A COFFIN SO SECURE AS TO RENDER IT IMPRACTICABLE EITHER TO BREAK, CUT, OR OTHERWISE OPEN THE SAME, AND CONSEQUENTLY TO PREVENT THE STEALING, REMOVING, OR TAKING AWAY THE BODY OR BODIES CONTAINED THEREIN
Year: 1796

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GABRIEL
AUGHTIE, of Cheapside, in the City of London, Hardwareman, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present Majesty King George the Third, by His Letters
Patent, bearing date at Westminster, the Twentieth day of July now last
past, hath given and granted unto me, the said Gabriel Aughtie, my exors,
adiñors, and assigns, special licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, to
make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also in all His Majestie's Colonies and Plantations
abroad, during the term of years therein expressed, my Invention of "A COFFIN
SO SECURE AS TO RENDER IT IMPRACTICABLE EITHER TO BREAK, CUT, OR OTHERWISE OPEN
THE SAME, AND CONSEQUENTLY TO PREVENT THE STEALING, REMOVING, OR TAKING AWAY
THE BODY OR BODIES CONTAINED THEREIN;" in which said Letters Patent there is
contained a proviso, obliging me, the said Gabriel Aughtie, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, to cause a particular description of the nature
of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within one calendar month next
and immediately after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and by
the same (relation being thereunto had), may more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Gabriel Aughtic, in compliance with the
said proviso, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be made, is particularly described and ascer-
tained in the Plan hereunto annexed, and the following description thereof,
that is to say :—

page_text: Tho coffin to be made of any kind of wood, and bound with steel, iron, or
any other metal; the sides are to be curved without saw curfs; on the top edge
of each side are to be three or more boxes, to be made of iron, steel, or
any other metal, and to be let in on the internal side of the coffin to
receivo the springs fixed to the lid on the top edge of the head, one
box to receive a spring on the top edge of the foot, one box to receive
another spring. The screws which are to fasten down the lid pass through an
iron or metal plate, with a socket to receive the head, and to prevent its being
got hold of with any kind of instrument-whatever for the purpose of drawing
the same; the screws are to be placed between each of the springs, in number
four, six, or eight, according to the number of springs and the size of the coffin;
the lid is also to be bound with steel, iron, or any other kind of metal, to
prevent the same being cut or broke open. The screws above mentioned are not
to have a notch on the head as in the common way, but they are to be divided
as described by the Plan and impression in wax hereunto annexed; some of the
heads are to be divided with two bevils, and some with four, so that when they
are screwed down it will be impossible to unscrew them, as by turning the
reverse way there is no hold for any kind of instrument. The screws to bo
used in fastening on the lid are to be sunk about half the thickness of the lid,
and the holes made in the lid for that purpose are to be filled after the screws
aro properly screwed down with plugs of wood, and covered or coloured to
mateli the coffin, so that when complete it will not appear as if the screws had
passed through the lid. A, B, C, D, as marked in the Plan hereunto annexed,
shows the inside of the bottom of the coffin; the lines drawn across with dots in
iron, steel, or other metal, put on with nails, screws, and rivets; E shows
angle plates of iron, steel; or other metal, fixed on with screws, nails, and rivets,
to prevent the sides, the head, and the feet from being separated from the
bottom, in number more or less according to the size of the coffin; F, G, H, I,
shews the internal part of one side; the lines drawn across and round the top
are to be steel or other metal, to be put on as above described; K shews the
box to receive the springs made of iron, steel, or other metal, put on with nails,
scrows, and rivets; L shows the inside of the head with three angle plates 'of
iron, steel, or other metal, in each angle a box to be fixed in the centre of the
top'eilge to receive the spring as before described, and the foot of the coffin to
be compleated in the same way; M, the large dot, shews a hole in the top
edge to receive the screws by which the lid is to be fastened on; N, the inside
of the lid, with iron, steel, or other metal bindings across as on the bottom; the
single line drawn about one iuch from the edge shows a slip of iron or steel to
prevent its being cut; O, the springs rivetted or scrowed into a plate of iron,

page_text: Inrolled the Seventeenth day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand seven hundred and ninety-six.