Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 291 



construction. The four pieces of wood which consti- 

 tute the frame of the panel (which may be of com- 

 mon deal, and about four inches wide and one inch 

 thick), being fastened with one pin only at each of 

 their joinings at the corners, and these pins being sit- 

 uated- in the centre of those joinings, if upon the frame, 

 in the middle of each of the four pieces which compose 

 it, a square be drawn in such a manner that the corners 

 of this square may coincide with the centres of the four 

 pins which hold the frame together, as neither heat nor 

 dryness makes any considerable alteration in the length 

 of the fibres of wood, it is evident that the shrinking of 

 the four pieces which compose this frame cannot alter 

 the dimensions of this square, or in any way change its 

 position. If, therefore, care be taken in fastening the 

 panel to the iron door to place the riveting-nails in 

 the lines which form the four sides of this square, the 

 shrinking of the wood will occasion no strain on the 

 iron door, nor have any tendency whatever to change 

 its form ; and with regard to the centre piece of the 

 panel, if it be fastened to the iron door by two rivets, 

 situated in the direction of the fibres of the wood, in 

 a line dividing this piece into two equal parts, its 

 shrinking will be attended with no kind of inconven- 

 ience. Care should, however, be taken to make this 

 panel enter so deeply into the grooves in its frame 

 that, when it has shrunk as much as possible, its width 

 shall not be so much reduced as to cause it to come 

 quite out of the grooves. This piece may be made 

 about one third of an inch thick, and the grooves 

 which receive it may be made of the same width, and 

 about three quarters of an inch deep. 



When wooden covers of this kind are made for iron 



