A potbelly stove is a cast-iron, coal-burning or wood-burning stove that is cylindrical with a bulge in the middle.[1] The name is derived from the resemblance of the stove to a fat person's pot belly. Potbelly stoves were used to heat large rooms and were often found in train stations or one-room schoolhouses. The flat top of the stove allows for cooking food or heating water.
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Delamere Francis McCloskey, Los Angeles City Council member, 1941–43, rescued potbelly stoves for use in air-raid defense posts
^Gove PB (editor in chief) (1981). Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language Unabridged. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster Inc. 102a + 2,663 pp. ISBN 0-87779-201-1. ("potbelly", definition and illustration, p. 1775).