Coffin bed adjusting apparatus

A coffin bed adjusting apparatus for providing both elevation and tilt adjustments to a coffin bed in a burial casket. The bed frame is connected to a bed support member which is pivotally mounted to an elevating support member. The elevating support member is threadedly mounted on a threaded shaft, the rotation of which adjusts the vertical height of the bed. A rack is slidably mounted on a threaded shaft, the rotation of which adjusts the vertical height of the bed. A rack is slidably mounted to the elevating support member, and is engaged to a pinion which is also mounted to the elevating support member. The rotation of the pinion drives the rack, which translates the rotating movement into a pivoting of the bed support member thereby causing a desired tilt of the casket bed frame. This pivoting is achieved by the interaction of a slot in the bed support member and an arm on the rack. The pinion which moves the rack is rotated by a second shaft. The second shaft engages the pinion only to rotate it but the pinion freely slides vertically on the second shaft.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
This invention relates in general to an apparatus for adjusting coffin 
beds, and more particularly, to an apparatus for adjusting both the 
vertical height and the tilt of a bed in a burial casket. 
It is desirable to be able to adjust the vertical height and the tilt of a 
coffin bed within a casket. These adjustments are utilized so that the 
deceased may be appropriately viewed during memorial services. In the 
past, devices for so adjusting the height and tilt of coffin beds 
generally have not been of simple construction and have either been 
cumbersome to use or of complicated and expensive construction. It is also 
desirable that the devices be made from uniform parts and be readily used 
with various sizes of coffins. 
The following is a list of U.S. Patents which disclose various adjustable 
coffin beds. These patents disclose a wide variety of coffin bed adjusting 
mechanisms. 
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U.S. Pat. No. Patentee 
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289,643 Goff 
1,800,793 Harms 
1,934,425 Harms 
2,051,163 Corrigan 
2,159,144 Fletcher 
2,729,875 White 
2,848,781 Slaughter et al. 
2,888,732 Nelson 
3,065,516 Dower 
3,192,596 Gruber 
3,300,828 Hegman et al. 
3,300,829 Hegman et al. 
3,539,142 Morand 
3,568,275 Carson 
3,653,104 Nelson 
2,670,517 Hillenbrand et al. 
2,839,814 Harter 
3,692,267 Kronas 
4,070,737 Peterson 
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U.S. Pat. No. 289,643 to Goff discloses a device using notch standards to 
raise and lower the bed. The use of notches as in Goff and in other 
patents tends to make manipulation and adjustment of the bed cumbersome 
since the entire bed is moved by hand and not by the use of a mechanism. 
U.S. Pat. No. 1,800,793 to Harms discloses a device which uses a 
complicated hinged levering mechanism centrally located beneath the bed, 
and requires a number of complicated parts and materials. U.S. Pat. No. 
1,934,425 to Harms discloses another notch and lever tilting device which 
requires several parts and a curved notched member. U.S. Pat. No. 
2,051,163 to Corrigan discloses yet another complicated notch and bar 
elevating mechanism. U.S. Pat. No. 2,159,144 to Fletcher discloses a large 
mechanism which tilts an entire casket. U.S. Pat. No. 2,729,875 to White 
discloses a device which uses a horizontal rod and a column of apertures, 
and is similar in use to the notch devices. Slaughter et al. discloses a 
device which requires the actual tilting of the bed itself upon a pivoting 
point after a nut and screw which maintains the tilt is loosened. This 
device must be tilted by hand and requires reaching into the coffin to get 
at the screw to loosen it. U.S. Pat. No. 2,888,732 to Nelson discloses a 
complex mechanical device using several lever arms with pivoting points. 
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,192,596 to Gruber, 3,300,828 to Hegman et al., and 
3,568,275 to Carson also disclose the use of notched members to adjust the 
height of the bed. 
U.S. Pat. No. 3,065,516 to Dower discloses a tilting apparatus using 
springs and a number of complicated tilting mechanisms. Various angles are 
achieved by rotating a number of threaded shafts through a number of 
elevation members which have bed support members pivotally mounted to 
them. The apparatus disclosed requires a complicated device and a number 
of mechanisms to achieve tilting and height adjustment. The disclosed 
device shows the use of five separate mechanisms to adjust the tilt and 
elevation of the bed. 
