Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 439 



dishes, turned upside down, instead of these double 

 covers ; which dishes may also be used for serving up 

 the victuals after it is cooked. By this contrivance an 

 article necessary in housekeeping will be made to serve 

 two purposes ; and, besides this advantage, as a deep 

 bowl or platter turned upside down over the shallow 

 boiler will leave a considerable space above the level of 

 the boiler, which, as steam is lighter than air, will always 

 be filled with hot steam when the water in the shallow 

 pan is boiling, notwithstanding that the joinings of this 

 inverted dish with the rim of the pan will not be steam- 

 tight, a piece of meat much larger than could be covered 

 by the water in this shallow pan might be cooked in it, 

 or potatoes or greens, placed above the surface of the 

 water in the pan, might be cooked in steam. 



The following figure, which represents a vertical sec- 

 tion of one of these shallow iron boilers, 14 inches in 

 diameter above, surrounded by a cylindrical hoop of 

 sheet iron for confining the heat, and covered by an 

 inverted earthen dish, will give a clear idea of the 

 proposed arrangement : 



Fig. 77- 



The fire-place represented in this figure is that shown 

 in the preceding figure (Fig. 76), and is constructed of 



