Abstract:
A funerary article comprises a container having a pair of side wide walls, a pair of end walls and a bottom wall. The container is adapted to contain remains of a deceased. A lid is closeable upon the container. The container has external surfaces defining an exterior of the container. A light source is mounted to the container exterior. The funerary article can be a casket or a cremation urn.

Description:
RELATED APPLICATIONS  
       [0001]     This application is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 10/769,413, hereby incorporated by reference herein as if fully set forth in its entirety. 
     
    
     FIELD  
       [0002]     This invention relates generally to funerary products, and more particularly to decorative light fixtures attached to caskets and/or cremation urns.  
       BACKGROUND  
       [0003]     There is a trend in the death care industry to make efforts towards “personalizing” the funeral products and the funeral or other memorial service purchased for the deceased to provide a more meaningful memorial experience for the family and friends of the deceased. The casket in which the deceased is displayed can be customized to fit the needs and preferences of the deceased and the family. For instance, a wide variety of materials, finishes, colors, and decorative ornamentation can be chosen to meet these needs. The purchaser of a casket can also customize the casket using a variety of stylized trim or corner pieces. These stylized corner pieces usually have standardized decorative elements as chosen by the manufacture. In addition, these corner pieces typically are not personalized.  
         [0004]     Some casket designs incorporate decorative or ornamental corner pieces secured to the casket during fabrication thereof. In many, if not most, prior designs, these ornamental corner pieces are rigidly affixed to the casket shell. Consequently, if a customer purchasing the casket is not pleased with the particular pre-installed ornamental corner pieces, and wishes to customize the casket exterior to his or her taste, the funeral director must go through a lengthy and complicated process to first remove the original ornamental corner pieces and then reinstall the ornamental corner pieces chosen by the customer. This process typically requires manual manipulation and access to the interior or the casket which can require the removal of bedding, lining, and the like. Such a process is time consuming and can damage the otherwise new casket and is thus frowned upon and generally avoided by the funeral director.  
         [0005]     To more effectively market caskets, the funeral director desires to offer a wide variety of ornamental corner pieces from which a customer can select according to the customer&#39;s taste. However, to offer such a wide selection, and to avoid the undesirable practice mentioned above, the funeral director would have to maintain a large inventory of many different casket material/finish and corner piece combinations, which is also undesirable. To minimize the required inventory of finished caskets, the funeral director could simply have one casket of each material/finish provided that the funeral director had some means providing for the quick and efficient changing of the ornamental corner pieces on each casket. As such, the customer could quickly view numerous corner pieces on a single casket, and the funeral director would need only stock a single casket of each material finish. Many prior casket designs, which rigidly affix the ornamental corner pieces, do not permit such quick and efficient changing of the ornamental corner pieces as discussed above.  
         [0006]     A quick-change casket corner mechanism is disclosed in Acton et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,591,466, assigned to the assignee of the present invention and incorporated by reference herein. Acton discloses an ornamental corner piece assembly having a back plate that attaches to the corner of a casket. The back plate includes a clip member having at least one keyhole groove. A decorative corner insert includes at least one attachment member that slidingly engages the keyhole groove in the clip member such that the corner insert removably couples to the back plate. In this way, a funeral director can quickly and conveniently change out the decorative corner pieces to provide a wide variety of casket designs personalized to the deceased.  
         [0007]     Advances have therefore been made in the area of casket designs incorporating decorative or ornamental corner pieces as demonstrated with the product discussed above. However, there continues to be room for improvement in the area of personalization in the death care industry.  
       SUMMARY  
       [0008]     The present invention is a funerary article comprising a container having a pair of side wide walls, a pair of end walls and a bottom wall, the container adapted to contain remains of a deceased, a lid closeable upon the container, the container having external surfaces defining an exterior of the container, and a light source mounted to the container exterior.  
         [0009]     The funerary article can further omprising a mounting member adapted to be mounted to the container exterior, the light source mounted to the mounting member, and a translucent ornament overlying the light source so that the light emitted from the light source is transmitted through the translucent ornament. The funerary article can further comprise at least one battery to provide power to the light source. The funerary article can further comprise an electrical switch for energizing the light source. The light source can be a light bulb.  
