Abstract:
An improved firering comprising an endless wall firering to encircle the perimeter of a fire area with a firering shield enveloping the firering, with the shield being attached to the firering in spaced apart, heat shielding relationship.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates to firering shields of universal adaptability, suitable for providing firering shields on new and existing firerings. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Outdoor cooking has enjoyed great popularity for many years. County, state and national park services often provide outdoor cooking grills and firerings for use by those participating in recreation in the parks. Such grills and firerings are a tremendous convenience to the recreation enthusiasts, and also a considerable convenience and safety measure to the park administrators in that they assure that fires, and the accompanying mess, are confined to certain areas. 
     Firerings, and firerings with cantilevered adjustable grills, are known. See, for example, my earlier commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 4,403,596, and commonly assigned design U.S. Pat. No. 276,302. Basically, such units feature a cooking grate with some sort of level of adjustment range above the ground or fire level, attached to the firering itself. The firering encircles or envelops the area in which the campfire or cooking fire is contained. Oftentimes such firerings are filled, for example, to about 10 inches above ground level with coarse granular fill material to provide an elevated fire building surface. Drain holes and draft holes are commonly built in and around the perimeter of the firering. 
     It often happens that in use such firerings are effective, but that the ring itself, after constant exposure to fire and the high temperatures caused by the fire, will itself become quite hot. Thus, a hot firering if touched, for example, by a child, could cause a burn. 
     It is, therefore, desirable to have firerings which have a heat shield that prevents such burn risk. In this way, one can achieve the advantages of a firering without also the normal attendant risk of burn that may be caused by inadvertent touching. 
     This invention has as its primary objective providing a firering with a heat shield which minimizes burn risk. 
     A further object of the present invention is to provide a firering which has universal adaptability such that it can be attached to firerings of original manufacture or installed as an accessory on existing park firerings. 
     A still further objective of the invention is to provide a universal bracket adaptable for attaching heat shields to firerings of a variety of manufacturers. 
     A yet further objective of the present invention is to provide a firering and a bracketing system of a universal nature for the widest possible usage with firerings from a variety of manufacturing sources. 
     Another objective of the present invention is to provide a universal firering bracket of single-piece design which can effectively be stamped from metal sheeting, one stroke which blanks the part, and one stroke which forms the bending of the part. 
     The method and means of accomplishing each of the above objectives, as well as others, will become apparent from the detailed description of the invention which follows hereinafter. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates to an improved firering having an endless wall firering to encircle the perimeter of a fire area in association with a firering shield enveloping the firering, with the shield being attached to the firering in spaced apart, heat shielding relationship. The heat shield is attached by a universal bracket of single-piece construction which can be stamped with one manufacturing stroke and then bent in another manufacturing stroke to form the universal bracket. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIGS.  1 ( a ) and  1 ( b ) are perspective views of a preferred firering with an associated grill and heat shield using the universal brackets. 
     FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the preferred firering. 
     FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the preferred universal bracket. 
     FIG. 4 shows an exploded perspective view of the preferred firering and the details of how the preferred bracket can effectively be used to mount the firering and the heat shield in spaced apart, heat shielding effective relationship. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     A firering, referred to generally at  10 , is comprised of an endless metal wall  12  which encircles a fire area  14 . Usually fire area  14  is filled above the ground level with coarse granular fill material (not depicted) to provide an elevated fire-building surface. As depicted in FIG. 1, endless firewall  12  is circular in nature with a rear or back flat panel area  16 . Extending upwardly from flat panel area  16  in spaced apart relationship are grate posts or supports  18  and  20 . Mounted in adjustable cantilevered fashion (FIG. 1 a ) on the grate posts or supports  18  and  20  is grate  22 . Grate  22  on FIG. 1 a  will provide for complete adjustability with regard to its elevation relationship with fire area  14  by simply moving it up or down grate supports or posts  18  and  20 . For FIG. 1 a , it will be held in position by its own weight in a cantilevered jamming or binding relationship between the eyelets  24  and  26  on grate posts  18  and  20 . For FIG. 1 b , the slots in supports  18  and  20  hold the grate and provide four-level adjustment. Numerals  24 ( a ) and  24 ( b ) of FIG.  1 ( b ) reference the bent support arms. 
     The top surface of endless wall  12  terminates in a flange  28 . In a surrounding and concentric spaced apart perimeter relationship with respect to endless wall  12  of the firering is heat shield  30 . Heat shield  30  is mounted in such spaced apart relationship to endless wall  12  by use of spaced apart universal brackets  32 . A plurality of brackets  32  are used. For example, FIG. 2 shows a heat shield  30  which contemplates three spaced apart brackets  32 . As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, heat shield  30  terminates at its upper edge in a top perimeter in an inwardly projecting flange  28 . 
     Bracket  32  is comprised of a strap portion  36 , a top inwardly projecting tab  38 , a bottom rearwardly projecting tab  40 , and a pair of spaced apart, inwardly projecting spacing walls  42  and  44 . Strap  36  has a central aperture  46  threaded to hold a fastening bolt. 
     As best illustrated in FIG. 1, when brackets  32  are placed in position with tab  38  grasping flange  28  and tab  40  supporting the bottom edge of heat shield  30 , a bolt is threaded through apertures  47  of the firering heat shield, through a hole  46  in strap  36  to securely engage the heat shield, holding the heat shield and aligned hole of the firering (not depicted) against wall  12 . 
     As can be readily seen, bracket  36  can be universally mounted to any firering by simply drilling side holes in the firering to align with the heat shield holes to accommodate the brackets  32 . Brackets  32  themselves can be stamped from a single metal sheet and bent with a single die stroke, as is apparent to a toll and die maker. 
     It therefore can be seen that the invention accomplishes at least all of its stated objectives. In particular, the bracket  32  and its opposing spaced apart sidewalls  42  and  44  hold the heat shield in spaced apart relationship from the endless wall firering  10 . The spacing between firering  10  and the heat shield  30  acts as a further insulating area, and as a result, touching the heat shield will not cause the severe risk to burn that could potentially happen with touching the firering  10 . It therefore can be seen that the invention accomplishes all of its stated objectives.