<P> Electric stove "burners" may be controlled by a rotary switch with a finite number of positions (for example, six), each of which engages a different combination of resistances and hence a different heating power, or may have an "infinite switch" called a simmerstat . Some may have a thermostat . </P> <P> On September 20, 1859, George B. Simpson was awarded US patent #25532 for an' electro - heater' surface heated by a platinum - wire coil powered by batteries . In his words, useful to "warm rooms, boil water, cook victuals ...". </P> <P> Canadian inventor Thomas Ahearn filed patent number no . 39916 in 1892 for an "Electric Oven," a device he probably employed in preparing a meal for an Ottawa hotel that year . Ahearn and Warren Y . Soper were owners of Ottawa's Chaudiere Electric Light and Power Company . The electric stove was showcased at the Chicago World's Fair in 1893, where an electrified model kitchen was shown . Unlike the gas stove, the electrical stove was slow to catch on, partly due to the unfamiliar technology, and the need for cities and towns to be electrified . By the 1930s, the technology had matured and the electrical stove slowly began to replace the gas stove, especially in household kitchens . </P> <P> In 1897, William Hadaway was granted US patent #574537 for an "Automatically Controlled Electric Oven". </P>

When did the first electric stove come out