IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF COFFINS
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Copping, of 27, Tokenhouse Yard, in the
City of London, Solicitor, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF COFFINS."-A communication from abroad by John R.
Cannon of New Albany, in the United States of America.
COMPLETE
SP
filed by the said Samue
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and Declara-
tion on the 14th February 1860, pursuant to the 9th Section of the
Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
COPPING, of 27, Tokenhouse Yard, in the City of London, Solicitor, send
greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF COFFINS," and have petitioned Her Majesty to grant unto me
my executors, administrators, and assigns, Her Royal Letters Patent for the
same, and have made solemn declaration that the same is a communication
to me from abroad by John R. Cannon, of New Albany, in the United States
of America.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Samuel Copping, do hereby declare
that the following Complete Specification under my hand and seal, fully
describes and ascertains the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, reference being had to the annexed
Drawings in which Fig. 1 represents a perspective view of the coffin complete ;

page_text: Fig. 2 is a perspective of the coffin body; Fig. 3 is a perspective of the coffin
lid; Fig. 4 is a longitudinal vertical section; Fig. 5 is a vertical cross section.
In the Figures, A represents the body of the coffin, which is made of glass
in any of the usual forms, and of any suitable size; the said body may be made
in sections of glass, or it may be blown or moulded, as may be cheapest and
best. Around the top of this body is formed a groove marked x, x; B
represents the top or lid of the coffin, which is provided on its under side with
a flange which enters the groove a, a, when 'said lid is placed upon the body.
The lid B is also provided with an opening on top, in which is fitted any simple
form of air pump, as shown at a. D, D, represent metallic bands which pass
around the coffin and serve to bind the cover or lid on securely. These bands
are in two parts, being hinged together at E, and joined or secured together at
F by means of screws or otherwise.
When a dead body is placed in this coffin the groove x, x, is partially
filled with any convenient and suitable cement, the lid is then placed on and
the flange c, c, is pressed into the cement, and the said lid securely fastened
down by means of the metallic bands D, D. A portion of the air may be
removed from the coffin by means of the pump a, so that there being less
pressure of air on the outside, than there is on the inside of the dead body, it
will be caused by the air within to fill out and assume a more lifelike appear-
ance. Besides this, by removing a portion of the air, there will be less liability
of the body's decaying.
The advantages of this coffin are many, as glass is one of the best noncon-
ductors of heat and electricity known; it is more durable than almost any other
substance; it is cheap and easily made, blown or pressed; and when the body
within it, is made to assume a more lifelike appearance, it, the said body, may
be at any time seen and observed by the friends and relations of the deceased.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Copping, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
Signed, sealed, and delivered in the
presence of
FRA IMPEY, Solicitor,
12, Bedford Row, London.
SAMUEL COPPING. (L.S.)