U.S. Pat. No. 3,539,142 to Morand discloses a device which adjusts the 
vertical position of the coffin bed and maintains the height adjustment 
with a spring release mechanism. The mechanism does not provide for 
tilting the coffin bed on an axis that runs the length of the coffin. 
U.S. Pat. No. 3,653,104 to Nelson discloses a device which uses a housing 
and a bed support member which is pivotally mounted to the housing. The 
bed support member is tilted by a connection to a first shaft travels 
vertically up to pivot a bed support member. U.S. Pat. No. 2,670,517 to 
Hillenbrand et al. discloses a device which has a pair of plates pivotally 
mounted to each other. One plate is connected to the coffin bed and has a 
curved gear at one end. A worm gear drives the curved gear so that the 
coffin bed plate pivots on the other plate. U.S. Pat. No. 2,839,814 to 
Harter discloses the basic twin plate idea of Hillenbrand et al. U.S. Pat. 
No. 2,670,517 but obtains the pivoting of the bed supporting plate by the 
use of a push rod rather than a worm gear and a curved plate gear. The 
user has to reach to tighten a nut to keep the bed tilted. 
U.S. Pat. No. 3,692,267 to Kronas is directed to the relative positioning 
of the vertical threaded shaft of a coffin bed height adjustment 
mechanism. The device is simply a disc with an aperture that has a 
diameter that is greater than the minimum diameter of the threaded shaft 
and less than the maximum diameter of that shaft. The disc can thus be 
"wobbled" into position to fix the relative height of the shaft. U.S. Pat. 
No. 4,070,737 to Peterson discloses a coffin bed adjusting mechanism which 
employs a collar and locking screw combination to select the relative 
height of the threaded shaft. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention relates to a new and unique apparatus for elevating 
and tilting a bed in a burial casket. In one embodiment, a support member 
is attachable to a bed, the support member includes an internally threaded 
channel. A vertical threaded rod threadedly engages with the internally 
threaded channel of the support member, the rotation of the rod vertically 
adjusts the position of the support member along the threaded rod. The 
threaded rod further has a keyway along the lower portion of the rod. 
There are mounting means for vertically mounting the threaded rod to the 
casket in free rotation. The mounting means includes a first mounting 
member attachable to the casket at the base of the casket, the first 
mounting member defines an aperture through which the lower portion of the 
threaded rod is insertable. A first stop member having a threaded aperture 
is threadedly received on the rod above the first mounting member. A 
second stop member defining a key aperture is received on the rod above 
the first mounting member. The second stop member engages the keyway to be 
slidable along the rod and to be immobile in a rotational direction about 
the rod. There are stop member locking means for locking the first stop 
member to the second stop member to form a stop assembly which engages 
with the first mounting member to maintain a fixed length of the rod 
inserted into the aperture.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
For the purposes of promoting an understanding of the principles of the 
invention, reference will now be made to the embodiment illustrated in the 
drawings and specific language will be used to describe the same. It will 
nevertheless be understood that no limitation of the scope of the 
invention is thereby intended, such alterations and further modifications 
in the illustrated device, and such further applications of the principles 
of the invention as illustrated therein being contemplated as would 
normally occur to one skilled in the art to which the invention relates. 
Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown an elevating and tilting apparatus 10 
for altering the vertical height and the side to side tilt of a bed frame 
11 which is contained in a burial casket 12. This elevating and tilting 
apparatus allows the user to adjust the vertical height and the side to 
side tilt of the bed frame to facilitate the viewing of the deceased 
during the funeral ceremony. 
Referring to FIG. 2, elevating support member 13 is connected to U-shaped 
bracket 14 by bolts 15A and 15B which pass through respective holes 15C 
and 15D in elevating support member 13 and through holes 15E and 15F of 
U-shaped bracket 14. Bracket 14 has a top bracket flange 16 and a bottom 
bracket flange 17. Top bracket flange 16 defines an internally threaded 
channel 18. Bottom bracket flange 17 defines threaded bracket channel 19 
which is coaxial with threaded bracket channel 18. 
