/Weber%20Fireplace%20-%20Vintage/892530c1-fe5d-4189-81f9-e5bb249b7301_zps028526f1.jpg)
Inside lid
(http://i442.photobucket.com/albums/qq142/A_Tame76/Weber%20Fireplace%20-%20Vintage/WFP24_zps51ec12ca.jpg)
Side view
(http://i442.photobucket.com/albums/qq142/A_Tame76/Weber%20Fireplace%20-%20Vintage/06071f70-3352-48d7-b435-5e7cdfa3f906_zpsbcaa0ef6.jpg)
Rear view
(http://i442.photobucket.com/albums/qq142/A_Tame76/Weber%20Fireplace%20-%20Vintage/df7f4a5e-b810-4ba5-82dc-183989834b16_zps6e372a58.jpg)
Was this the type of unit that would be fitted inside a normal hearth in a home? I'm not sure, but I think a similar one was discovered during a reno when a hearth had been filled in, and subsequently rescued and saved to be sold on E-Prey not long ago here in Oz.
Hogsy?
Sent from another planet using Mental Telepathy.
Yeah Jocool...same type. Its in one of the Weber '64 and '67 catalogs. They came in black as well as red. They also had 18 and 22" versions.
Awesome pics....thanks for posting. Thats a great piece of Weber history. Interesting how the top vent is mounted inside the bowl. It also has no markings just like the vintage blue 18 on eBay.
Thanks for posting all that Jeff. The more I see of these fireplaces, the weirder they seem: internal vents, mis-shapen grates, additional hooks and tabs. I would have loved the be in the product development meetings during design. I bet they kept tweaking "one little thing" until it was entirely unique. I can't believe that they sold very many of these ...
Send my regards to Ed, Jeff. That fireplace is sweet. It also looks really complicated to make!
Quote from: G$ on July 29, 2013, 08:27:51 PM
Thanks for posting all that Jeff. The more I see of these fireplaces, the weirder they seem: internal vents, mis-shapen grates, additional hooks and tabs. I would have loved the be in the product development meetings during design. I bet they kept tweaking "one little thing" until it was entirely unique. I can't believe that they sold very many of these ...
G$, I agree. All the weird features are by necessity though. Weird shape grate for the tilted cross section, interior vent so you dont have to reach for the back, tabs so things don't fall, etc. I wonder if an exec forced them to make this as a pet project or if market research called for it.
Wow..... Thanks RR for the pics and thanks Jeff for posting
That is very cool.....and Something Golly and I could discuss and study over a few beers
Any chance of an international exchange????
Maybe it could spend a week in each State where members have a chance to look and play with it
JoCool I missed that on eBay . Do you still have the listing? I doubt whether it was a weber due to the vintage and weber only arrived in OZ in the mid 70's
So is that the 2nd top vent with no markings we've seen?
Fabulous! :D
That's going straight to the pool room :o ::) 8) ;D
Thanks RR & JEFF
No I don't have the listing, and I can't recall 100% when it was. It just sounds right that's all.
Sent from another planet using Mental Telepathy.
It wasn't from here was it?
http://weberkettleclub.com/forums/trading-post/penthouse-on-ebay-wow/
Ni not that one mate.
Sent from another planet using Mental Telepathy.
Beautiful!!
Thanks for the perve, both Reilly & Jeff...... ;D
Only two things surprize me on this, well three.....
The little nubbins on the underside of upper grate, why?
The stair step on the charcoal grate, looks like it steps DOWN towards the front?
The rest makes Webersense.......the third was going to be that it survived.....but that does make Webersense.....
The clips that hang on the side rails are just about the same as an old wok, they almost look too wide for the rails on this......like they borrowed parts from said wok......
Hey Buckie...here is a response from Ed.
I will try to get some better pictures. I read Buckie questions and concerning the "nobbins" on the cook grate I am not sure. It is possible they keep the grate from moving left or right while monkeying with your food. They sit in front of the trusses welded to the bowl, so that would eliminate the purpose of keeping the grate from sliding forward, plus the rear hook would be enough to secure the grate. But the cook grate extends outside the bowl with no support in the front of the grate. The nobbins might brace the left to right horizontal movement.
The coal grate has a stair step angle in the middle of it. I thought it might have been damaged at first. But the way the grates sit in the bowl they can't be perfectly circular. The cook grate is visually not a circle, but the coal grate has been bent in the middle to fit. I will try to put standard grates in it to see how far they stick out.
There was a lot of custom welding on this thing to get it to work. I can not imagine there was a ready market it.
I seem to remember a few other grill manufacturers making fireplace BBQ equipment at that time. So maybe it was their attempt to get in that particular market.
Thanks for posting those pictures, it looks really good. Ed
Thanks for that !!!
Now the charcoal grate makes sense....thought it was just ONE stepdown.......
The top grate nubbins sorta make sense..........
BUT.......
What's really got me intrigued about Reilly now is this:
Where is ED?
It seems as if he is here.....but he's really not.......Is Ed OK?
It's as if Jeff has suddenly, for no appearent reason, become Ed's explanitory munchkin:
"No, really, Reilly's right here.....there's nothing behind the curtain, really....."
Then there's this reference to "MONKEYING".......these wouldn't happen to be FLYING monkeys, would they?
It's like some unspoken, un-announced Wizard of OZ stage play of some sort......
What's REAAAALLY up, Reilly?
Are you guys in OZ?
(PS: This is the pre-coffee me.....checkin' in.....)
Thanks for taking the pictures Ed and posting them Jeff! Considering it came out in 1957 and was still available in the mid-late 60s I wonder how many of these Weber sold? I also wonder how many more of these are out in the world sitting long forgotten in a basement or an unused fireplace in a house built in the 1950s-1960s ...
Quote from: Craig on July 31, 2013, 06:06:50 AM
Thanks for taking the pictures Ed and posting them Jeff! Considering it came out in 1957 and was still available in the mid-late 60s I wonder how many of these Weber sold? I also wonder how many more of these are out in the world sitting long forgotten in a basement or an unused fireplace in a house built in the 1950s-1960s ...
I think the same thins everytime i'm in an older neighborhood wishing I had x-ray eyes to see what they cook on.
Hey Craig, is there anything other than appearing on the weber timeline that makes you think the fireplaces really were introduced in 1957? Have you seen product literature with them listed that early?