100 liUI.T^ETIN lil, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



fig. 2; Cat. No. 289436, Anton Heitmuller; 4.7 inches (12 cm.) by 8.3 

 inches (21 cm.) by 15.7 inches (40 cm.) long.) Later than the speci- 

 men mentioned came the use of gridirons of bent wire, which were 

 commonly employed after the first cooking stoves were prevalent. 

 The earlier specimens are single and made of stout wire. The later 

 wire gridirons were double. The camp chest of George Washington, 

 a precious relic in the historical collection of the National Museum, 

 contains a simple gridiron of wrought work. It has four legs, eight 

 bars, and the handle slides into the frame to allow the gridiron to 

 fit into the compartment in the green-baize-lined chest studded with 

 brass nails.^** The box placed under the grid in the illustration in 

 Mr. Belote's work cited is an oblong tinder box with candle socket on 

 the lid. (PI. 89, fig. 7; Cat. No. 92621; W. S. Winder collection.) 

 One of the earliest wire gridirons is from Virginia. It is made of a 

 single piece of rod one-fifth inch in diameter, expertly bent, the 

 ends twisted together and forged into a loop. The specimen is over 

 100 years old. (PI. 89, fig. 5; Cat. No. 127282, Lynchburg, Va.; 

 Mrs. Ed. Hunter; 18.5 inches (47 cm.) long.) A gridiron which 

 shows inventive thought is of cast iron with wrought-iron side bars 

 and handle. Each grid is concave and is pierced at the end near 

 the handle, allowing some of the drippings to fall into a pan. This 

 gridiron is thought to date earlier than 1840. (PI. 89, fig. 6; Cat. 

 No. 127283, Lynchburg, Va. ; Mrs. Ed. Hunter; 9.5 inches (24 cm.) 

 by 10.6 inches (27 cm.).) A remarkable specimen of Flemish 

 gridiron of the fifteenth century has an oblong frame of seven bars 

 of heart and spiral design, three feet, and a flat handle of dumb-bell 

 shape. It is a splendid specimen of art ironwork applied to articles 

 of common use. (PI. 89, fig. 1; Cat. No. 205380, Belgium, S. B. 

 Dean; 14.6 inches (37 cm.) wide, 26.4 inches (67 cm.) long.) The 

 revolving gridiron was an improvement in the seventeenth century. 

 It consisted of a circular grid pivoted in the middle of a three-leg 

 spider, from one prong of which extended the handle. This form 

 of gridiron found its way to America and was used here in the 

 colonial period and subsequently. The superior, even artistic iron- 

 work of these gridirons and the honest work of rendering them 

 almost indestructible, have contributed to their preservation. Espe- 

 cially on the handles is the ironworker's skill apparent, as may be 

 seen on the specimen figured. (PI. 89, fig. 4; Cat. No. 168324, Bel- 

 gium, seventeenth century, S. B. Dean; 12.6 inches (32 cm.) diameter, 

 28.3 inches (72 cm.) long.) 



MEAT ROASTKRS AND TOASTEOS 



There are described here trivets on which are mounted forks for 

 holding meat to be roasted, in effect a spit. One of these came 



"T. T. Belote. Descriptive Catalogue of the Washington Relics In the United States 

 National Museum. I'roc. TJ. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 49, 1915, pp. 1-24. 



