On Sat, 31 Oct 2009 07:38:24 -0700 (PDT), Bob Villa
wrote:

On Oct 31, 8:59*am, Bob Villa wrote:
At the front middle of hte oven was a 3/4" hole where one held a match

For some reason the hole seemed bigger last night. It was a half or
5/8" hole.

And Ed, my mother was no athlete and 55 years old, but she had no
trouble using the broiler tray that was 8 inches above the floor.
(After she was age 55, I don't remember what kind of broiler she had.)

after turning the burner on. * Somehow the match flame was sucked down
the hole, and I mean that literally. * This the really "green" way to
do it. *No expensive igniter that has to be replaced periodically and
no gas wasted on a pilot light. * Just one match to light the broiler
or oven. * This was the primary purpose of "kitchen matches".

*(The burner was above the broiler and below the oven as I think it is
now.)

I remember the same type (I think we had a Caloric) "sucking" the
flame off the match.

bob_v

When I was a wee child I remember gram-ma using the stove-top
burners. There was a button for a flame-thrower-like device you lit
with a match...it would light the burner so your hand would not be
close to the flare-up of the burner. (We've all had similar
experiences manually lighting or LP grills)

bob_v

They had pilot lights for top burners much earlier or maybe just in
many more stoves. I guess because people use the oven or broiler
usually only once a day, and the top burners are used for everything.
Making coffee. There were no electric coffee makers.
Cooking breakfast, lunch, some or all of dinner, soup, vegetables,
potatoes, custard.....loads of things.

Our stoves had two burners on each side, with a pilot light in between
each pair. Some stoves had 4 burners close together, with one pilot
light for all four. Saved 50% of the pilot light gas. But the cost
of the gas was very low, I think. My mother worried about leaving
lights on but the pilot light didn't bother her. Although that mght
have been because she had no way to turn it off.