AN IMPROVEMENT IN COFFIN FURNITURE
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Turner, of Farringdon Street, in the City of
London, Undertaker, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN COFFIN
FURNITURE."
Sealed the 10th September 1855, and dated the 14th March 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Turner at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 14th\
March 1855.
I, JOSEPH TURNER, of Farringdon Street, in the City of London, Undertaker,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN
COFFIN FURNITURE" to be as follows:-
It is the practice to place certain side and end ornamental plates upon
coffins, and to insert through such plates and into the coffin two loops or eyes,
which receive the two ends of a handle or grip. These handles or grips are
merely for ornament, as the coffin is hardly ever handled by them, nor, indeed,
would it be safe to do so.
Now, my improvement consists in dispensing with the eyes or loops and
grips or handles, and consequently with the expense of producing them, by
stamping or embossing upon the plates themselves a figure in relief having
the appearance of a handle or grip of the pattern and form desired inserted in

page_text: loops. Another advantage arises from its not being necessary to make holes,
in the coffin for the reception of the loops, which form bearings for the
handles.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Turner in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
13th September 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
TURNER, of Farringdon Street, in the City of London, Undertaker, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Joseph Turner, Her special licence that I, the said Joseph Turner,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Joseph
Turner, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree.
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the
term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN COFFIN
FURNITURE," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Joseph
Turner, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should parti-
cularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in
the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Joseph Turner, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:
It is the practice to place certain side and end ornamental plates or pieces
upon coffins, and to insert through such plates or pieces and into the coffin two
loops or eyes, which receive the two ends of a handle or grip. These handles
or grips are merely for ornament, as the coffin is hardly ever handled by them,
nor, indeed, would it be safe to do so.

page_text: Now, my improvement consists in dispensing with the eyes or loops and
grips or handles, and consequently with the expense of producing them, by
stamping or embossing upon the ornamental plates or pieces themselves, a
figure or design in relief having the appearance of a handle or grip of the
pattern or form desired inserted in loops. Another advantage arises from its
not being necessary to make holes in the coffin for the reception of the loops,
which form bearings for the handles.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim as my
improvement in coffin furniture is, the dispensing with the eyes or loops and
grips or handles, and substituting in lieu thereof ornamental plates or pieces,
whether made of leather, gutta percha, or other suitable material, stamped or
embossed with a figure or design in relief having the appearance of a handle
or grip of the pattern and form desired inserted in loops, as herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph 'Turner, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twelfth day of September, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-five.
JOSEPH TURNER. (L.S.)