Improvements relating to the Manufacture of Coffins.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 16th Feb., 1895
Complete Specification Left, 16th Dec., 1895-Accepted, 18th Jan.. 1896
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements relating to the Manufacture of Coffins.
I WILLIAM HENRY NOSLEN Nelson Hotel Wellington Road Stockport
Manufacturer do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:
This invention relats to a new or improved manufacture of coffins and has for
its object an improved means of obtaing the well known bend in the side peases-
of the same.
1st. In carrying out my invention I form suitable die plates for compressing
planks of wood between and giving the said planks the desired bend or shape for
the coffin sides, using hydraulic or other pressure to compress the planks.
When I cramp or use other suitable means to ensure the dies holding the said
plank or planks in position (when taken from underneath the press) untill set or
dry, I steam or wet and steam the planks (either before or while under presure)
to obtain the necessary pliancy.
2nd. I may form a partition by sheet lead or other damp resisting equivalent
between the timber forming an inner and outer shell of wood, this partition of lead
whould apply to all parts of the coffin.
The aforementioned die plates may either be taken to or from under or over the
press by a wheeled trolly or other suitable means.
Dated this day 15th of February 1895.
Improvements relating to the Manufacture of Coffins.
I WILLIAM HENRY NOSLEN of Nelson Hotel, Wellington Road, Stockport,.
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 said invention relates to improvements in coffins.
One part of my said invention relates to a more economical method of bending
the planks forming the sides of a coffin than as at present in use. For this purpose
I press the plank to the required curvature by subjecting it to pressure between
two dies having corresponding concave and convex pressing surfaces.
Fig. 1 of the accompanying drawing illustrates this part of my said invention.
In this figure a is the table or bed of a press b is the press plate guided by
pillars c or in any other convenient manner. Pressure may be applied by the action
of water a screw levers weights or other means.
Lying on the press-table a is the lower die d. On this is laid the plank p-
to be bent. Over the latter is laid the upper die d'. On the application of
pressure the dies approach and the plank is bent to correspond to the con--
figuration of the dies. While under pressure the dies are secured to each
other by cramps bolts or other like means and are removed with the
intervening wood which remains between the dies until it has become set to the.

page_text: desired curvature. Any desired number of planks corresponding to the power of
the press may be laid between the dies and treated simultaneously. In order to
gain access for air to the outer surfaces of the plank while in the dies I may in
some case make them as a frame work as shown in plan in Fig. 2 so as to clamp
the margin of the plank only. Strengthening bars or stretchers as shown in
dotted lines at ee in Fig. 2 may be used. Where the dies are not made open in
this manner they may be perforated for the same purpose.
The surfaces of the dies may in some cases be engraved or otherwise formed with
patterns in order to apply varied effects such as mouldings or other ornamentation
to the surface of the wood.
Another part of my said invention consists in forming some or all parts of the
shell of a coffin either wholly or partially of a composite nature that is to say of
two layers of wood having an intervening layer of metal or other damp resisting
material as shown in Fig. 3 in which fare wooden boards and g the intervening
layer of damp resisting material. The bent sides of such a coffin are produced by
the simultaneous compression in dies of the two boards and the intervening layer
in the same manner as hereinbefore set forth. The different layers may be secured
together by nails screws cement or other suitable means.
To give the necessary pliancy to the wood to enable it to bend with facility to
the configuration of the dies various means may be employed according to the
kind of wood and the state in which it is used. Green or unseasoned wood
contains so much natural moisture that by subjecting it to the action of heat or hot
air immediately before or during pressing it acquires sufficient pliancy. Seasoned
boards may be reduced to a sufficient degree of pliancy by subjecting them to the
action of moisture as for example by soaking them or to the action of moisture
and heat and by the action of a steam jet or by placing them in a warm chamber
or receptacle in the presence of moisture. Hot air or steam may be directed
against the surface of the boards while in the press by means of fans blowers or
jets. In some cases the press plates or dies may be heated.
The temporary pliancy obtained by the foregoing methods will gradually
disappear while the boards are setting in the dies and on the removal of the latter
the boards will retain their curvature.
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-
1. The process of producing bent coffin sides by subjecting them while in a
temporarily pliant state to pressure between shaped dies or moulds and holding
them therein until set substantially as set forth.
2. A coffin the shell of which consists wholly or partially of a layer of metal
or other damp-resisting material between two layers of wood substantially as set
forth.
3. The process of producing the bent sides of coffins by subjecting two layers of
wood with an intervening layer of metal or other damp-resisting material to
pressure between dies and holding them until set to the required configuration
substantially as set forth.
Dated this 13th day of December 1895.
E. T. WHITELOW, A.M. Inst. C.E.,
70 Deansgate, Manchester, Agent for the Applicant.