"And those of us who now live in heated homes know that, even though the method of heating may be otherwise ideal, a hot water or steam radiator or register at best is cheerless in looks, and not inviting, and there are day in the early Fall and late Spring when in mid-day the heat, instead of being welcome, becomes a nuisance, but in homes having a Solar Grand, the experience is that the Solar Grand furnishes all the heat necessary or desirable at these periods, thereby lessening the coal bill and the furnace-tending period."
Whew, what a sentence! Doesn't it make you wonder (it sure made me wonder) why they didn’t just sell folks a gas-fired boiler or a gas-fired furnace. I think they were walking on eggs with boilers and furnaces because coal was king in 1917. They were seeing their business slipping through their hands like a greased rope because of these newfangled electric wires that so many Americans seemed to want. They did begin to put their toes in the water as far as boilers went, though. Listen:
"It may be that we can heat your home with gas. During the past year, gas auxiliary house heating, by means of systems like the one in the illustration have been tried out and those who have installed these gas heating systems have expressed their unqualified approval of the results. We would be glad to furnish further particulars to the many that are interested in shortening the coal furnace-tending season. At present, systems are available for use in conjunction with steam and hot water boilers."
The illustration was of a relatively small gas-fired boiler sitting next to a humongous coal-fired steam boiler. They shared piping and you have to use one or the other because the waterlines were quite offset. That was the toehold. The rest is history. The public went for the concept they mentioned in passing (central heating), not for the one that was the main focus of the booklet (gaslighting). Life is so uncertain.
You know what I get out of reading all this old stuff? Perspective. At some point, Public Service Gas Company realized they were fighting a losing battle with gas lighting and got on board with electricity. They changed the name of the company and that was that. You cut your loses and walk away from a loser.