Vertical rod 20 is threadably received by bracket channels 18 and 19 as is 
shown in FIG. 2. Vertical rod 20 is freely rotationally mounted within 
bracket 21 and receiving member 22 as is shown in FIG. 1, so that the rod 
will freely rotate within a channel 21A in bracket 21 and within receiving 
member 22. Bracket 21 is mounted to the top side of burial casket 23 by 
suitable means such as screws 21B. Receiving member 22 is mounted to the 
bottom of burial casket 24. As is shown in FIG. 1, the top of vertical rod 
20 has a hand crank receiving member 25. In the preferred embodiment, 
receiving member 25 has a polygonally-shaped depression 25A to receive 
hand crank 26 (shown in FIG. 15). The rotation of vertical rod 20 causes 
bracket 14 to be displaced either upward or downward, depending upon the 
direction of the rotation of rod 20, because of the action of the threads 
of rod 20 with the internal threads of bracket channels 18 and 19. 
Bed support member 27 is pivotally mounted to elevating support member 13 
by bolt 15A through hole 28 in bed support member 27 and hole 15C in 
elevating support member 13 and hole 15E in bracket 14. Bed frame 11 rests 
in bed frame arms 29 of bed support member 27. Consequently, when the 
vertical height of bed support member 27 is adjusted, bed frame 11 is also 
altered in vertical height. In this fashion, the entire elevating support 
member and the rest of the apparatus can be altered in vertical height by 
the turning of a hand crank 26 thus resulting in the altering of vertical 
height of the bed frame and the bed within the casket as is shown in FIG. 
1. 
Bed support member 27 is pivotally mounted to elevating support member 13 
at point 28. Thus, bed support member 27 can be tilted to cause 
side-to-side tilting of bed frame 11. This side-to-side tilt of bed 
support member 27 is caused by a motion translation means, the preferred 
embodiment for which will now be described. Slot 30 in bed support member 
27 has a first slot end 30A and an opposite slot end 30B as is shown in 
FIG. 6. Slot 30 has an angle from the horizontal from end 30A to end 30B 
of alpha which is shown as 30C. Arm 31 is received within slot 30, and the 
shifting of arm 31 along slot 30 causes bed support member 27 to pivot 
about point 28. Arm 31 is as shown from FIGS. 10 and 11 on a rack member 
32. Rack 32 having pinion holes 33. Rack 32 is maintained in a fixed 
vertical position and its horizontal position is altered, causing arm 31 
to slide within slot 30 from slot end 30A toward slot end 30B causing bed 
support member 27 to pivot about pivot point 28, as is shown in FIGS. 4 
and 5. In FIG. 4, arm 31 is at slot end 30B and bed support member 27 is 
in a horizontal position. In FIG. 5, arm 31 is at slot end 30A and bed 
support member 27 is fully tilted. 
As is shown in FIG. 10, arm 31 is connected to rack 32 which slidably fits 
within rack slot 36 (FIG. 7) in elevating support member 13. Slot 36 is 
long enough so that the rack can slide from one end of slot 36 to the 
other end of slot 36 so that arm 31 of the rack will appropriately slide 
from one end of slot 30A to the other end 30B of slot 30. It is the action 
of arm 31 upon slot 30 which causes bed support member 13 to pivot. It 
should be noted that the length of leverage distance 37 from pivot point 
28 to the engagement of arm 31 with slot 30 provides substantial 
mechanical advantage, thereby facilitating the tilting of bed frame 11 
while it is laiden with a corpse. This leverage decreases as the angle of 
tilt increases, (see leverage distance 38 in FIG. 5) and as the useful 
benefit of the advantage also diminishes. By suitably selecting angle 
alpha 30C from the horizontal, particular desired mechanical advantage 
over a range of tilt may be determined for any specific apparatus. 
As pointed out, rack 32 slides within rack slot 36. This sliding is caused 
by the action of pinion 39 which is shown in FIG. 12 and which has gear 
teeth 39A that mesh with rack holes 33. Pinion 39 is disposed in a 
horizontal plane as shown in FIG. 3 so that when it rotates it engages 
rack 32 and slides rack 32 back and forth, depending upon the direction of 
rotation, within slot 36. This configuration enhances stability at any 
particular tilt position. As can be seen in FIG. 3, pinion 39 is located 
within pinion housing 40 which is connected to elevating support member 
13. As is shown in FIGS. 3 and 8, pinion housing 40 receives pinion 39 
within pinion gap 40A. Pinion housing 40 has a channel 41 which is coaxial 
with pinion channel 42. As can be seen from FIGS. 2 and 3, when rack 32 is 
in rack slot 36 it cannot move in the vertical direction because of 
elevating support member 13 and does not come out of rack slot 36 even 
though elevating support member 13 is a thin piece of metal because it is 
held there on one side by the action of bed support member 27 and on the 
other side by pinion 39 and pinion housing member 40. 
