Patent Publication Number: US-7591052-B2

Title: Quick change casket ornament attachment mechanism

Description:
FIELD 
   This relates generally to caskets, and, more specifically, to apparatus for attaching decorative ornaments to caskets. 
   BACKGROUND 
   Some casket designs incorporate decorative or ornamental corner pieces (“corner ornaments”) secured to the casket during fabrication thereof. In many, if not most, prior designs, these corner ornaments are rigidly affixed to the casket shell. Consequently, if a customer purchasing the casket is not pleased with the particular pre-installed corner ornament, 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 corner ornaments and then reinstall the corner ornaments chosen by the customer. This process typically requires manual manipulation and access to the interior of the casket which may 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. 
   To more effectively market caskets, the funeral director desires to offer a wide variety of corner ornaments 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 ornament 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 corner ornaments on each casket. As such, the customer could quickly view numerous corner ornaments on a single casket, and the funeral director would need only stock a single casket of each material/finish. Prior casket designs, which rigidly affix the corner ornaments, do not permit such quick and efficient changing of the corner ornaments as discussed above. 
   What is needed, therefore, is an attachment mechanism to permit the quick and efficient installation and removal of corner ornaments onto and from caskets. 
   One innovation which addresses the aforementioned need is disclosed in the assignee&#39;s U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,928,706 and 6,591,466, both hereby incorporated by reference herein. These patents disclose and claim apparatus for removably securing an ornament to a casket shell comprising a first attachment element adapted to be operably associated with the casket, and a second attachment element adapted to be operably associated with the ornament. One of the attachment elements is a keyhole groove having a hole portion and a groove portion, and the other attachment element is a fastener with a head on it that fits in the keyhole groove. The fastener head is inserted into the hole portion and slid into the groove portion. The sides of the groove portion, being narrower than the diameter of the fastener head, retain the fastener head therebehind thereby securing the ornament to the shell. To enhance the security of the connection of the ornament to the shell, the groove can be shaped such that the ornament is removably secured to the shell via motion in first and second non-parallel directions generally parallel to a plane defined by the shell surface to which the ornament is being attached. 
   Typically a casket includes decorative top mold and base mold at the upper and lower edges, respectively of the sides and ends of the shell. From an aesthetic standpoint it is desirable for the decorative corner ornament to extend completely from the top mold down to the base mold, in other words for the upper surface of the decorative corner ornament to abut the lower surface of the top mold and for the lower surface of the decorative corner ornament to abut the upper surface of the base mold. Depending on the orientation selected for the keyhole groove of the &#39;466 and &#39;706 patents, the direction of movement required to install the corner ornament of the &#39;466 and &#39;706 patents may dictate that the ornament be shorter than the distance between the lower surface of the top mold and the upper surface of the base mold, which as mentioned above is aesthetically undesirable. 
   It is desirable to provide further innovation in the area of quick change casket ornaments which does not require the ornament to be of a height less than the distance between the lower surface of the top mold and the upper surface of the base mold. 
   SUMMARY 
   A casket comprises a casket shell, a casket lid closeable on the shell, an ornament, a magnet attached to one of the ornament and the shell, a magnetic object attached to the other of the ornament and shell, and a rotation obstruction on at least one of the ornament and the shell to obstruct rotation of the ornament relative to the shell. 
   The shell can include top mold and base mold, and the ornament can be of a height such that an upper edge of the ornament is closely adjacent a lower edge of the top mold and a lower edge of the ornament is closely adjacent an upper edge of the base mold. The obstruction can comprise at least one dowel rod on one of the ornament and the shell and a hole in the other of the ornament and the shell for receiving the dowel rod. The dowel rod can be attached to the ornament and the hole can be in the shell. The dowel rod can be a slip fit in the hole. The magnet can be attached to the ornament and the magnetic object can be attached to the shell. The ornament can have a magnetic cup attached thereto and the magnet can be a disk magnet which is dropped into the cup, the magnetic object can be a magnetic ring, and the disk magnet can have a first contact surface area with the cup and a second contact surface area with the ring, the first surface area can be greater than the second surface area whereby when the ornament is removed from the shell the disk magnet remains in the cup. The ornament can have a countersink in a rear surface thereof, the cup can be installed in the countersink, and the ring can project away from a surface of the shell to which it is attached, such that when the ornament is attached to the shell the ring projects into the countersink. 

   
     DRAWINGS 
       FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a portion of a casket and its ornament attached, 
       FIG. 2  is a view similar to  FIG. 1  but with the ornament detached, 
       FIG. 3  is a cross-sectional view of the casket and its ornament detached, and 
       FIG. 4  is a cross-sectional view of the casket and its ornament attached. 
   

