Abstract: A fireplace-mountable sonic generator produces random noise pulses of varying amplitude imitative of the crackling of a fire, and is particularly suited to emplacement within fireplaces which simulate a log fire by passing burning illuminating gas over a refractory imitation log. The sounds are produced by a reed repeatedly flexed away from a striker plate and then released to impact against that plate, producing a characteristic crackling sound. A series of such deflections and releases at apparently random times is provided by a motor-driven rotating drum having series of surface-mounted, radially-extending irregularly spaced projections. The end of the reed is disposed to be engaged by the drum projections as they move past. Variations in sound intensity from one sound burst to the next may be achieved by varying the lengths of the projections, or by varying their overlap distance as measured from the center of the reed.

Abstract: The invention is a gas-fired burner for a fireplace, including an upper burner comprised of an upper tubular gas pipe and a lower burner comprised of a lower tubular gas pipe. The upper and lower tubular gas pipes meet at a junction, where gas to the lower tubular gas pipe is fed through the upper tubular gas pipe. Each of the tubular gas pipes has downwardly-facing, in-line orifices along their lengths. The improvement comprises a metallic strip having a width approximately equal to the inner diameter of the lower tubular gas pipe. This metallic strip is secured at its lateral ends to the interior of the lower pipe, and extends from a point adjacent the junction to a point beyond approximately the first twenty-five to thirty-three percent (25-33%) of the in-line orifices in the lower tubular gas pipe.