US3504409A - Reversible blank for a casket wall - Google Patents

Description

April 7, 1970 H. o. KELLER, JR 3,504,409

REVERSIBLE BLANK FOR A CASKET WALL Filed June 4, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 m gw'rox. 1660:: D. Kaugl'e.

A TI'ORNEY April 7, 1970 H. D. KELLER, JR 3,504,409

REVERSIBLE BLANK FOR A CASKET WALL Filed June 4, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet a l/knc: D. Kausgle.

,4 7 TOE/YE Y United States Patent 3,504,409 REVERSIBLE BLANK FOR A CASKET WALL Horace D. Keller, Jr., York, Pa., assignor to York- Hoover Corporation, York, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Filed June 4, 1965, Ser. No. 461,276 Int. Cl. A61g 17/00 US. Cl. 276 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A shaped blank for a casket wall adapted to be connected to other blanks of similar shape to form the sides and ends of a casket body of uniform height and process of forming such body, the upper and lower terminal edges of the wall blanks for said sides and ends being of substantially identical shape and dimensions, and the portions of said wall blanks between said upper and lower terminal edges all having a similar outer contour shaped to provide a different esthetic concept When a casket body formed therefrom is disposed with one edge lowermost than when the body is reversed to dispose the other edge lowermost, whereby the same wall blanks may be used to form two differently appearing casket bodies when bottoms and tops are attached to the selected edges of said casket body.

This invention pertains to a burial casket and a process of forming the same. More particularly, it pertains to a casket of the type formed by blanking and shaping the same from sheet metal, molding the same from synthetic resin, or suitably shaping the same from wood by woodworking machines, details of which are described in greater particular hereinafter.

The present invention is primarily concerned with fabricating a casket shell from the raw material to the completion of the shell, without either exterior finish or interior trim.

One of the principal expenses in producing caskets from stock material, especially in blanking and shaping sheet metal or molding synthetic resin, is the cost of the dies and molds. Accordingly, the greater use to which such dies and molds may be put in forming a range of different contours of casket bodies, the wider the amortization of the cost of the dies and molds and, correspondingly, the cost of producing the caskets becomes lower per unit produced.

For many years, it has been customary for casket manufacturers to provide a rather wide range of styles and shapes. Each new season, manufacturers introduce new styles and shapes into the line, usually retiring some of the older styles and shapes, but, under such circumstances, the industry has long been faced with the problem of maintaining a substantial inventory, thereby necessitating the investing of capital in the same, both as to the goods as well as warehouse and showroom space within which to store the inventory.

A further aspect of the foregoing problems is that different customers desire different styles of caskets, whereby it is not uncommon to maintain a rather substantial inventory of unfinished parts of caskets formed from various types of material for completing the casket shells, the same being fabricated into shells upon the placement of orders, either to satisfy an order or quickly replace a casket taken from finished stock to fill an order.

It is a principal object of the present invention to provide an innovation in the outer contours and shapes of the side and end blanks of the body of a casket formed from sheet metal, wood, or synthetic resins, such shape being non-symmetrical with respect to the upper and lower terminal edges of the body of the casket, whereby, depending upon which edges of the casket blanks are "ice placed uppermost, two decidedly different, esthetically pleasing styles or shapes of completed caskets are made available from a single blank shape after the bottom and top of the casket have been affixed respectively to the selected upper and lower edges of the casket body.

It is another object of the present invention to make the foregoing object possible by providing the upper and lower terminal edges of the casket blank similar in transverse dimension and shape, whereby a selected top and bottom for a casket of predetermined shape and size of body may interchangeably be affixed to either terminal edge of the body and thereby permit reversibility of the body as contemplated by the foregoing object.

As a result of the aforementioned objects, further objects of the invention are to provide maximum saving in die and mold costs through providing a very substantial range of available styles and shapes by the use of a decreased number of dies and minimizing the inventory necessary to be maintained by a casket manufacturer without correspondingly decreasing available body styles, by manufacturing a supply of casket tops and bottoms of similar transverse dimensions and shapes and capable of being fitted selectively against the reversible, opposite upper and lower edges of the casket body, but withholding the completion of the caskets by the affixation of tops and bottoms to the body until the selection of a certain style, shape and material of casket has been made. Then, after such selection has been made by a customer, the completion of the casket shell is made, quickly if necessary, from a wide range of previously fabricated styles of tops, one of which is connected to the selected edge of any selected body shape, regardless of which edge of the selected body style is disposed uppermost to receive a desired casket top, while a conventional casket bottom is affixed to the other edge of the casket body.

Details of the foregoing objects and of the invention, as well as other objects thereof, are set forth in the following specification and illustrated in the accompanying drawings comprising a part thereof.