         [0010]     The funerary article can be a casket adapted to contain a body of the deceased. The light source can be mounted to the exterior of the container near a juncture of adjacent ones of the side walls and the walls. The funerary article can also be a cremation urn adapted to contain cremation remains of the deceased. The light source can be mounted to the exterior of the container intermediate ne of the side walls and end walls.  
         [0011]     These and other features and advantages of the present invention will become more readily apparent during the following description taken in conjunction with the drawings herein, in which: 
     
    
     DRAWINGS  
       [0012]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a casket embodying the ornamental light assembly of the present invention,  
         [0013]      FIG. 2  is a perspective view of an embodiment of an ornamental light assembly of the present invention,  
         [0014]      FIG. 3  is a cross sectional view of the ornamental light assembly of  FIG. 2  taken generally along line  3 - 3 ,  
         [0015]      FIG. 4  is a perspective view of another embodiment of an ornamental light assembly of the present invention, and  
         [0016]      FIG. 5  is a perspective view of yet another embodiment of the invention. 
     
    
     DESCRIPTION  
       [0017]     With reference to  FIG. 1 , and according to the present invention, a funerary article, for example a casket  10 , is shown incorporating an ornamental light assembly  12 . The casket has a cap or lid  14 , a pair of oppositely disposed end walls  16  and a pair of oppositely disposed side walls  18 . Casket  10  can be made from various woods, although the invention is not limited to any particular material, i.e., other materials such as metals, plastics, cardboard, fiberboard, etc. can be used.  
         [0018]     With further reference to  FIG. 2  there is shown an embodiment of the ornamental light assembly  12 . Ornamental light assembly  12  includes a mounting member, for example a back plate  20  and/or a base member  22 , a light source  24  mounted to the mounting member and a translucent ornament  26  overlying or covering the light source  24 . Back plate  20  can be generally planar and have a decorative or ornamental side  28  and a mounting side  30 . Generally, the decorative side  28  can take a wide variety of aesthetically pleasing shapes having a wide variety of aesthetically pleasing features. For example, and as shown in  FIG. 2 , the back plate  20  can have a converging or pointed top portion  32 . Those having ordinary skill in the art will recognize a wide variety of possible shapes and other decorative features possible with the present invention. For example,  FIG. 4  shows another embodiment of an ornamental light assembly, where like reference numerals refer to like features in  FIGS. 2-3 , having an arcuately shaped top portion  32  and decorative steps  34   a ,  34   b ,  34   c  along the outer edge thereof. The mounting side  30  of back plate  20  is adapted to mount to a casket wall as discussed below. The mounting side  30  is preferably, but not necessarily, flat so that the light assembly  12  can be flushly mounted to a casket wall.  
         [0019]     The base member  22  is adapted to couple to a bottom portion  36  of back plate  20 . Base member  22  can comprise a top wall  38 , a bottom wall  40  and at least one side wall  42  connecting the top and bottom wall  38 ,  40 . As shown in the embodiment in  FIG. 2 , the base member  22  can be generally triangular with side walls  42   a ,  42   b ,  42   c  and coupling to the back plate  20  along one side  42   c  of the triangularly shaped base member  20 . Of course, the base member  22  could be in any other geometric shape other than triangular. The back plate  20  and base member  22  can be made from the same material and can be made to match the material and finish of casket  10 . Back plate  20  and base member  22  are preferably wood but could be made from any suitable structural material such as steel, aluminum, plastic or the like. Moreover, back plate  20  and base member  22  can be formed integral with each other during the manufacturing process.  
         [0020]     The top wall  38  of base member  22  includes a light source  24  for illuminating at least a portion of casket  10 . The light source can, for example, comprise a light socket  44  positioned in the base member  22  and having an opening  46  in top wall  38  for inserting a light bulb  48 . To increase the aesthetic value of the light assembly  12  as well as to provide a means to personalize the casket  10 , a translucent ornament  26  can overlie light source  24  so that the light emitted from light source  24  is transmitted through the translucent ornament  26 . This gives the pleasing appearance that translucent ornament  26  is glowing as a way to provide decorative lighting to the casket shell. Translucent ornament  26  can be removably secured to base member  22  by known means such as double-sided tape or an adhesive. Ornament  26  could just as well be integral with the light source  26  thereby providing a one-piece unit. And, light source  24  could include one or more LED&#39;s or other types of light generating devices.  
