US121943A - Improvement in coffins - Google Patents

Description

Improvement in Coffins.

NG. 2,QL.3 Pa-ented Dec.19,187.

UNITED STATES MICHAEL M. HERSMAN, OF DELAVAN, ILLDIOIS.

IMPROVEMENT IN COFFINS.

Specication forming part of Letters Patent No. 121,943, dated December 19, 1871. v

To all lwhom it may concern:

Be it known that LMICHAEL M. HERsMAN, of the town of Delavan, in the county of Tazewell and in the State of Illinois, have invented an Improved Burial-Gase and Casket 5 and do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof', reference being had to the annexed drawing making a part of this specification, in which like letters of reference refer to like parts, and in which- Figure 1 represents a longitudinal vertical section through the center 5 Fig. 2, side elevation;

- Fig. 3, perspective view of burial-case and inclosing wooden casket; Fig. 4, a vertical cross-section of the metallic case before sealed; Fig. 5, vertical cross-section of case and casket, with the edge c c hammered or f'used down or sealed.

The nature of my invention consists in constructing soft-metal coffms with a recess into which the edge of the cover fits, and having a raised rim or wall running around the exterior of said recess, which may be hammered down or fused over the line of union of the two parts.

A represents the lower case, composed of one piece of metal having a continuous recess, a., around the inner edge of the sides or edge c of the case to receive the iiange or edge b of the cover B. The edge c is a thin'vertical wall or rim, which runs entirely around the edge of the recess a, and projects one-fourth of an inch above the edge of the cover when the latter is laid into the recess u., but is of no great width, but merely wide enough to furnish metal enough to effect the proper junction of the two parts, as presently described. Type-metal, or a combina tion of tin, lead, bismuth, or antimony, or either of them or similar metals, may compose the case or cover. B, the cover having a glass or transparent window, d, hermetically sealed around its edges. The cover is of the same material as the case A, and has a ange or horizontal rim, b, running round its lower edge, and designed to fit into the recess a of the case A of a less depth than that of the recess e. G D the inclosing wooden casket and cover, designed to be screwed together to retain the ease A B, and to receive the handles and other outer trimmings.

The operation of this invention is as follows: The two parts A B are readily sealed air-tight, when the cover B is laid in the recess ct of the case A by hammering the malleable raised rim c, which encircles the recess a and the iiange b, down onto the latter, (1),) or otherwise, by fusing the rim c down into the joint with a solderingiron, hermetically closing the same and uniting the two parts.

The object of the malleable edge or an easilyfusible edge, c, is twofold: First, to temporarily seal the case and retain the contents intact-z'. e., in case the same may be required to bereopened simply by running a chisel around and under the prostrate edge and re-erecting it so as to liberate the flange b of the cover. Second, to afterward permit a second and final closing and sealing of the case by permanently fusing or melting down the rim c upon the joint and edge of the cover. Plaster of Paris or other cement may be first inserted between the recess a and the flange b. The wooden case C D is finally employed to inclose the case and to receive the handles and other exterior trimmings.

What I claim as my invention is An interior soft-metal coffin, A, with shoulder or recess a for the reception of the lid B, and a soft fusible metal iiange, c, for turning down over said edge.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing burialcase and casket I have hereunto set my hand this 11th day of October, A. D. 1871.

MICHAEL M. HERSMAN.

Witnesses WM. J ACK,

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