US515994A - Apparatus for the preservation of corpses - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.) 2 Sheets- Sheet 1.

V. E. COHEN.

APPARATUS POR THB PRESERVATION OP GORPSBS.

No. 515,994. Patented Mar. 6, 1894.

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SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 515,994,

dated March 6, 1894.

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To all whom it may concern- Be it known that I, VICTOR E. COHEN, of Philadelphia, in the State of Pennsylvania, have invented a certain new and useful Apparatus for the Preservation of Oorpses During Exposure for Identification, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, wherein- Figure l represents a vertical section through the apparatus, and Fig. 2 a top or plan view thereof.

My invention, in its entirety, is intended for use in morgues or deadhouses, where corpses are intended to be exposed to the public, and its purpose is to obviate any of the drawbacks or disagreeable features which are found in such devices at present employed for that purpose.

Referring to the drawings, A represents the floor of a room, usually the basement of a building, one wall thereof being indicated at B. A raised gallery, C, (whichy may be the floor of the next story of the building) is supported upon pillars, D, or in any other convenient manner, at a height of say six to eight feet above the floor, A. A closed chamber, E, whose walls, E', E2, E3, are double and packed with non-cond uctin g material, exten ds from the door,A, to thebottom of the gallery, C, the length of said chamber being in accordance with the number of corpses which it is intended to contain side by side, and the width thereof being such as to receive the truck, I, on which the corpse, J, rests. The upper portion of the chamber, E, is occupied, preferably throughout its whole length, by a closed tank, F, adapted to contain a non-congealabl'e refrigerating liquid, which may be maintained in circulation therein or supplied thereto, at intervals, from any convenient refrigerating apparatus. Said apparatus, however, is not shown in the drawings, as it forms no part of my invention. The bottom of the tank is preferably corrugated, as indicated at larger refrigerant surface, and rests upon transverse beams, supported at one end in the front wall, E', of the chamber, and at the other upon the upright posts, F2. The width of the tank, F, is less than the chamber, E, and the inner wall of said tank, f', preferably inclined, as shown in Fig. l, is arranged atsoine distance from the inner wall, E2, of the chamber. Thus an open space is left extending from the bottom of the chamber to the door, C, all along the inner wall. Y

At intervals corresponding with the width of the trucks, I, apertures, H, H', H2, H3, are formed in the floor, C, the number of said apertures being determined by the probable requirements of the particular establishment,

covering of glass, indicated at h, h', an air space being left between the two glasses to prevent condensation of moisture and consequent dimness of the glass.

In the front wall of the chamber, E, at intervals corresponding with the positions of the apertures, Il, Il', die., are closely fitting doors, e, of sufficient size to permit the introduction or removal of'the trucks, I, which contain the corpses. Beneath the tank, A, and at intervals correspondingwith the position of the trucks, are placed incandescent electric lamps, L, so situated as to be screened from view through the apertures,H, by reason of the intervening wall of the tank, but arranged to throw the light downward upon the face of the corpse immediately adjacent.

A railing, K, or other barrier, may be conveniently placed upon the floor, C, so as to prevent observers from stepping on the glazed apertures while permitting them to look therethrough.

Among the advantages of the apparatus are the following: The corpses are exposed for purposes of identication, in a highly decorous manner, while every needed facility for examination is afforded. The individual corpse can bewithdrawn when necessary without disturbance of the others, and without the disagreeable concomitance of the act of removal where, as is usually the case, the corpses are exposed in the room to which spectators are admitted. By the use of a refrigerating apparatus arranged in a chamber separated from the public room, the preservation of the corpses is facilitated and the use of water currents, heretofore deemed necessary, is dispensed with.

and said apertures are protected by a double' IDO Having thus described my invention, I along the inner Wall of the chamber in which claim the facial portion of the bodies can be placed, The combination of a raised oor, an indeand glazed apertures in said raised door openpendent isolated chamber beneath the same, ing into the Vertical space of the chamber, 5 said chamber having non-conducting Walls, and an illuminating apparatus beneath the I5 openings on one side of said chamber for the tank; substantially as described.

insertion of the corpses, a refrigerant tank VICTOR E. COHEN. arranged in the upperportion of the chamber Witnesses: but of less Width than the chamber whereby RANDOLPH SAILER,

1o is formed an unobstructed Vertical space H. MASON CLAPP.

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