In the drawings:

FIGS. 1 and 2 respectively are side and end elevations of an exemplary design of casket body in which the upper and lower edges are of the same transverse dimensions and shape, but the intermediate portions of the sides and ends are disposed in a selected position to which an eXemplary top and bottom have been fixed to present one style and shape concept.

FIGS. 3 and 4 respectively are side and end elevations of the same casket body shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, but in which views the body has been reversed with respect to the position of the upper and lower edges thereof, thereby illustrating how a conventional top and bottom of a casket fits such upper and lower edges of the body with equal facility and when the body has been reversed, a substantially different concept of body style and shape is presented.

FIGS. 5 and 6 respectively are fragmentary vertical elevations as seen from one end of an exemplary casket embodying the principles of the present invention and illustrate details of mechanisms by which exemplary casket tops and bottoms are connected to the selected upper and lower edges of a desired style of casket body, FIG. 5 showing the hinge connecting means for the top and FIG. 6 showing exemplary lock or non-locking catch mechanism disposed on the front face of the casket.

FIGS. 7a through 11a respectively illustrate only the outlines of cross-sectional shapes for the sides and ends of a casket body, all embodying the basic principle of the present invention wherein the upper and lower edges of the outlines are in vertical alignment with each other while the intermediate portions are of an irregular nature.

FIGS. 7b through 11b are the same outlines of crosssectional shapes of the sides and ends of a casket body shown respectively in FIGS. 7a through 11a when the upper and lower edges of the outlines have been reversed to provide visual concept of the marked difference in appearance of casket bodies which are obtainable simplv through the reversal in position of the upper and lower edges of a predetermined body shape embodying the principles of the present invention.

'FIGS. 12a and 12b respectively are exemplary vertical sectional views of an exemplary contour of the sides or ends of a casket body formed from wood and respectively showing the sectional body side or end reversed relative to the top and bottom.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, there is illustrated therein a casket body 10 having terminal upper and lower edges 12 and 14 which are of preferably identical transverse dimensions and shapes. The sides 16 and ends 18 of body 10, as represented in FIGS. 1 and 2, are illustrated as being formed by blanking and shaping from sheet material, such as sheet metal, either ferrous or non-ferrous, of suitable gauge and composition, but they also may be formed by molding from appropriate non-metallic material, such as any of a substantial variety of suitable synthetic resins of appropriate thickness and rigidity and including being reinforced with glass fibers. Similarly, the body of the casket may be fabricated from shaped wooden sides and ends suitably connected and of a wide range or shapes in plan view. Such sides and shapes may be formed in various conventional ways such as by being built up from a number of pieces suitably shaped and interfitted, and united by glueing, nailing, screwing and the like.

After a desired shape and contour has been imparted to a selected material by the means described above to produce the exemplary outer contour or shape illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, either through the use of suitable sheet metal working blanking and forming or shaping dies, such as those now employed to form desired shapes in the bodies of metal caskets, or through the employment of appropriate dies or molds capable of molding synthetic resin or plastics materials into the desired configuration or the use of normal woodworking equipment, the material provided with such desired shapes is suitably cut into appropriate lengths respectively to form the sides and ends of the casket body.

Such cut pieces may either be pre-blanked or otherwise shaped at the ends so that the formed members terminate in configurations which are complementary to those of the adjacent abutting member to be connected thereto. The abutting ends of the pieces are permanently connected by presently employed means, depending upon the material being connected.

In addition to the similarly shaped and dimensioned terminal upper and lower edges 12 and 14 of the casket body 10 having vertically disposed exterior portions when formed into a casket body, the same terminate in inwardly extending upper and lower horizontal and parallel surfaces 20 and 22, which, when the casket material is sheet metal as shown in FIGS. and 6, comprise flanges, and preferably are of uniform width. To strengthen said flanges when fabricated from sheet metal, the upper and lower terminal edges thereof preferably are bent toward each other a limited amount, as illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 6, thereby forming a channel configuration in crosssection. The upper surfaces or flanges 20 may support an appropriate sealing gasket 24, if desired, suitably affiXed thereto, which extends around the entire periphery of the casket body on sealer-type caskets. Only metal caskets presently are suitable for applying sealing means thereto.

The front side 16 of the casket is provided with a plurality of latches 26, which may be of a locking or nonlocking type, the same being suitably spaced longitudinally along said front side. Connected to the upper surface or flange 20 which extends along the rear side 16 of the casket body, as shown in FIG. 5, is the lower leaf of each of a plurality of hinges 28 by which a selected casket top 30 readily is pivotally connected to the casket body 10.

