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Magic Chef, Inc. (formerly theAmerican Stove Company) is an appliance brand currently owned by CNA International Inc.
In the 1850s John Ringen, aGermanimmigrant to the United States, began atinshop inSt. Louis, Missouri. His business prospered and, in 1870, he took in a partner, George August Kahle, who had immigrated to America from Germany in 1867. The business sold housewares, earlywashing machines, andcooking stoves they called "quick meals".
In 1881, George Kahle persuaded his brothers-in-law, Charles and Louis Stockstrom, to set up a shop to manufacture stoves.[1] These four principals then organized twocorporations, the Quick Meal Stove Company and the Ringen Stove Company.
Quick Meal manufactured the stoves, with Ringen Stove handling sales and distribution of the entire output of Quick Meal's production. The phenomenal growth of these two companies during the 1880s and 1890s led to the merger of eight other stove companies inSt. Louis,Chicago andCleveland in 1901 to form the American Stove Company.[1] American Stove introduced the first oven temperature control device in 1914.
In 1929, it began using thebrand name Magic Chef. The Magic Chef name was so successful as an oven and stove brand that American Stove Company changed its name to Magic Chef, Inc. in 1951.[2][3][4] The company remained well known for itsgas stoves, but attempts to spread the brand to other household appliances were unsuccessful.
In 1957, it was merged with theFood Giant Markets of California.[5][6] In 1958, it was sold to Dixie Products,[7][8] a small stove company ofCleveland, Tennessee, after selling off a few underperforming divisions of Magic Chef.[9]
In 1974, Magic Chef bought the Norge VillageLaundry &Dry Cleaners chain.[10]
By 1986, the company had become the 249th largest industrial company in the nation, and was sold toMaytag for $740 million.[11] Magic Chef also made homefurnaces and air conditioners; that operation was sold toLennox International in 1988.[12]
Whirlpool Corporation acquired Maytag Corporation in 2006.[13][14] Magic Chef has been spun out to CNA International Inc./MC Appliance Corporation,[15][16] which imports and marketssmall appliances under several brand names.
