US618159A - Burial-casket and handle - Google Patents

Description

No. 6l8,l59. Patented Jan. 24, I899. W. H. ANTES.

BURIAL CASKET AND HANDLE.

(Application filed Feb. 28, 1898.)

(N o M o d e l WWW EMWb/n Price,

PATENT \VILLIAM II. ANTES, OF ROCKFORD, ILLINOIS.

BURlAL-CASKET AND HANDLE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 618,159, dated January 24, 1899.

Application filed February 28,1898- $erial No. 671,957. (No model.)

T0 to whom, it may concern:

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM H. Avrns, of Rockford, in the county of Winnebago and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Burial-Caskets or Coffins and Handles for the Same, of which the following is a description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which are a part of this specification.

My invention has relation to improvements in burial-caskets or coffins and handles for the same.

It relates more particularly to burial-caskets or coffins so constructed as to provide for the connection thereto of end handles to enable pall-bearers to carry the casket at opposite ends thereof, which is frequently important and necessary where the casket is being carried through narrow passages and doorways of such diminished width as to make it impossible for the pall-bearers to grasp the handles connected to the sides of the casket.

It is the object of my invention to so construct the burial-casket as to provide for the connection thereto of removable handles which are capable of being instantly connected and disconnected and when disconnected to be freely removable and which when connected are preferably so arranged as not to be visible and not to appropriate any of the interior space of the casket.

With the above primary object in view the invention consists of the devices and parts or their equivalents,- as hereinafter more fully set forth.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a casket, showing the same broken away centrally and the handles properly connected. Fig. 2 is a plan view showing the casket broken away centrally and also showing the handles properly connected and a portion of the bottom of the casket broken away to illustrate clearly the manner of connecting the handle. Fig. 3is a detail view of one of the plates or castings which is countersunk into the bottom of the casket, and Fig. at is a longitudinal sectional view of the handle.

Referring to the drawings, the numeral 6 indicates a burial-casket, whichis of the usual and well-known form of construction. At opposite ends the casket has extending inwardly through the end pieces thereof and into the bottom of the casket for a desired distance recesses 7, preferably of circular form. Each of these recesses is intersected near its inner end by a transverse recess 8, formed in the bottom of the casket. In these transverse recesses are countersunk plates 9, which are held in place by means of screws or equivalents and are provided centrally with a depending apertured lug 10, which extends into the recess 7. It will be understood that the top surfaces of the plates 9 are flush with the upper surface of the bottom of the casket and are covered by thelining 11 of the casket, so as to be entirely invisible.

Each handle is composed of two principal membersviz., an outer tube 12 and an inner rod 13. The outer tube has pivoted therein a dog 14, one end of said dog protruding through an opening 15 in the tube. To the inner end of the dog is pivotally connected the inner end of the rod 13. The'outer end of the rod projects slightly beyond the outer end of the tube, and this projecting end is threaded in order to provide for the connection thereto of an operating finger-piece or head 16. This head extends into the end of the tube for a short distance and is formed medially at a point somewhat .removed from the end of the tube with a shoulder 17. A coiled spring 18 encircles the rod between the inner end of the finger-piece or head 16 and a projecting pin 19 from the tube.

In order to connect a handle, the fingerpiece or head is pushed inwardly to the extent permitted by the shoulder 17. This will cause a like inward movement of the rod 13, and said rod 13 will turn the dog 14 on its pivot, so as to throw its projecting end inwardly into the opening 15, whereby the dog offers no impediment to the free insertion of the handle. The handle is then passed into the recess 7, and thence through the apertured lug 10 of the plate 9, and after the end of the tube has reached the end of said recess pressure on the finger-piece or head 16 is removed. The coiled spring 18 in its recoil will act against the finger-piece or head and cause an out movement of the rod and a consequent turning of the dog back to its normal positionthat is, projecting through the opening 15. In this position it will be back of the inner edge of the plate 9, and consequently the handle will be held in engagement with the casket. In order to release the handle, it is obvious that all that is necessary to be done is to again press in on the finger-piece or head 16, so as to throw the projecting end of the dog down into the tube and release said dog from engagement with the inner edge of the plate. N o obstruction is then offered to the out-pulling of the handle.

From the above description it is thought that the construction, operation, and advantages of my invention will be readily understood.

It will be evident that, from the arrangement adopted by me, burial-caskets can be sold and put on the market constructed as herein shown and described, so as to be ready for the application thereto of the handles, which handles may likewise be separately sold and put on the market. A great advantage of my invention resides in the fact that the handles may be instantly connected and disconnected by the undertaker, so that at a funeral, if it is necessary to go through a narrow passage-way or doorway, the undertaker may instantly connect the handles and have the pall-bearers carry the casket from the ends thereof.

lVhile I have shown the recesses 7 as extending into the bottom of the casket, yet I do not wish to be understood as limiting myself to that exact arrangement, inasmuch as the sides of the casket might be provided with recesses to receive the handles passed through the end of the casket. I also consider it within the spirit and scope of my invention to omit altogether recesses either in the bottom or sides of the casket and run the handles along the sides or above the bottom and detachably connecting the ends thereof. The provision of the recesses, however, is by far the preferable arrangement, inasmuch as the appearance of the casket is not in the' least marred, as no portion of the construction adopted for fastening the handles is at all visible and also none of the interior space of the casketis appropriated.

