Is Fireplace Crane a modern term for the swing-out metal arms that hang over a fireplace for cooking? e.g. like in dutch ovens or pots/cauldrons that hang over a fire.It sounds like a more modern term and I need to know if there is an older term. Thanks.
I can't think of older terms at the moment, but definitely 'fireplace crane' sounds modern, and possibly American, to me. In Britain I have never heard the term, not in any historical or modern setting. My idea of a crane is a big item at a dockside or on a big building site. A domestic hearth or kitchen is too nice a place to have a 'crane'!
Apparently that IS what they were called. Who knew? I would have guessed something a little more poetic like Dragon's Tail because it's long and straight, swings on a pivot and frequently has notches along to top for latching the bails of cooking pots and the like. Crane sounds so... so... ordinary.
