Dr Tom Reed, a professor of Chemical Engineering at the Colorado School of Mines, first investigated cooking with (wood) WoodGas in 1986.

The year before, he had visited Africa and discovered the problem of third world cooking. Cooking in the developing world is largely done over open fires. These fires are often indoors, and are very detrimental to the health of the occupants. Smoke from indoor fires cause emphysema, lung cancer and eye disease. The fires are also very inefficient, causing the loss of forest.

Dr Reed was a specialist in Wood Gasification. A process where wood is gasified to produce fuel for heating and electrical production. He decided that applying his gasification knowledge might provide a solution to problems of developing world cooking.

Over the years, he tinkered with various solutions, and by 2000 had built early prototypes of the WoodGas campstove. Eventually, he and his partners built a prototype ready for manufacture and sale.

In 2005, Spenton LLC was formed to manufacture and sell the stoves. Spenton LLC is owned and operated by James Becker, a resident of Eden Prairie, Minnesota. He named his company after his kids - Spencer and Preston. He hopes you find your stove to be enjoyable and practical.

Today, Tom Reed and his partners run two organizations, The Biomass Energy Foundation (BEF), which works to develop energy solutions using biomass gasification; and WoodGas LLC, which works on developing new stove designs for third world applications. Every stove sold today includes a royalty which is paid to WoodGas LLC and BEF for continuing research and development.