US1516551A - Means for interment - Google Patents

Description

2 Shoots-Sheet 1 J. H. STEVENSON MEANS FOR INTERMENT Filed Sent. 19. 1923 Patented Nov. 25, 1924.

JOSEPH HOWARD STEVENSON, Ol BLOOMINGTON, ILLINOIS.

MEANS FOR INTERMENT.

Application filed September 19, 1923.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, J OSEPH HOWARD STEVENSON, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Bloomington, in the connty of McLean and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Means for Interment, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to means for interment, and it consists in the combinations,

constructions, and arrangements herein described and claimed.

An object of my invention is to provide a means for interment by the use of which the body may be transported to the various places necessary for the burial ceremony in a selected casket constructed for its ornamental configuration, and from which the body is subsequently transferred to an imperishable ceramic casket.

A further object of my invention is to provide a means for interment by the use of which the transfer of the body from the ornamental or service casket to the imperishable casket may be done without violating any of the prejudices of the social or religious forms, or without the family becoming aware of the fact that the transfer of the body is actually taking place.

A further object of my invention is to provide a service casket having trap doors in the bottom thereof by means of which the inner sealer containing the body may be lowered from the service casket unobserved.

A further object of my invention is to provide an imperishable ceramic casket for permanently enclosing the inner sealer containing the body of particularly novel structure by means of which the complementary parts of the imperishable casket are sealed upon the lowering of one part upon the other.

Other objects and advantages will appear in the following specification, and the novel features of the invention will be particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, forming part of this application, in which- Figure 1 is a, sectional view of an embodiment of my invention illustrating the procbottom wall of the inner sealer 1.

Serial No. 663,653.

ess for lowering the inner sealer from the service casket.

Figure 2 is a sectional View along the line 22 of Figure 1, and

Figure 3 is a sectional view of an embodiment of my invention.

In carrying out my invention, I make use of an inner sealer 1 constructed of an imperishable material and intended to contain the body of the deceased. This inner sealer 1 is somewhat smaller than the ordinary type of inner sealer so that it may be readily received within a service casket 2. The inner sealer 1 is provided with a pair of depending strips 3 arranged in parallel relation with one another and transversely to the longitudinal dimensions of the sealer. These strips 3 are substantially the same thickness as the bottom wall of the service casket.

The bottom wall of the service casket comprises three doors 4, 5, and 6, each hingedly mounted by means of hinges 7 to the side wall of the service casket 2. Spaces 8 between the adjacent edges of the trap doors 4, 5, and 6 permit the introduction of the depending strips/0r cleats 3 secured to the It will be noted at this time that the strips 3 serve to prevent unintentional longitudinal movement of the inner sealer in the casket 2 and therefore establish a permanent placement of the inner sealer within the casket 2.

Locking members 9 are provided on the doors 4, 5, and 6 and arranged to cooperate with complementary locking members on the side walls of the casket 2 so that the doors 4, 5, and 6 may be locked in the position shown in full lines in Figurel. When the doors are in this position, the service casket may be readily carried from place to place in the hearse or by means of pallbearers precisely in the same manner as the ordinary type of burial casket.

When the locks 9 are released, the doors 4, 5, and 6 may drop to the positionvshown in dotted lines in Figure 1, thus permitting the inner sealer 1 to be lowered from within the casket in a manner hereinafter described.

In further carrying out my means for interment, I provide a vault of ceramic material, preferably of concrete 10 which is constructed in substantially the same 1nan ner as the ordinary type of ceramic vault with but one exception. This exception is the provision of a raised platform or bossed portion 11 on the inner side of the bottom wall thereof. This raised portion 11 is so disposed that an angular space is provided between its edges and the adjacent side walls of the vault 10.

