An adjustable fireplace screen with rotating panels
A hearth screen about 1 1/4 braccia wide whose thin brass panels swivel to regulate the heat.
The page designs a screen set between the eyes and the fire of a fireplace, drawn both in overhead view and standing upright with an ornamented crest. It is a little over one and a quarter braccia wide and carries six thin panels, best made of thin orichalc (brass), which turn on shafts to let heat through or block it. Its two-braccia height is split so the lower part alone can be opened for warming the legs, and the panels are shaped wider below for the feet and narrower above for the hands.
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Six swivelling panels on shafts
The overhead view shows six thin panels that rotate on shafts, three shown closed and three open, so the flow of heat from the fire can be regulated. Leonardo notes they are better made of thin orichalc.
A screen sized to the hearth
The whole is one and one-quarter braccia wide and its opening two braccia high. The height is divided into two so it can be opened below and not above, if one wishes, for warming the legs.
Panels shaped for feet and hands
Six panels are set below, made wider at the bottom than the top so the feet can be put there to warm, while eight narrower ones are made above so the hands can be placed there.