Improvements in Coffin Furniture.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 24th Dec., 1890-Accepted, 31st Jan., 1891
Improvements in Coffin Furniture.
I, THOMAS ISLIP of 22, Victoria Street, Northampton, in the County of
Northamptonshire, Undertaker, 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 furniture and refers first to the
plates usually nailed or screwed upon the lids thereof and bearing the name, age
or other similar inscription relating to the deceased whose body is lying in the
coffin.
My invention refers moreover to the handles usually screwed, nailed or otherwise
fixed to the outer sides and ends of the same coffins.
These plates and handles were heretofore made of brass, zinc or other similar
metal and after they had been buried in the ground for some length of time soon
became corroded or covered with verdigris particularly at the edges of the letters
which were thus soon obliterated and often rendered unrecognizable and useless for
the purpose of identification when the coffin had to be exhumed for legal or other
grounds.
Now according to my invention 1 replace such corrodible and perishable metals as
brass zinc or the like by a substance which is not only more durable than the
former but lends itself much better to the purpose of ornamentation. This
substance is papier maché which as is well known is most particularly adapt-
able for the manufacture of light durable and ornamented articles of every
description.
The plates which I make of papier-maché may have the inscription required.
embossed thereon in any suitable manner with letters of convenient size and shape
according to taste while scrolls frets or other decorating design or pattern may be
used to form a frame for these plates which may be subsequently glued, cemented,
mailed, screwed, or affixed in any desired way upon the coffin lid.
As this mode of forming letters or ornaments in papier maché is very inexpensive,
the plates can be made to have at a trifling cost, a much superior appearance than
the brass, zinc, or other plates hitherto used, as the latter were expensive to
engrave and could not be conveniently or cheaply provided with raised letters or
ornaments. This applies especially to the coffin handles above mentioned which
have hitherto been usually made of the plainest pattern owing to the expense that
would have had to be incurred in providing embossed or otherwise ornamented
metal handles.
But according to my invention the metal handle used need only consist of a rod
or axis suitably curved and fixed in the usual manner to the wooden sides and ends
of the coffin, and over this rod or axis may be passed fixed, fastened or attached in
any suitable manner a tubular handle of papier mache. This tube sleeve or handle
may be suitably embossed to form an elegant and elaborately ornamented article
which in combination with the plate of similar substance will greatly help to enhance
the outward appearance of the coffin, while it will last uninjured, undecomposed and
uncorroded for a considerable number of years, the letters on the plate being almost
unperishable so that the inscriptions will always be readable whenever exhumation
takes place.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is
Providing the lids sides and ends of coffins with plates and handles of papier-
inaché respectively substantially as and for the purpose set forth.
Dated this 24th day of December 1890.
HUGHES, ELI & HUGHES,
76, Chancery Lane, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.