The raised portion 11 of the vault 10 is arranged to cooperate with a cover member 12 to form a permanent imperishable casket which is to take the place of the service casket in the manner hereinafter described. This cover portion 12 is open at the bottom thereoffand is arranged so that its lower peripheral edges encompass the edges of the raised portion 11 in a manner to permit a .sealing compound 13, such as cement, to be introduced and function as a seal for the casket so formed. The cover portion 12 is reenforced by the use of wire mesh or the like and is provided with suitable means for engaging with straps so that the cover may be lowered at the proper time into the grave or crypt in which the vault 10 is placed.

The vault 10 is provided with the usual type of cover 14 which is sealed to the vault in any suitable manner, such as by the use of cement.

In further carrying out my means for interment, it is necessary that lowering straps 15 be provided which may be placed about the service casket 2 so that they will engage with the exposed outer walls of the strips 3 of the inner sealer and virtually support the inner sealer. It is obvious therefore that. when the doors 4:, 5, and 6 are permitted to drop into the position shown in Figure 1 that only the straps 15 remain to support the inner sealer 1. Ordinarilv a lowerin frame 16 is em lo ed which is placed at the top of the grave 17 and supported thereupon by means of supporting members 18. These supports 18 further function to supoprt the service casket 2.

From the foregoing description of the various parts of my invention,the operation thereof may be readily understood, Let

us assume that the family of-the deceased wishes the funeral ceremony at the home, followed by a short ceremony at the grave before the final lowering of the casket is brought about. To this end the body is placed within the inner sealer 1 by the undertaker and the inner sealer 1 is placed within the service casket 2. The service casket is then mounted upon the necessary stand in the home. When the ceremony at the home has been completed, the pallbearers may convey the service casket, which is not a heavy casket, toth'e hearse and subsequently to the grave. Tlie service casket 2 is then moved straps 1.5 to a position below the top of the grave. At this time the participants in the ceremony depart and the ceremonies are considered at a close. i

The next operation is that of raising the service casket to its original position on the supporting members 18, whereupon the doors 1, 5, and 6 are released by means of 3 the locking members 9, and the inner sealer 1 is permitted to pass to the position shown in dotted lines in Figure 1 by means of the lowering device and the straps 15 through the bottom of the service casket and upon 1 the raised portion 11 of the vault 10...

The lowering straps 15 are then secured to the cover portion 12 of the permanent casket and that portion is lowered over the inner sealer 1 into the cement 13 which is" disposed about the raised portion 11, thus sealing the inner sealer in an imperishable ceramic casket. The next step in the process is that of lowering the cover 16 of the vault to its final position in the vault 10, where-' 1 upon the doors 4, 5, and 6' of the service casket may be closed and the service casket removed.

I claim:

1. In a means for interment, a service-- casket having a plurality of spaced apart trap doors in the bottom wall thereof, an inner sealer for containing the body of the deceased arranged for disposition in said service casket, said sealer having a pair of parallel depending strip portions on the lower wall thereof arranged to lie between the adjacent'edges of the spaced apart trap doors in said service casket, and to bear upon the lowering straps of the casket-lowering device when said straps are placed beneath said service casket.

2. A means for interment of the dead comprising an ornamental service casket,

a plurality of spaced apart trap doors form ing the bottom wall of said service casket, and an inner sealer for receiving the body of the deceased, said inner sealer being arranged for disposition within said service casket and being provided with depending portions on the bottom Wall thereof arranged to lie in the spaces between said spaced apart trap doors whereby said'jinner sealer is held against longitudinal movement within said service casket, and where by said depending portion of said'inner sealer is contiguous with the bottom. wall of said service casket.

3. A means for interment of the dead comprising a service casket having a plurality of spaced apart trap doors forming the bottom Wall thereof, an inner sealer for containing the body of the deceased provided with depending portions arranged to be received in the speces between said spaced apart doors when said inner sealer is disposed Within said service casket, and an imperishable vault for receiving said inner 1O sealer from said service casket when said trap doors are opened to permit the lowering of said inner sealer.

JOSEPH HOWARD STEVENSON.

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