Improvements in Burial Caskets or Means of Enclosure for the Dead.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 28th Feb., 1899-Accepted, 15th Apr., 1899
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Burial Caskets or Means of Enclosure for the Dead.
I, CHARLES MICHAEL DRENNAN, of 17, Whitfield Street, Boston, in the State
of Massachusetts, one of the United States of America, Manufacturer, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:
This invention has for its object the production of a novel burial casket, com-
posed preferably of sheet metal.
The casket to be herein described is so constructed that it may be hermetically
sealed, especial provision having been made by which to effect that result.
The main part of the cover and body are each made preferably of a single
piece of sheet metal made from a blank suitably notched or cut away to provide
for the desired outline of the cover or body, the blank so notched being thereafter
subjected to the action of suitable dies whereby the box-like shape may be
imparted to the cover or body, the edges left by notching the blanks being by
such operation brought together to be soldered firmly together.
The upper edge of the body of the casket is provided with a flange which is
shown as of two thicknesses of metal, to thereby afford additional stiffness and
a finished, smooth edge, said flange occupying, as shown, a substantially hori-
zontal position.
Prior to this invention it has been attempted to turn the edge of the cover
of the casket inwardly under the flange at the top of the body, but it has been
found impracticable; and consequently I have applied to the cover an angle iron
having substantially parallel lips, one of which is secured to the interior of the
cover, while the other is left long enough to enter the interior of the body to
make a close fit, and I have also added a series of metallic sealing strips or ears,
they being carried by the cover and attached to the interior thereof, preferably
between the angle irons having the lips and the cover, said sealing strip being
free to be bent upwardly, under and so as to embrace the flange of the body, there-
by making it possible to leave the lower edge of the cover smooth and finished
uniformly, which could not be done when the edge of the cover is bent upwardly
under the flange of the body as heretofore provided for.
Fig. 1 shows a burial casket embodying my invention;
Fig. 2 is a partial longitudinal section thereof, the dotted lines showing the
sealing strips or ears in their normal position before being bent up;
Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail showing part of the flanged upper end of the body,
with part of the cover and the angular strips or ears, and
Fig. 4 is a section of a part of the cover with a modified form of angle iron
attached to it.
The burial casket herein to be described will be composed preferably of sheet
metal, and it will be made of two blanks, one for the body A and the other for
the cover B.
These blanks while in sheet form will be notched or cut away at suitable points

page_text: where the body or cover is to present corners or seaming mitre joints, and there-
after the blanks will be subjected to pressure in suitable dies or otherwise, and
the beading shown may be formed, this beading being susceptible of change in
many different ways according to the design which it is desired that the casket
may have.
After this beading has been completed, the edges a, a, and b, b, of the body
and cover are brought together and united by solder securely so as to make an
absolutely tight joint.
The upper edges of the body, before the corners referred to are soldered together,
are flanged outwardly as at a¹, and inturned as at a², to thereby leave a stiff
rigid flange.
The cover, of whatever cross section, will have a terminal edge as b¹ and inside
this cover I attach an angle irou C, it presenting preferably two parallel lips c, c¹,
with a connecting portion c² between, one of the parallel portions being suitably
united to the interior of the cover, as in Figs. 2 and 3, while the other lip c', it
depending inside the cover, passes within the interior of the flanged upper edge
of the body, and preferably either the connecting portion 2 of the angle iron,
or the flange, will be grooved, to receive a suitable luting or packing which will
form an absolutely air tight joint so as to hermetically seal the casket against
any passage or leakage of gas.
As shown in Figs. 2 and 3, this luting may be laid on the top of the flange
in quantity, and the cover may be applied, and as the cover comes to a seat on
the luting, the said luting is compacted firmly and rearwardly in the joint
between-the-angle-iron and the flange.
At suitable intervals I apply between the portion c of the angle iron-and-the-
interior of the cover, a sealing strip or ears d, said strips or ears being some-
what separated one from the other and of any desired number, so that said ears,
when the cover has been applied to the body, and it is desired to seal the same
hermetically, may be turned from the dotted line-position Figs. 2 and 3, up into
the full line position, firmly against the underside of the flange.
If desired, the downturned portion c¹ of the angle iron, instead of being cut
off so that its end terminates within the body as in Figs. 2 and 3, may be
extended upwardly as in the modification-Fig.-4,_and_again_flanged outwardly,
to rest against the underside of the cover as at c, where it will be again attached
to the cover by suitable, solder, thus making a very firm and rigid angle iron
and at the same time affording an additional brace for the. cover.
I have provided a portion of the casket, preferably the cover B, with one or
more valve stems e, having removable covers e¹ so that after the casket has been
hermetically sealed, I may if desired pump or force any antiseptic or preserving
gas or fluid into the metallic casket.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:
In a burial casket or means of enclosure for the dead.
1. A metallic casket composed of a body having a laterally extended flange at
or near its upper edge, a cover, an angle iron secured to the interior of said cover
and having a depending lip to enter the open top of the body inside of its flange,
and a retaining ear or ears supported inside said cover and adapted to be bent
inwardly under the flanges of the body to retain the cover in place, leaving the
edge of the cover in its finished condition, substantially as described.
2. A metallic casket composed of a body having a laterally extended top flange,
a cover having a depending finished edge, an angle iron secured to the interior
of the said cover air tight, and a series of retaining ears interposed between a
lip of said angle iron and the interior of the cover at the junction of the angle
iron with said cover, said ears being adapted to be bent upwardly under the flange

page_text: of the body to retain the cover seated with the horizontal part of the angle iron
resting on the horizontal part of the flange at the body, substantially as described.
3. A metallic casket composed of a body having a laterally extended top flange,
a cover having a depending finished edge, an angle iron secured to the interior
of the said cover air tight, and a series of retaining ears interposed between a
lip of said angle iron and the interior of the cover at the junction of the angle
iron with said cover, said ears being adapted to be bent upwardly under the
flange of the body to retain the cover seated with the horizontal part of the angle
iron resting on the horizontal part of the flange at the body, a groove being formed
between the horizontal part of the angle iron and the horizontal part of the body
to receive luting, substantially as described.
T11 201
1
" TA
1000
WM. BROOKES & SON,
55 and 56, Chancery Lane, London,
Agents for the Applicant.