   DESCRIPTION 
   With reference to  FIG. 1 , a casket  10  has a shell  12  and a lid  14  closable on the shell  12 . Shell  12  has a pair of oppositely disposed side walls, one of which is shown at  16 , and a pair of oppositely disposed end walls, one of which is shown at  18 . Ornaments  20  are removably mounted to the shell  12 . The casket  10  is illustrated as being made from wood. However, the ornament attachment mechanism which is the subject herein is not limited to use on wooden caskets as it also has utility on metal caskets. 
   Referring to  FIG. 2 , ornaments  20  are shown being removably mounted to shell  12  via ornament attachment mechanism  22 . Referring to  FIGS. 2 ,  3 , and  4 , ornament attachment mechanism  22  comprises a magnet  24  attached to one of the ornament  20  and shell  12 , a magnetic object  26  attached to the other of the ornament  20  and shell  12 , and a rotation obstruction  28  on at least one of the ornament  20  and the shell  12  to obstruct rotation of the ornament  20  relative to the shell  12  to thereby maintain the ornament  20  in the desired orientation and prevent unsightly rotational misalignment of the ornament  20  relative to the shell  12 . Magnet  24  can be a permanent magnet. Magnetic object  26  can be fabricated of a ferrous metal or other magnetic metal or material which is attracted by a magnet, or magnetic object  26  can itself be a magnet. Accordingly, the term “magnetic object” shall be construed to embrace all such meanings. 
   Casket shell  12  can include top mold  30  and base mold  32 , and ornament  20  can be of a height such that an upper edge  34  of the ornament  20  is closely adjacent a lower edge  36  of said top mold  30  and a lower edge  38  of the ornament  20  is closely adjacent an upper edge  40  of the base mold  32 . 
   The rotation obstruction  28  can comprise at least one dowel rod  42  on one of the ornament  20  and shell  12  and a hole  44  in the other of the ornament  20  and shell  12  for receiving the dowel rod  42 . The dowel rod  42  can be attached to the ornament  20  and the hole  44  can be in the shell  12 , as illustrated, or the dowel rod  42  can be attached to the shell  12  and the hole  44  can be in the ornament  20 . The dowel rod  42  can be a slip fit in the hole  44 . A pair of dowel rods  42  and holes  44 , as illustrated, can be used, or a single dowel rod  42  and hole  44 . 
   The magnet  24  can be attached to the ornament  20  and the magnetic object  26  can be attached to the shell  12 , as illustrated, or the magnet  24  can be attached to the shell  12  and the magnetic object  26  can be attached to the ornament. The ornament  20  can have a magnetic cup  50  attached thereto as by screw  52 , and a disk magnet  54  can be dropped into magnetic cup  50 . Magnetic object  26  can be a magnetic disk, ring, or washer  56  attached to shell  12  as by screw  58 . The disk magnet  54  can have a first contact surface area with the cup  50  and a second contact surface area with the ring  56 , the first surface area being greater than the second surface area whereby when the ornament  20  is removed from the shell  12  the disk magnet  54  remains in the cup  50 . The ornament  20  can have a countersink  60  in a rear surface  62  thereof in which to install the cup  50 . The ring  56  can project away from a surface  64  of the shell  12  to which it is attached such that when the ornament  20  is attached to the shell  12  the ring  56  projects into the countersink  60  thereby permitting the ornament surface  62  and the shell surface  64  to abut. 
   The embodiments 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 claims. Those skilled in the art will appreciate various changes, modifications, and alternative embodiments. For example, while the ornaments have been shown as being attached at the corners of the casket shell, the ornaments could be attached to the shell at other locations. And, while the obstruction has been illustrated as being a dowel rod which fits into a hole (or a pair of dowel rods which fit into a pair of holes), other obstructions can be used to obstruct or limit rotation of the ornament relative to the shell. For example, the magnetic attachment and rotation obstruction could be combined. The magnet and magnetic object could interfit, and each could have an appropriate geometry such that when the two are fitted together, they are unable to rotate relative to one another. Or, the magnet and/or magnetic object could interfit with the material of the ornament and/or shell, and each of the magnet and/or magnetic object and the ornament and/or shell could have an appropriate geometry such that when the two are fitted together, they are unable to rotate relative to one another. For another example, the obstruction could be a second magnet and magnetic object, spaced apart from the first magnet and magnetic object. All such changes, modifications and embodiments are deemed to be embraced by the claims.