Pinion 37 is rotated by rotating pinion rod 44, which has a square 
cross-section and fits through pinion channel 42. The engagement of pinion 
rod 44 and pinion 39 is such that when the pinion's vertical height is 
altered because elevating support member's (13) vertical height is 
altered, pinion 39 slides vertically on rod 44 and pin 43 keeps rod 44 
from being pulled out. But when rod 44 is turned by hand crank 45, pinion 
37 is caused to rotate, thus moving rack 32 within slot 36. The sliding 
action of rack 32 causes arm 31 to move within slot 30 which in turn 
causes the pivoting of bed support member 27 about its pivot point 28, 
resulting in the tilting of bed frame 11. Finally, pinion rod 44 goes 
through pinion rod channel 46 in bracket 21 which is mounted to casket 12 
as is shown in FIG. 1. Pinion rod 44 also includes hand crank receiving 
member 47 which has a polygonal depression 47A to receive hand crank 45. 
Referring to FIG. 16, there is shown an elevating and tilting apparatus 50 
for altering the vertical height and the side to side tilt of bed frame 51 
which is contained in burial casket 52. This elevating and tilting 
apparatus allows the user to adjust the vertical height and the side to 
side tilt of the bed frame to facilitate the viewing of the deceased 
during the funeral ceremony. The apparatus has a support member 53 to 
which bed frame 51 is attached by it resting in bed frame arms 54 of 
support member 53. Support member 53 also includes internally threaded 
channel 55 through which vertical threaded rod 56 is threadedly received. 
Rod 56 is mounted to the casket by mounting means so that it is vertical 
and in free rotation. The rotation of rod 56 causes the vertical 
adjustment of the position of support member 53 along threaded rod 56. 
The mounting means for attaching rod 56 to casket 52 have first and second 
mounting members. First mounting member 57 for mounting rod 56 is attached 
to base 58 of the casket. Second mounting member 59 is attached to top 60 
of casket 52 directly above first mounting member 57. Mounting member 57 
is generally U-shaped having a pair of base flanges 61 and 62 which are 
attached to casket base 58. As shown in FIG. 18, top plate 63 of the 
U-shaped member 57 has an aperture 64 disposed in it. Lower portion 65 of 
rod 56 is inserted through aperture 64. Cylindrical plastic sleeve 66 
having central bore 67 is disposed in aperture 64 so that threads 68 of 
rod 56 do not catch on the metal of top plate 63 so that rod 56 will 
easily slide through aperture 64 and be received in free rotation within 
the sleeve's central bore 67. 
Second mounting member 59 has first plate 68 and second plate 69 as shown 
in FIGS. 24 and 25 respectively. First plate 68 has angled portion 70 and 
flange 71 which is attached to the top of casket 60. The opposite end of 
first plate has slot 72. Slot 72 receives cylindrical member 73. 
Cylindrical member 73 as shown in FIG. 26 has groove 74 about its 
periphery adjacent its upper end. The diameter of the groove is slightly 
smaller than the width of slot 72. Slot 72 receives groove 74 and second 
plate 69 is secured to first plate 68 so that slot 75 of second plate 69 
and slot 72 of the first plate 68 enclose groove 74 of cylindrical member 
73. The securing of first plate 68 to second plate 69 is achieved by 
passing rivets or other suitable fasteners through holes 76 and 77 of the 
respective plates. Thereby cylindrical member 73 is vertically supported 
by plates 68 and 69 and yet is free to rotate. 
The combination of the plates and cylindrical member 73 provides second 
mounting member for rod 56 and a rod turning means. This rod turning means 
is for transferring rotation to rod 56. Cylindrical member 73, as shown in 
FIG. 26, has a rod receiving opening which is partial bore 78. Upper 
portion 79 of rod 56 is inserted into bore 78. Bore 78, in the preferred 
embodiment, has two flat surfaces 80 and 81. Upper portion 79 of rod 56 
also has two flat portions 82 and 83 along a portion of its length. Thus 
when the rod is inserted into bore 78 the corresponding flat sides 80, 81, 
82 and 83 would cause the rotation of cylindrical member 73 to be 
transferred to rod 56. Further, the insertion of the rod in bore 78 
maintains the rod in a vertical orientation. 
