IMPROVEMENTS IN COFFINS
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Henry Brown, of Portsea, in the County of
Southampton, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN COFFINS."
Sealed the 14th July 1857, and dated the 26th January 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Henry Brown
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 26th January 1857.
I, WILLIAM HENRY BROWN, of Portsea, in the County of Southampton, do
hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN COFFIns,”
to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in coffins, in order,
during the necessary period a corpse is retained in the house, to prevent
offensive and injurious exhalations proceeding from the coffin. For this
purpose charcoal or other suitably charred or coked substances are used to
line the lid, or otherwise placed in the interior of the coffins, and disinfecting
liquid, or solid or gaseous matters, such as chloride of zinc, chloride of lime,
chlorine, and numerous others, are applied by means of a suitable apparatus,
and all are so applied as to absorb, intercept, or disinfect the odours and also
the injurious gases which proceed from the corpse, whether cognizable by the
senses or not. It is preferred too that the coffin should be constructed with
a rack or open frame near to but not on the bottom of the coffin, and that the
corpse should be placed on such rack or open frame instead of on the bottom
of the coffin, so as to remove the corpse from the moisture often proceeding
from it.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions. of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Henry Brown in the Great Seal Patent, Office
on the 24th July 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
HENRY BROWN, of Portsea, in the County of Southampton, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said William Henry Brown, Her special licence that I, the said William
Henry Brown, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said William Henry Brown, 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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN COFFINS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said William Henry Brown, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should
particularly 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 William Henry Brown, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say:―
This Invention has for its object improvements in coffins, in order, during
the necessary period a corpse is retained in the house, to prevent offensive and
injurious exhalations proceeding from the coffin. For this purpose charcoal
or other suitable charred or coked substances are used to line the lid, or other-
wise placed in the interior of the coffins, and disinfecting liquid, or solid or
gaseous matters, such as chloride of zinc, chloride of lime, chlorine, and
numerous others, are applied by means of a suitable apparatus, and all are so
applied as to absorb, or intercept, or disinfect the odours and also the injurious
gases which proceed from the corpse, whether cognizable by the senses or not.
The best mode of applying the Invention is to have a double quilt or bag, the
size and shape of the interior of the coflin, made of wadding, paper, wire gauze,

page_text: calico, or other textile fabrics, filled with charcoal, or other suitable charred or
coked substances, and laid over the corpse, which can be easily removed in
whole or in part. In all ordinary cases this alone would be sufficient. In
cases of contagious and infectious diseases a bag made of wadding or other
similar material should be filled with chloride of lime. This, for preservation
in perfect condition should be enclosed, when made in a gutta percha envelope,
in order to keep it hermetically sealed till about to be introduced into a coffin..
When required for use, the gutta percha envelope should be ripped open and
the bag of chloride of lime deposited in the coffin, or, in extreme cases, one at
each end of the coffin. In cases in which it may be desired from peculiar
reasons to retain the corpse unburied beyond any usual period, a quilt should
after some days be substituted for the one at first applied; additional bags of
chloride of lime may also be used, as occasion or inclination may prompt. It
is preferred too that the coffin should be constructed with a rack or open
frame near to or on the bottom of the coffin, and that the corpse should be
placed on such rack or open frame instead of on the bottom of the coffin, so as
to remove the corpse from the moisture often proceeding from it.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Henry Brown, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of July, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Witness,
C. H. BINSTEED,
Solicitor & Notary,
Portsmouth.
WILLIAM HENRY BROWN. (L.S.)