Free standing fireplace hearth

A fireplace hearth including a roof disposed over a fire area, said roof comprising:

• an upper roof panel;
• a heat shield under said roof panel;
• said heat shield defining an air flow space between said roof panel and said heat shield;
• elongated openings defined by adjacent edges of said roof panel and said heat shield for ingress of ambient air;
• a vent disposed in said roof panel;
• and
• the space between said heat shield and said roof panel being unobstructed, such that air freely flows from said elongated edges to said vent without obstruction in said flow, and wherein said roof panel has a plurality of corners and said heat shield is connected to said roof panel only at said corners.

A free-standing fireplace hearth for burning a fuel to provide ambiance fire, the system comprising:

• a base having a drawer slidably mounted therein for movement between open and closed configurations;
• a spring biased latch to releasably secure the drawer in the closed configuration;
• a tray moveably mounted in the drawer and adapted to receive therein the fuel, the tray being mounted for movement between a lowered and a raised position;
• tray lifting means operatively coupled between said tray and said drawer for lifting said tray with respect to said drawer when said drawer is moved toward a closed position;
• a stop mounted on the base relative to the drawer and the tray so that as the drawer approaches the closed configuration the tray abuts against the stop and continued movement of the drawer toward the closed configuration elevates the tray relative to the drawer into the raised position and sealing contact with a flue;
• a pair of spaced damper shutters mounted for movement between a closed snuffing configuration and a fully open configuration in said flue, each of the damper shutters being coupled via a linkage to a rotational control knob such that rotation of the control knob in a first direction pivots the damper shutters toward the closed snuffing configuration in the flue to extinguish the burning fuel and rotation of the control knob in a second direction pivots the damper shutters toward the fully open configuration to allow increasing amounts of vaporized fuel to rise in said flue for burning;
• a plurality of posts extending upwardly from the base;
• a cover supported by the posts;
• a heat shield mounted interiorly of the cover to deflect hot air generated by the burning fuel from impinging upon the cover and maintain the cover at a lower temperature than the heat shield during fuel burning, at least a portion of the heat shield being spaced from the cover to permit an insulation layer of air between the heat shield and the cover;
• and
• a plurality of baffles in the heat shield to direct the hot air from the heat shield and cooler air into the insulation layer of air between the cover and the heat shield.

A fireplace hearth comprising:

• a laterally movable fuel tray defining a volatile fuel chamber,
• a constricting throat in said fuel tray above said chamber;
• a snuffer;
• said tray being operably oriented beneath said snuffer;
• a wedge-shaped diverter in an upper portion of said snuffer and defining two openings;
• an adjustable damper movable toward and away from each said opening to adjust the size of said openings in a plurality of flame burning positions and to close off each respective opening;
• a log set disposed above said snuffer, said log set having a plurality of flame passages therethrough for receiving flame from openings in said snuffer and for receiving air from outside said snuffer,
• said air mixing with and lifting said flame through said log set.