In the accompanying illustration of my invention I have shown. two of the handles at each end. It will be understood that any desired number may be employed without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention.

lVhile I have shown and described my improvements as particularly adapted to burialcaskets, yet I do not wish to be understood as restricting myself to such application, as it is obvious that the same devices could be applied to various kinds of cases or receptacles which are required to be lifted or carried manually.

While it is obvious from the nature of the invention and the object contemplated thereby that it is desirable that the recesses in the casket should extend inwardly from the ends of the casket or openings provided through the ends of the casket, yet I do not wish to be understood as limiting myself thereto, as if desired the recesses could extend inwardly through the sides of the casket or holes provided through the sides thereof, so that the improved form of handles would constitute side handles and would be adapted to take the place of the ordinary permanent side handies. In such application of the handles, of course, the inner stops would have to be arranged in such position as to be engaged by the catch of the handles.

hat I claim as my invention is 1. A detachable handle, consisting of an outer tube having an opening near one end, a dog pivoted within the tube, and having one end normally projecting through said opening, a 'rod within the tube and having one end connected to the dog, and its opposite end extending beyond the end of the tube, so as to adapt the rod to be pushed inwardly.

2. A detachable handle consisting of an outer tube having an opening near one end, a dog pivoted within the tube and having one end normally projecting through said open ing, a rod within the tube and having one end connected to the dog, and its opposite end extending beyond the end of the tube, so as to adapt the rod to be pushed inwardly, and a spring encircling the rod within the tube, and adapted to be compressed as the rod is pushed inwardly.

3. A detachable handle, consisting of an outer tube having an opening near one end, a dog pivoted within the tube and having one end normally projecting through said opening, a rod within the tube and having one end connected to the dog, and its opposite end extending beyond the end of the tube, a finger-piece or head on the projecting end of the rod, said finger-piece or head extending a short distance into the tube, and provided beyond the outer end of the tube with a shoulder, adapted to limit the inward movement of the head.

4. The combination of a burial-casket hav-- ing an inner stop, a handle adapted to be inserted through an opening in the casket, said handle having a dog pivoted thereto, and means for operating said dog so as to cause the same to be turned down on its pivot and thereby clear the stop on the insertion or removal of the handle, and for causing said dog to be turned in the opposite direction to engage the stop and hold the handle detachably locked in position.

5. The combination, of a burial-casket hav ing an inner stop, a handle adapted to be inserted through an opening in the casket, said handle consisting of a tube having a dog pivoted therein, said dog normally having one end projecting through an opening in the inner end of the tube, and means within the tube for turning the dog on its pivot so as to cause the projecting end of the dog to be turned into the tube and thereby allow either for the insertion or the entire removal of the tube, and for causing said dog to turn back to its normal position to provide for its engagement With the stop.

6. The combination, of aburial-casket having a recess extending inwardly fora desired distance into the bottom of the casket and below the upper surface of said bottom, a plate intersecting said recess near the inner end thereof, said plate forming a stop, a handle having a dog pivoted thereto, and means for operating said dog so as to cause the same to be turned down on its pivot and thereby clear the stop on the insertion of the handle into or its removal from the recess, and for causing said dog to be turned in the opposite direction so as to engage the stop and hold the handle detachably locked in position.

7. The combination, of aburial-casket having an opening therethrough, and also having an inner stop, an adjustable catch carried by said handle, and means for adjusting said catch, whereby, under one adjustment of the catch, the handle is adapted to be freely inserted through the opening to such an extent that the end thereof will be beyond the stop, and also freely withdrawn through the opening of the casket, so as to be entirely disconnected from the casket, the catch, when the handle is inserted through the opening, and

said catch is beyond the stop, adapted, under another adjustment thereof, to engage back of the stop in order to hold the handle releasably in engagement with the stop.

8. The combination, of a burial-casket having a recess formed in, and extending longitudinally for a desired distance of, the casing forming the casket, a plate or stop countersunk in and intersecting the recess, at or near the inner end of the recess, said plate provided with a depending lug having an opening therethrough, and a tubular handle having a dog pivoted therein, said dog normally projecting through an opening in the tubular handle, and means for operating the dog, so as to turn the same into the tubular handle, so that said handle may be inserted into the recess of the casket and through the opening of the depending lug of the plate, and also removed from the casket.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM H. ANTES.

lVitnesses:

A. L. MoRsELL, ANNA V. FAUs'r.

Images