Because people come in all different sizes and shapes, caskets tend to be 
of different sizes and shapes. Particularly, vertical heighth 84 of a 
casket often varies. While this variation in casket heighth is 
unavoidable, the present invention's structure provides for the 
standardization of the elevation and tilting apparatus. This is 
accomplished by a mounting system which is adapted to mount a rod of 
standard length to achieve various effective lengths. Thereby, the same 
type and length of rod is used with a wide variety of casket sizes. In the 
preferred embodiment, as rod 56 enters aperture 64, the rod's lower 
portion 65 may extend below top plate 63 to various lengths before it 
encounters the base of casket 58. Examples of this variable length of 
extension are the rod lower portion being extended a distance 86 in FIG. 
19 and a lesser distance 87 in FIG. 20. Because of this variable extension 
the effective length 88 of the rod 56 can also be varied. The effective 
length 88 as defined herein means the height of rod 56 to which the rod 
can be used in a coffin to raise and lower support member 53. As can be 
discerned from FIGS. 19 and 20 the ability to variate the effective length 
allows the use of the same rod in caskets of different heights 84. Stop 
members are provided to fix the rod at a chosen effective length 88. 
First stop member 89 is a flat plate as shown in FIG. 22. Plate 89 has 
threaded aperture 90 and is threadedly received on rod 56 at a point above 
first mounting member 57. Plate 89 has locking aperture 91 spaced from 
aperture 90. Second stop member 92 is a flat plate. Plate 92 has a key 
aperture in the form of slot 93 as shown in FIG. 21. Key aperture 93 has a 
preferred shape which has two opposite flat sides 94 and 95. Second stop 
member 92 also has locking aperture 96 spaced from key aperture 93. 
In the preferred embodiment, as shown in FIG. 18, lower portion 65 of rod 
56 has a keyway along its length. This keyway may be of various shapes. 
The preferred embodiment has keyway 97 which has opposite continuous flat 
surfaces 98 and 99 machined on the length of lower portion 65 of rod 56. 
Rod 56 along lower portion 65 has its threads 68 machined into a flat 
surface along two opposite parallel faces 98 and 99. The perpendicular 
faces 100 and 101 along this length of rod 56 retain their threads. In 
this manner a keyway is formed whereby members having specific shapes will 
slide along lower portion 65 of rod 56 while threaded members will 
continue to be threadedly engaged with threaded faces 100 and 101. 
Key aperture 93 is thus shaped to be received along lower portion 65 along 
keyway 97 so that as shown in FIG. 18, second stop member 92 slides along 
the rod in a vertical direction but is unable to rotate about the rod. On 
the other hand, first stop member 89 continues to be threadedly received 
along the entire keyway 97 and does not slide vertically on rod 56. Stop 
member locking means are provided when stop members 89 and 92 are adjacent 
to each other on the rod and they are locked together by passing locking 
insert 102 through their respective locking apertures 91 and 96. Locking 
insert 102 in the preferred embodiment is a plastic canoe pin 102. Insert 
102 has top flange 103 and main body 104. The main body has a deformable 
locking ridge 105. Deformable locking ridge 105 and top flange 103 are 
both larger than locking apertures 91 and 96. Thus once insert 102 is 
inserted into the apertures, ridge 105 deforms during insertion and 
undeforms once through the apertures to maintain insert 102 in place. 
The locking of first stop member 89 to second stop member 92 forms lock 
assembly 106 as shown in FIG. 17. Assembly 106 can be located at any point 
along lower portion 65 of the rod 56. This is done by rotating first stop 
member 89 into the desired position and then sliding second stop member 92 
against first stop member 89 on the rod. Once insert 102 is in place it 
locks the two stop members together and they are no longer mobile along 
the rod. The threads of the first stop member prevent sliding and the flat 
surfaces of keyway 97 and keyway aperture 93 prevent rotation. Stop 
assembly 106 thus comes to rest atop top plate 63 as shown in FIG. 17 and 
the further insertion of rod 56 into aperture 64 is prevented. The stop 
assembly maintains a fixed length of rod 56 inserted into aperture 64 and 
the effective length of the rod is fixed. Of course various effective 
lengths are accomplished depending upon what point stop assembly 106 is 
placed along lower portion 65 of rod 56. 
While the invention has been illustrated and described in detail in the 
drawings and foregoing description, the same is to be considered as 
illustrative and not restrictive in character, it being understood that 
only the preferred embodiment has been shown and described and that all 
changes and modifications that come within the spirit of the invention are 
desired to be protected.