It is to be understood that the specific illustration of casket top 30 shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 merely is one of many types which may be connected to the selected upper edge of the selected shape of casket body 10 by hinge means. For example, the top 30 specifically illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 6 is known in the industry as a full couch top. There also is another form of top known as a perfection half-couch, not illustrated in detail, but in which a full couch top is bisected transversely and normally, at least for viewing purposes, only one half of the top is raised. Still another type of well-known casket top is designated in the industry as a standard half-couch, likewise not illustrated in detail, but in which not only is the top bisected transversely, but portions of the top frame molding, adjacent the perimeter of the top, are hingedly connected to the upper edge of the casket body at the head end and one-half of the adjacent front side to provide what is known as a hinged headwing and frontwing. One further well-known type of casket top is known in the industry as a hinged panel, details of which also are not illustrated in the drawings, but which comprises a hinged half or full central panel, connected to the top frame molding surrounding the entire perimeter of the upper end of the casket body 10. The present invention permits the use of any of these and other types of tops.

One conventional type of casket bottom 32 is illustrated in exemplary manner, fragmentarily, in FIGS. 5 and 6, particularly in regard to a metal casket. Such bottom normally is of the same material as the casket body and, when formed from sheet metal, generally is provided with elongated strengthening and positioning indentations 34 adjacent the periphery of the bottom 32. Also, there is provided, on metal bottoms, peripheral edges 36 which extend outwardly from the indentations 34 and are connected to the lower flanges 22 of the casket body 10 by any appropriate means, such as welding, riveting, or the like. If the bottoms are of wood or synthetic resins, however, appropriate attaching means are utilized.

By referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, FIGS, 5 and 6, and FIG. 7a in particular, wherein substantially the same outer contour of the sides and/or ends of a casket body 10 is illustrated, the concept is presented wherein the intermediate portions of the sides and ends slope inwardly toward a relatively massive body bottom, while the upper portion of the casket body appears to be somewhat less massive. Actually, this optical appearance exists notwithstanding the fact that the terminal upper and lower edges 12 and 14 have substantially the same transverse dimensions, both in the side as well as the end view.

Due to the fact that the intermediate portions of the sides and ends of the body 10 between said upper and lower terminal edges are irregular, but highly esthetic, however, it is possible to reverse the body 10 so as to dis pose the upper and lower terminal edges 12 and 14 of FIGS. 1 and 2 so as respectively to comprise the lower and upper edges in the arrangement shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. Such reversal occurs before attaching the top 30 and bottom 32 to the upper and lower horizontal flanges 20 and 22 of the initially upper and lower terminal edges 12 and 14 of the body 10. As a result, by observing FIGS. 3 and 4 in comparison with FIGS. 1 and 2, it will be seen that a totally different concept of casket body is provided, notwithstanding the fact it is the same casket body which is illustrated in both pairs of figures respectively illustrating the sides and ends of the casket and regardless of the material from which the casket shell is formed.

For purposes of illustrating an exemplary application of the present invention to wood, attention is directed to FIGS. 12a and 12b wherein the same top 30, selected from any of the various styles and shapes available, is shown attached respectively in said figures to the opposite edges 20 and 22 of the same body which, in said figures, respectively is shown, in section, in reversed positions. The body 10' actually has the same exterior contour but, as described in the foregoing, simply by reversing the body about its axis, two different visual exterior concepts are afforded.

When forming the sides and ends from wood, certain structural details are employed which are slightly different from those employed in caskets made from sheet metal and plastics. The principal difference is the forming of rabbets on the inner surfaces of the body sides and ends. The lowermost rabbet receives the wooden bottom 40, while the uppermost rabbet is fitted with a filler strip 42, for example, to afford a top edge of normal width. Such strip may be secured appropriately within the uppermost rabbet 42 and the bottom 40 is secured at the edges thereof within the lowermost rabbet 42 by usual means such as glue, screws or nails. The top 30 is hingedly connected to the upper edge 20 or 22', whichever is selected, thereby completing the shell of the casket.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that in order to provide such exemplary pairs of distinctly different shape concepts of casket body, both of which, however, are equally esthetic, it actually is only necessary to maintain one casket body in stock until an order is placed either for the arrangement shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 or the arrangement shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, following which the selected type or style of top 30 requested by the customer may be attached to the horizontal flanges or upper surfaces of the selected upper terminal edge by the necessary hinges or otherwise, prepare such terminal edge to accommodate the desired type of latch or lock means and aflix the same thereto, secure the bottom 32 to the horizontal flanges or bottom surface of the terminal lower edge of the body 10 of the casket by conventional means normally employed, and then apply the normal exterior finish and interior trimming materials and arrangements to complete the formation of the casket.