         [0021]     Translucent ornament  26  can be a decorative design, such as the diamond design shown in  FIG. 2 , or can be a religious design, such as an angel or the like as shown in  FIG. 4 . It is contemplated that a funeral director will have a wide variety of translucent ornaments from which a customer can choose so that an ornament can be chosen that has a specific meaning to the deceased or his/her family. In this way, the casket  10  can be personalized to the deceased and provide a more meaningful memorial service.  
         [0022]     Light assembly  12  can be self contained by further including a power source compartment  52  in base member  22  containing at least one battery  54  for providing power to light source  24 , such as light bulb  48 . Compartment  52  comprises a door  56  along bottom wall  40  of base member  22  for gaining access to compartment  52  and inserting or changing battery  54 . Electrical wires  58  connect battery  54  to light source  24 , such as light socket  44  so that when light bulb  48  is inserted into light socket  44 , light bulb  48  is illuminated. An electrical switch  60  can further be included in base member  22  and coupled to wires  58  by known means so as to selectively energize light source  24 . Power sources other than batteries (i.e. dc power sources) can also be used such as an ac power source, solar power, etc.  
         [0023]     Light assembly  12  is adapted to couple to at least one wall of casket  10  along back plate  20  by means known to those having skill in the art. As shown in  FIG. 1 , although light assembly  12  can be mounted to casket walls  16 ,  18 , light assembly  12  is preferably mounted to a corner  62  disposed between one of the side walls  18  and an adjacent end wall  16 . Moreover, each corner  62  between a side wall  18  and an end wall  16  can include a generally vertical corner wall  64  and a generally horizontal corner floor  66 . Light assembly  12  can be mounted to corner wall  64  and/or corner floor  66 . The corner wall  64  can comprise a traditional corner back plate used in conjunction with former ornamental corner inserts. Alternatively, corner wall  64  can comprise the corner back plate of the quick change ornament attachment mechanism disclosed in Anton et al.  
         [0024]     By way of example, back plate  20  can include a threaded insert (not shown) in mounting side  30  and a threaded rod (not shown) engaged with threaded insert and protruding from mounting side  30 . Furthermore, corner wall  64  can include a hole therethrough (not shown) aligned with a corresponding hole (not shown) in a casket brace member (not shown). Lighting assembly  12  can be positioned such that back plate  20  is adjacent corner wall  64  with the threaded rod inserted through the hole in corner wall  64  and the hole in the casket brace member. A wing nut (not shown) then threadingly engages the threaded rod to secure the lighting assembly  12  to casket  10 .  
         [0025]     Again by way of example, light assembly  12  can be adapted to mount to a corner wall  64  comprising the quick change ornament attachment mechanism disclosed in Anton et al. Thus the corner wall  64  can include two keyhole grooves (not shown) having an opening and a slot. Back plate  20  can further include two shoulder screws (not shown) having a head sized to fit through the opening and adapted to be held by the slot. In this way, lighting assembly  12  can be positioned such that back plate  20  is adjacent corner wall  64  with the heads of the shoulder screws inserted through the openings in the keyhole grooves and then moved so as to engage the slots in the keyhole grooves to secure the light assembly  12  to casket  10 . Those skilled in the art will recognize other means for securing the light assembly  12  to casket  10 . For instance, light assembly  12  does not require back plate  20 . In that case, light assembly  12  can be located upon floor  66  and be attached thereto.  
         [0026]     Referring now to  FIG. 5 , and with like numerals representing like elements, a funerary article of the cremation urn type is denoted by numeral  100 . Cremation urn  100  is shown incorporating an ornamental light assembly  102 , for example of the construction discussed above. The urn has cover or lid  104 , a pair of oppositely disposed end walls  106  and a pair of oppositely disposed side walls  108 . Like casket  10 , urn  100  can be made from woods, metals, plastics, etc. The ornamental light assembly  102  can be mounted to the urn  100  intermediate a side wall, as illustrated, or at a corner, or on the lid, etc. All such locations shall be deemed to be embraced by the invention.  
         [0027]     The embodiments of the invention shown and described are merely for illustrative purposes only. The drawings and the description are not intended to limit in any way the scope of the invention as defined in the claims. Furthermore, those skilled in the art will readily recognize various changes to, and additional embodiments of, the invention, all of which will fall within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the claims. Accordingly, the invention is to be limited only by the scope of the following claims and their equivalents.