US370331A

US370331A - Coffin-fastening device

Info

Publication number: US370331A
Authority: US
Publication date: 1887-09-20
Anticipated expiration: 1904-09-20

Description

(No Model.) v 2 Sheets-Sheet 1, W. HAMILTON.

GOFFIN FASTENING DEVIGB.

I Patented Se'pt. 20,1887.

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' ATENT WILLIAM HAMILTON, OF ALLEGHENY, PENNSYLVANIA.

COFFIN-FASTENING DEVICE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 370,331, dated September 20, 1887.

Application filed January 10, 1587. Serial No. 223,915. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM HAMILTON, of the city of Allegheny, in the county of Alleghenyand StateofPennsylvania,haveinvented a new and useful Improvement in Coffin-Fastening Devices; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

The main object of my invention is to provide improved means for attaching the lids of caskets to the tops in such a way that the fastening devices may be used as a hinge, and

that the lid may be raised thereon' from either side. It often happens in the management of funerals in small houses that caskets with hinged lids are inconvenient, because of the interference of the lid, when raised, with the furniture of the room, it being customary to have the foot of the casket directed toward the door. I obviate this difficulty by constructing caskets with hinged lids which may be open from either side.

It also has for its object to provide a simple and easily-operated lock for the coffin-lid.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is avertical longitudinal section through the lid and side of the casket, showing my improvement. Fig. 2 is a vertical cross-section on the lineg/y of Fig. 1, showing the lid, when raised, in dotted lines. Fig. 3 is a vertical cross-section ,on the line z z of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a. vertical section on the line x x of Fig. 2, showing the lid raised. Fig. 5, Sheet 2, is avertical cross-section showing my improved fastening device applied to both sides of the casket, the sections being similar to the sections shown in Fig. 2.

Like symbols of reference indicate like parts in each figure.

In the drawings, 2 indicates the casket, and 3 is the lid or top. The upper edges of both sides of the casket are provided with my improved hinge and lock device, and as they are substantially the same in construction I shall first describe a single side, and shall then indicate the relation of the devices on both sides to each other. The upper edge of the casket is provided with a longitudinal groove, 4, in

` which groove lie the lock-rods 5 and 6. The

tric 7, which is mounted in a suitable lock- Case, 8, and is provided with an arbor or spindle, 9, projecting to the outside of the casket.

At the end of the spindle 9 is a suitable key or handle, 10, by which the eccentric may be turned. This key is either permanently fastened to the arbor or it may be removable, if desired. The adjustment of the rods 5 and 6 to the opposite arms of the eccentric 7, as shown in the drawings, is such that turning the spindle 9 in one direction shall cause the motion of the rods in a right line toward each other, and that turning the spindle in the other direction shall cause an opposite divergence ofthe rods. The rods are provided with springs 11, which encircle them and bear upon the lock-case 8, and upon pins or projections 12 on the rods, so that the springs shall exert an outward force upon the rods.

13 are sockets or holes which are made in the edge of the casket at the extremities of the rods 5 and 6. These sockets are preferably guarded and strengthened by keepers 14, which are suitably fitted on the upper edge of the casket. is that shown in the drawings. Each-consists of a iiat bolting-plate, which is screwed to the caskets edge, and has on its under side a tubular casing, a, which projects downward into the socket 13. In the side of the-casing a, next to the end of its proper rod, 5 or 6, is a small hole, into which the rod is adapted to enter. When the spindle 9 is turned to retract the rods 5 and 6, they are drawn out of the holes in the casing a; but when the spindle is released the springs l1 project the rods through the holes into the bores of the sockets.

On the under side of the casket-lid, near its outer edge, are small plates 15, corresponding in number and location with the sockets on the coffin. Each of these plates 15 is hinged to a bolting-plate, 16, the latter being bolted to the lid. On the outer side of each plate 15 is a vertically-projecting boss or knob, 17, which, when the plate 15 is folded back upon its bolting-plate 16, projects vertically downward from the lid, as shown in Fig. 2, and when the y plate 15 is turned on its hinges at right angles The preferable form of the keepers IOO with `16 the boss 17 is in substantially the same plane with the lid, Fig. 4. The boss 17 is provided with a hole, b, which extends into or man. For example, the parts may be transthrough it, and the several bosses are adapted posed, the parts of the fastening device,which to t into the sockets 13 of the keepers 14 in 1 I have shown on the coffin, being put on the the edge of the casket, so that the holes b shall register with the holes in the sides of the casing c of the corresponding sockets. (See Fig. 4.) As before stated, both sides of the coffin are similarly provided with the devices which I have described. Both parts of the lid are also provided with the

parts

15, 16, and 1.7. Suppose, now, that the lid is placed iiat upon the top of the casket, and that the plates 15 are in contact with the bolting-plates 16, and the bosses 17 are fitted into the sock ets 13, and that the rods 5 and 6 on both sides of the casket are projected by their springs through the sides of the sockets into the holes bin the bosses 17, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The lid will then be locked securely on both sides, and cannot be removed until the rods are Withdrawn from the sockets and bosses.

If, now, it is desired to open the` lid, the operation is'as follows: The spindle 9'on one side of the casket is turned so as to retract its rods 5 and 6 from the sockets 13 and from the bosses 17. This releases one side of the lid, which can then be raised, because the bosses 17 on the other side of the casket, fitting into the sockets, hold the plates 15, and enable the lid to be raised on the axes of the hinges 4which connect the plates 15 with the bolting-plates 16. It is obvious, therefore, that the'lid can be raised from either side, thc parts on one side, when connected,acting as a hinge on which the casket-lid can vbe turned, and when both sides are fastened, as when first described, the lid is rmly held in its'place on the top ofthe casket. Vhen the parts on both sides of the casket are disconnected, the lid may be removed altogether. This feature of my invention is one of great convenience to the undertaker.

Another mode of applying my improvement is to arrange one side of the lid and casket with the hinge-lock, as shown in Fig. 1, and applying to the other side any suitable fastening device or lock. Then the lid can always be raised on its hinge in one direction, and may be removed altogether by detaching the hinge by operation of the spindle 9 and cam 7, as already described.

I do not desire to limit myself to the exact form of the devices which I show and describe, since they may be altered by the skilled worklid, and the parts on the lid put on the coffin; but

1. The combination of the lid, the casket, and a hinge consisting of two leaves permanently hinged together, one of said leaves being fixed to the lid, and a movable bolt or lock which engages the other leaf, whereby the latter leaf is detachably secured to the casket, substantially as and for the purposes described.

2. The combination of the lid 3, the plate 15, hinged to the lid and having a projecting stud or boss, the casket 2, having a socket adapted to receive said boss, and a movable bolt or lock-rod arranged to engage the boss in the socket, substantially as and for the purposes described.

3. The combination of the lid 3,\the plate 15, hinged to the lid and having a projecting stud or boss, the casket 2, having a socket adapted to receive said boss, a movable bolt or lock-rod arranged to engage the boss in the socket, and an eccentric for retracting said bolt or lock-rod, substantially as and for the purposes described. e

4. The combination of the lid 3, the plate 15, hinged thereto and having a projecting stud or boss, the casket 2, having a socket provided with a hollow casing, a, adapted to receive said boss, said casing having a lateral hole, and a movable bolt or lock-rod arranged to enter the socket through the hole in the casing and to engage the boss therein, substantially as and for the purposes described.v

5. The combination of the lid 3, having plates 15 hinged to both sides thereof, and hav- WILLIAM HAMILTON. Witnesses:

W. B. CORWIN, T HoMAs WL BAKEWELL.

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