Antique towel steamers

[George Kelley]

How do they run when they are not running off of electricity? What is a source for instructions to use a towel steamer from 1900?

 

[oc_in_fw]

A lot of older buildings were heated with steam from a boiler. Maybe these piped into that.

 

[Raissermesser]

Other possibilities are a heat source in the column. The first photo looks like vents just below the bulb in the column, so it was likely burning something. Just what is a good question. One on Ebay looks like it was designed with a fire grate (for coal?). Oil, first from whales, then from kerosene, might have also been a fuel. Likely it varied due to what was available locally.