US1796461A - Burial vault - Google Patents

Description

INVENTOR ZIT/@Mns F JEM/ 9 ATTORNEY i l I l T. F. JETER BURIAL VAULT Filed Jan. 6. 1950 March 17, 1931.

f NN Patented Mar. 17, 1931 ATS THOMAS F. JETER, 0F TACOMA, WASHINGTON BURIAL VAULT Application ed. January 6, 1930. Serial No. 418,671.

disclosed in United States Patents, Numbers 1.532,313 and i,39i386, issued to me on lo April 7, 1925, and September 2G, 1921, re-

spectively.

It is the principal object of the present invention to provide a vault that is of more satisfactory construction than those of the lo patents above referred to, especially in the formation of the dead air chamber and the sealing of this chamber and the casket chamlin the er "fraction of the earlier patent,

ned, the sealing of the joint bet-we c over plate and vault walls was not entirely satisfactory, for the reason that the position oit the joint permitted moisture to seep and any freezing then resulted in opening the seam, thus iinally permitting seepage into l" dead air s ace.

In the second patent, a ove referred to, the joint better sealed by reason of 'ting the cover plate down into fresh con 3G crete held in place by a Wooden form, but it has been found that the form sometimes expands and causes loosening or' the joint with the ultimate result of seepage entering the dead air chamber.

The present invention has for its object to rovide a surface vault in which all the desirable features of the two vaults previously patented by me are embodied, and in which a new method of construction is followed which makes possible a positivel and permanently sealed casket and dea air chamber.

Other objects of the invention reside in the detaiisof construction and combination of parts as will hereinafter be described.

In accomplishing these and other objects, I have provided the improved details .of constructlon, the preferred forms of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein- Figure 1 is a longitudinal section, of a burial vault constructed according to details of the present invention.

Figure 2 is a cross section taken on line 2-2 in Figure 1. 55 Figure 3 is a plan or top view, with parts broken away for better illustration.

Referring more in detail to the drawings- The Vault body is of rectangular form and comprises opposite end Walls land 2, oppo- 9 site side Walls 3 and 4, and a bottom wall 5, all of which are preferably integrally cast from suitably reenforced concrete, other suitable material sufficiently thick to give the desired strength and durability and to be 65 water and air tight.

The upper portions of the side and end Walls are of less thickness than the lower portions, thereby providing an u Wardly facing seat or shoulder 6 entirely about the 70 inner surface of the vault for the support of an upwardly crowned slab 7 of concrete, or the like, which is designed to cover the casliet chamber 8 formed by the lower portion of the vault. 75

After the casket has been placed in the vault, and the cover slab 7 placed on the shoulders, the chamber is sealed by a layer of wet concrete being poured over the slab. This layer of concrete, as designated at 10, 39 is lof sucient thickness to positively seal the joint about the side and end Walls and will give added strength and durability to the vault.

After thesealing of the casket chamber 8 has been completed, a iorm is placed on the concrete seal 10 for the formation of a dead air chamber above the casket chamber; the advantages of which were fully disclosed in 9o my prior patents. This form, preferably would be of concrete or other material that is not effected by moisture, and comprises a horizontal top wall l2, opposite side walls 13=-`13, and opposite end walls 141-14; the 05 side and end walls are parallel with but spaced inwardly from the side Walls of the vault and the top wall 12 is somewhat below the level of the to edge ofthe walls of the vault. Beneath t e wall '12 and bounded 10 concrete layer 16 has set, so that the fianges by the walls 13-13 and 14-14 is the dead air chamber 15.

After this form has been placed in position it is covered over with a layer of plastic concrete 16 which also fills the spaces between the vault walls and side and end walls of the form, as at 17, to positively seal the dead air chamber and thus provide additional sealing for the casket chamber.

The to surface of the concrete layer 16 is practically level with the top edges of the side and end walls of the vault, and overlyin this is a cover slab 18 which rests about its e ges upon the vault walls and has a depending flange 19 extended down within the vault walls to prevent its being displaced. This cover is placed in position 'before the 19 will embed themselves. It is sometimes desirable to place some sort of separator about the flanges so that the cover slab may be lifted ofl:` in case it is desired to replace it, also to provide for expansion of air thus dispensing with Ventilating tubes.

In its preferred form, the cover slab has a centrally arched portion 16a providing an air space 20 beneath it. It also is provided with an inclined head portion 22 for receivin a marker 23 as shown in Figure 1.

` so constructing the vault, the undesiralile results from use of wooden forms are eliminated, and a positively sealed dead air and casket chamber results. Even though the seam between the cover and vault Walls is under ground or water, no Water can poss)iebly seep through and into the casket cham- It is a parent that minor changes in the details of) construction might be made without departing from the spirit of the invention, and for this reason it is not desired that the claims belimited only to .those shown but that they broadly cover the device commensurate with the invention. v

Having thus described my invention, what" I claim as new therein and desire to secure by Letters-Patent, is:

1. In a vault of the character described, a casket chamber having an overlyingl sealing slab, a form disposed upon the slab aving a `top wall and having side and end walls spaced inwardly from the side and end-walls of the vault, and a sealing slab of plastic concrete filled over and about the form and filling the spaces between its side and end Walls and the vault walls to seal thel vault and forming a Asealed dead air chamber within the form.

2. In a vault of the character described, comprising opposite side and end walls and a bottom wall forming a' casket chamber within the lower portion of the vault; said' side andv end walls having shoulders about their inner surfaces, a cover slab for the casket chamber restin on said shoulders, a

sealing slab of plastic material overlying the said slab, a form disposed upon the said sealing slab and comprising a top Wall and opposite side and end walls which are spaced inwardly from the side and end walls of the vault, and a sealing slab of plastic concrete filled over and about the form and filling the spaces between its'side Walls and the vault walls and providing a sealed dead air chamber within the form.

3. In a vault of the character described, comprising o posite side and end walls and a bottom wall orming a casket chamber within the lower portion of the vault; said side and end walls having shoulders, about their inner surfaces, a cover sla'b for the casket chamber resting on said shoulders, a sealing slab of plastic material overlying the cover slab, a form disposed upon the said sealing slab and comprising a top Wall and op osite side and end walls which are spaced lnwardly from the side and end walls of the vault, a sealing slab of plastic concrete filled over and about the form and filling the spaces between its side walls and the vault Walls and providing a sealed dead air chamber Within the form, and a cover sla-b overlying the vault and having flan s formed on its under side to fit within t e side and end walls of the vault and to embed themselves in the plastic sealing slab; said cover slab-being arched upwardly to form an air space between vit and the sealing slab of the dead air chamber.

Signed at Seattle, Washington, this 20th day of December, 1929.

THOMAS F. JETER.

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