Osborne Restoration

Category: Belle Portable Ranges

‘Belle Portable’ ranges are the most common of the portable ranges and were in production from the late 19th century to the mid 20th. They were manufactured by Jones and Campbell, of Falkirk at their ‘Torwood foundry’ near by to the ‘Larbert foundry’ of Dobbie Frobes Ltd where Dermont Campbel was once the cashier.

The company was established in 1887 and the first cupola was blown in and tapped in 1888. The first ‘Belle Portable’ design was registered in 1894 and these early examples have several defining characteristics including decorative fretwork on their trivets and rounded ends to the strap hinges on the oven door.
Later ranges had ‘Removable ovens’ with brass screws fixing in the front panel to prevent them seizing. However they are invariably always seized!

‘Belle Portable’ ranges can be found in all sorts of shapes and sizes and have proven themselves to be of a very robust design.

O.J.Osborne & Co manufacture many spare parts for these ranges and always keep unrestored examples in stock. Customers restorations are taken on and can be shipped anywhere in the Uk.

  • SS Great Britain

    We made a long over due trip to the SS Great Britain last December. It’s a great site and well worth a trip. Sadly there is not much left of the interior which is not surprising considering the state it was in by the time it made it back to Bristol. Some clever folk have made a good job of putting it back together again.
    Here I am in the galley, it looks as though almost everything here is a fabrication but it has been well done. I’d have loved the opportunity to be involved in the restoration and I’m sure the folk involved and well chuffed with their efforts.
    The fabrication of Brunel’s original engine is a masterpiece although I can’t help feeling it would’ve been incredible to see a replica under steam. I doubt the poor old hull would have been able to cope with though!
    My only thought was that I would have liked to have seen a steam hammer on the dock side considering the important part they played in the manufacture of the SSGB. Might not have gone down so well with the neighbours though!

  • Keith’s Belle Portable

    I just received an email from Keith, the chap who purchased the Belle Portable with fiddle rail and hot closet. It looks great in its new home and I’m over the moon that the fires lit and the ovens full!

  • 1940s Caravan (Unknown maker)

    Here’s a caravan that we beleive dates from the 1940s built by an unknown maker. Rach and I worked on this a few summers back doing a large amount of work replacing all the window frames reglazing the windows, building the beds, restoring the oven and converting the gas lamps to electric so that it could be used as a holiday let. The owner has just finished painting it inside and out and its looking great in my opinion. If you are interested in staying the in the caravan do get in touch, it is situated at an ancient farm down a forgotten track right in the hills of Somerset.
    If anyone has any information on this caravan we’d also love to hear it.

  • Belle Portable restoration

    When this Belle Portable came in I was pretty shocked. There was barely a bit on it that wasn’t broken and many of the parts like the top plate and front panel had bits missing and had been broken in several places. The front plate for example had seven separate repairs! One of the cast iron side panels was also missing so a new one had to be cast. The deeper I dug the more problems I came across, it certainly proved to be a real challenge.
    The range is now back at home with its owner and being prepared to install. Here’s a ‘before’ and ‘after’ of the range as it arrived to me and moments before it left the workshop.

  • Belle Portable with Fiddle rail and hot closet

    I’m busy as ever down here, this time with a lovely little 26″ Belle Portable with twisted brass fiddle rail and hot closet. It’s nearly finished now, I’m just waiting for for a few parts to arrive for it and I reckon its taking shape nicely!

  • Brass foundry at Blackcountry museum

    We visited The Blackcountry Museum at Dudley over the summer so I thought I’d share a few photos of what we got up to while we were there. For those that haven’t been before you must! It’s really one of the most amazing places I’ve been, the attention to detail is incredible and if you linger around until closing time you get a glimpse of the place less the throngs and its something really special.
    The series of three photos here are of the brass foundry, the chap is casting a horse brass. The building was originally on a different site but has been moved to the museum and rebuilt with painstaking accuracy. It was originally a manger but was converted to this little cottage industry brass mill by its original owner. The furnace doesn’t have bellows but relies of a tall chimney and deep pit beneath the grate to produce enough draw.

  • Bungalow Belle

    The Bungalow Belle with boiler went a while ago but I haven’t until now had a chance to post a picture. Here it is before being packaged up.

  • New (old) ranges in stock!

    I’ve had a few deliveries over the last week and here’s the result, you guessed it- ranges!

    I tend to try and get my hand on anything cast by the Caledonian Stove and Iron Works so when this beautifully deco ‘Dover’ range came up I had to have it!

    Secondly a very smart 26″ Belle Portable with removable oven. These narrower ranges are increasingly hard to come by especially in this condition!

    Next is a very nice but fairly rusty Larbert 410114 30″ range, these are very pretty with their strap hinges and curve top oven doors. The firebox drop doors that are always missing will be replaced in the restoration with new ones that I have had cast in England from high quality grey iron.

    Finally, here is something really special! It’s a very nice little 24″ model, the kind of stove that can be found in narrowboat back cabins but can also slip into many standard chimney openings. It’s had a hard old life but we’ll get him ship shape again before long!

  • “New Clanic” 36″ Belle Portable range with sham

    I have recently got in a “New Clanic” Belle Portable range with sham. It is in very good shape and will be in for restoration next week. At present it is a pile of bits in the workshop so I can’t show folk any actual photo’s but here is an original advertisement of a Nichols & Clarke Ltd catalogue.

  • Poorly Belle Portable

    I received another Belle portable for restoration today and it really is in a poor state of repair. In fact I can’t remember if this might be the most poorly one I have been asked to repair. Much of the damage isn’t visible from the photo but it seems to have had all manner of bumps, dings, knocks and cracks over the years. Not to mention its lost one of its sides somewhere along the line!