The Andiron and Fender: Lift the Logs, Keep Them In

"This invention contemplates certain new and useful improvements in andirons or fire dogs and has for its object the production of a simple and inexpensive device of this nature capable of being easily handled and which will retain the burning logs in place." "The invention consists of an andiron having two dogs or members connected together and a fender removably connected to the front of said dogs and extending over the intervening space or opening." The fender "serves to prevent the burning logs from falling from or in front of the latter", and its middle bar is bent into a hook "by which the fender may be conveniently handled, and lowered into or removed from engagement". "From what has been said it will be seen that the andiron can be readily and easily transported from place to place by simply grasping the arched connecting bar".

In a fire pit, weigh out two equal loads of firewood and two equal bundles of kindling. Lay one fire flat on the ground and the other on an andiron (or two bricks) that holds the logs about 8 cm up. Light both at once with gloves on and a bucket of water or sand beside you. Time each from the match to the logs burning on their own, and until only embers are left. Weigh the unburnt wood left over when both are out and cold. Compare the raised and the flat fire.

**John Richard Grogan** of Quitman, Wood County, Texas, filed US 525,204 on 27 March 1894; it is dated 28 August 1894. His claims cover the pair of dogs joined by an arched bar and the removable fender, not andirons as such, which are far older. **Honest limits.** The draw estimate treats the fire as a steady hot column and every gap as open; embers, ash and the logs themselves block much of it. The air per kilogram is approximate and the other numbers are examples. Your timings and the weight left over are the measurement.