For purposes of illustrating the versatility of the pres ent invention with respect to a limited number of exemplary vertical exterior contours which, if the casket is of metal, also represent shaped material which form the sides and ends of a casket body, attention is directed to FIGS. 7a, 8a, 9a, 10a, and 11a, wherein it will be seen that depending upon wood or metal being used, the upper terminal surfaces or edges 12a-12e respectively thereon and the lower terminal surfaces or edges 14a14e respectively thereon are in vertical alignment with each other to illustrate that, when casket bodies are formed from such configurations, the upper and lower terminal surfaces or edges have the same transverse dimension.

Simply by reversing, i.e., turning the casket body 180 about its longitudinal axis so as to exchange the upper terminal edge for the lower terminal edge, for example, it will be seen respectively by reference to FIGS. 7b, 8b, 9b, 10b and 11b that a very marked, yet esthetically pleasing different concept of casket body configuration is provided, It is to be understood, of course, that the five different exemplary configurations of exterior shape outlines, regardless of material, respectively shown in the five pairs of figures just referred to are not to be regarded as restrictive since the actual number of such designs is limited only by the imagination of skilled designers in the art.

Whle the general shape of the casket specifically illustrated in the drawings, in plan view, is substantially rectangular, it also is to be understood that not only may the ends of the casket body terminate in square corners, but the same also may terminate in rounded corners, or the ends may be somewhat of a semielliptical shape in plan view between the relatively straight front and rear sides of the casket body. Still further possibilities comprise the formation of the ends of the body so as to provide an overall hexagonal, octagonal, or any other suitable and esthetically pleasing geometrical plan view configuration of casket body and similarly shaped casket top and bottom.

One further advantageous aspect of the present invention resides in the fact that a well equipped casket factory with high capacity production machinery is capable of forming sheets or panels from which the sides and ends of casket bodies may be formed, such sheets or panels being formed from any of the materials referred to above and having various esthetically desirable contours on at least one surface. If the sheets or panels are formed from metal or sheet plastics, and no edge flanges are formed thereon, they maybe stacked into compact piles or bundles readily capable of being shipped to smaller factories or job shops for the completion of the casket bodies. If formed from wood, no edge flange problem is present when stacking and bundling, All of the resulting advantages of the present invention are present in this form of merchandising and final fabrication of caskets which may occur closer to the actual market for said caskets, whereby highly worthwhile savings in shipping costs results from such procedure as compared to shipping completed casket bodies long distances.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that the present invention, through the use of similar terminal upper and lower edges of a casket body, but an irregular intermediate shape of sides and ends of a casket body between said terminal upper and lower edges, two quite different but highly esthetically pleasing shapes and designs of casket body are made possible from a single shape of casket body through the simple expedient of selecting which terminal edge of the body is to be disposed uppermost, for example, for the attachment of a top thereto, while a bottom is attached to the selected lower edge. Such an arrangement provides highly worthwhile reduction in inventory which must be maintained by a casket manufacturer and corresponding savings in die costs likewise are made possible, along with the other attending benefits set forth in detail hereinabove.

While the invention has been described and illustrated in its several preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not to be limited to the precise details herein illustrated and described since the same may be carried out in other ways falling within the scope of the invention as claimed.

I claim:

1. A blank for a casket wall adapted to be connected to other blanks to form a casket body having upper and lower terminal edges of identical shape and size, said blank being vertically non-symmetrical between its opposite edges and having an outer contour shaped to provide a different aesthetic concept when a casket body formed therefrom is disposed with one edge lowermost than when said body is reversed and the other edge is lowermost, whereby said casket wall blanks are adapted to form two different appearing casket bodies when a bottom is fixed to the lower edge of such body when it is disposed in the position selected to form the desired concept of the two possibilities thereof, the upper edge of such casket body when in said selected position being arranged to have a top connected thereto.

2. The blank for a casket wall according to claim 1 in which said outer contour thereof between said terminal edges thereof is shaped so that a casket body when formed from a number of said connected walls is generally tapered inwardly from one edge of said body toward the other edge of said body.

3. The blank for a casket wall according to claim 1 in which said opposite edges of said wall blanks are each provided with similar flanges extending a limited distance perpendicularly from the same surface of said blank to provide surfaces to which a botom and a top for a casket selectively may be attached.

4. The blank for the body of a casket according to claim 3 in which the flanges on the opposite edges of said casket wall blanks when connected to form a casket body are provided with means arranged respectively to accommodate hinge and latch means for connecting and latching a top to said casket body.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 9/1898 Hiser et al. 27-5 XR 1 Donahue 27-5 Hollins 272 Knox 27-6 Strunk 27-6 Slaughter 2717 U.S. Cl. X.R.

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