US198872A - Improvement in portable burial-vaults - Google Patents

Description

J OHITTOOK Porta ble Burial Vault. N0. 19s,s72.l

Patented Jan. 1, 1878.

WITNESSES ATTORNEY.

N, PEI'ERS, PHUYOMTHOGRAPHER. WASH UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES GHITTOGK, OF ST. JOSEPH, MISSOURI.

IMPROVEMENT N PORTABLE BURlAL-VAULTS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 198,S72,'dated January 1, 1878; application filed February 10, 1877.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES CHiTTooK, of St. Joseph, in the county of Buchanan and State of Missouri, have invented a new and valuable Improvement in Portable Burial- Vaults; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the construction and operation of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making a. part of this specification, and to the letters and figures of reference marked thereon.

Figure l of the drawings is a representation of a plan view of the body part of the vault. Fig. 2 is a view of the under side of the lid or cover, and Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section of the body with the lid applied.

My invention is in the nature of an improvement in so-called portable tombs or vaults, also applicable as coffins, which are made of plastic material molded or cast to shape adapted to be hermetically sealed and capable of resisting the decaying effects of moisture.

Before my invention, herein described, tombs or coffins of this description have been made of cement molded into shape, the lid being provided with a groove or flange to fit over the edges of or into a groove, respectively, in the body, and the two united permanently in an air-tight manner by cement and bolts, or by cement simply.

I have found that the best and most permanent joint between the lid and body of such vaults, tombs, or coffins, is formed by grooving the lid, and perforating said lid vertically, having the holes lead into said groove, and

forming a flange on the upper edge of the body of less width than the groove, sothat when the lid is placed upon the body of the tomb, vault, or coffin, and cement in a plastic state poured into the holes, the said cement will fill up the space in the groove between its sides and the flange, andwill also fill up the holes, whereby, when the cement hardens,

In carrying out my invention I cast or mold the body A and lid B of the tomb, vault, or

coffin in single pieces of plastic material.

ings, 0, into this groove are made in the lid.

An opening,c, is also made in the lid, so that the air may be exhausted from the coffin or vault in sealing it hermetically. A plate of glass may be inserted in an opening in the lid, so as to permit inspection of the contents of the coffin or vault.

In one end of the bodyA I raise a partition, which forms a chamber,.O, adapted to receive records, coins, &c., as mementoes or means of future identification, a provision whose utility I neednot further amplify.

The lid is sealed by placing it upon the body, so that its groove shall fit over the flange of the body, when plastic cement is poured in the holes 0, and fills the space .00 and the holes, and when hardened the said cement in the holes serves the purpose of bolts in securing the lid.

The cement used in sealing the lid and body is preferably of the same kind as that used in making the two, so as to have a homogeneous article.

Tombs, vaults, or coffins of this character are without seams, can be made air-tight, and are impermeable.

What I claim is--' A coffin, vault, or tomb, made of plastic material, the lid andbody being united by a tongue-andgroove joint cemented together and re-enforced by said cement extending into and hardening in holes leading into the groove, substantially as described.

In testimony that I claim the above I have hereunto subscribed my name in the presence of two witnesses.

' 7 JAMES OHITTOCK.

Witnesses:

VINTON PIKE, ROBERT W. MUssER.

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