Improvements in Coffin Handles.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 14th Oct., 1890-Accepted, 6th Dec., 1890
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Coffin Handles.
I. JAMES ROBERT FLETCHER of New Haven, in the County of New Haven, and
State of Connecticut United States of America, Die Sinker, do hereby declare the
nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and-by the following statement :-
My invention relates to improvements in coffin handles, and the principal object of
by improvement is to produce a high grade coffin handle in which there are no pins
that come to the surface.
In the accompanying drawings ;—
Figure 1 is a front elevation of my handle.
Figure 2 is a sectional view of the handle plate and pintle on line of Fig. 1,
the handle being shown in side elevation.
Figure 3 is a horizontal section on line y-y of Fig. 2, the pintle being shown in
plan view.
Figure 4 is a central vertical section of my handle plate in a modified form
together with a side elevation of one of the fastening pins and a transverse section of
the pintle.
Figure 5 is mainly a side elevation of the handle therefor, a portion being shown
in vertical section on the line, Fig. 6.
Figure is a horizontal section of my handle in said modified form the plane of
section being in a plane passing through the pintle but leaving said pintle in plan
view, and
Figure 7 is a side elevation of one of the hinge lugs of my handle plate in said
modified form.
A designates the handle plate which is mainly of an ordinary construction and
which has the pintle 4 cast in between the hinge lugs or knuckles 5. 5, so that its ends
do not come to the surface and therefore will not show in the finished article. This
feature of itself is old in handles of different construction, where the handle plate is
slotted below the lugs to permit the handle being brought into a different position
when detached from the coffin than it can be after attachment. In my handle plate
however the underside of the plate is made solid instead of slotted, the same as in other
high grade handles.
In order to secure the handle B in a substantial and workman-like manner, to the
handle plate before described I build up and carry out the rear corners of the central
hinge lug or knuckle 6 of the handle joint and slot said knuckle on its rear side as
at 7, Figs. 2 and 3, the slot being wide enough to receive the pintle as shown.
This knuckle is drilled transversely to its slot for the insertion of the fastening pin 8,
in such a position that the fastening pin comes close to the pintle and tangentially
thereto as shown, so as to securely hold the handle on its pivot pin. The hole in
which the fastening pin 8 is inserted is accessible and can be seen only from the
back side of the handle plate A and therefore there are no pin or pins coming to
the surface of the article which will be likely to show when plated or finished as
the ends of pintle pins ordinarily are. At the same time the joint is a neat and
substantial one that is suitable for high grade work.
A modified form of my handle is shown in Figs. 4 to 7 inclusive in which I form
slots or grooves 9 in the confronting faces of the hinge knuckles 5, 5, and instead of
a round form I make the inner sides of said knuckles square at their front edge
as at 10. The pintle pin 4 I cast in the handle B with its ends projecting so as to
form pivotal trunnions. I also form grooves 11 in the body of the handle B on each
side of the central lug or knuckle 6, as shown in Figs. 5 and 6, to receive the
square portions 10 and permit the handle to turn on its pivot. The pintle ends are

page_text: slipped into the slots or grooves 9 in putting the handle into the handle plate and
fastening pins 8, 8, are passed through the slots in the knuckles 5, 5, of the handle
plate from the underside as shown in Figs. 4 and 6. As in the construction first
described neither the pintle or fastening pins come to the surface at any point that
will ordinarily be exposed to view.
I am aware that a cheap grade of handles has been made in which the pintle
pins do not come to the surface, the parts being hooked together merely, in the
form which they are cast, and dependent upon being secured to the casket or other
object in order to hold them in their assembled position, instead of. being securely
united, and the same are hereby disclaimed.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what 1
claim is―
The herein described coffin handle consisting of the handle plate A, the handle B
each having hinged knuckles or lugs with the pintle secured to one part, while the
companion part is slotted, and the fastening pin, 8 inserted through the slot by
the side of the pintle for securing the parts together, substantially as described and
for the purpose specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Robert Fletcher, have hereunto set my
hand and seal this
day of September in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and ninety
JAMES ROBERT FLETCHER.
W. P. Thompson & Boult,
Agents for the Applicant.
JAMES ROBERT FLETCHER.
W. P. Thompson & Boult,
Agents for the Applicant.