Burial-casket.

Application filed December 10,1903, . Serial No, 184,527, (No model,)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Elisha A. Post, a citi-. zen of the United States, residing at Allegan, county of Allegan, State of Michigan, have in5 vented certain new and useful Improvements in Burial-Caskets, of which the following is a description, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings, in which—

Figure 1 is a view of two blanks from which το square-ended caskets are formed; Fig. 2, a perspective view of one end of each of the blanks folded to form; Fig. 3, a view of two blanks from which round-ended caskets are formed; Fig. 4, perpective views of one end, 15 of each of the blanks shown in Fig. 3 folded to form; Fig. 5, a view of two blanks from which octagonal caskets are formed; Fig. 6, perspective views of one end of each of the blanks shown in Fig. 5 folded to form; Fig. 20 7, a plan view of ah octagonal casket-body, and Fig. 8 a detail of a slightly-different form of blank.

The object of this invention is to produce a cheap, light, and durable burial-casket made 25 up of layers of coarse strawboard paper, woodfiber board, Or similar material, each layer being formed from a one-piece blank of such outline that-when placed in a mold and properly shaped up forms the bottom, sides, and ends of 30 the casket-body.

The invention relates particularly to providing blanks of the proper shape', so that when they are assembled the ends of the caskets will be of the desired form and the joints 35 in each layer will “break” with the joints in the contacting layer or layers. It is preferred that the casket be made up of blanks of two different forms, said blanks being so cut at their ends that when folded each sup40 ports and braces the other. These blanks are superimposed in alternate layers, with layers of cement or suitable waterproof adhesive material between them, and are then placed in a mold and brought to proper form and held 45 under pressure until the cement has set and hardened, as fully set forth in my Patent No. 668,883, dated February 26, 1901.

Referring to the various parts by letters and numerals, 1 designates.theportion of the blank which forms the bottom of the casket, and 2 50 the portions which are bent up to form the sides thereof.

In forming caskets with square ends blanks A and B (shown in Fig. 1) are employed. The blank A is cut out on the lines 3 and 4 to form 55 the end piece 5. It will be readily seen that this blank may be folded up, as shown at A' in Fig. 2, and that as thus folded it will form one complete layer for the body of the casket. The blank B is cut out on the lines 6, 60 7, and 8 to form the two end sections 9. which are practically longitudinal extensions of the side pieces. This blank is to be folded up, as shown at B' in Fig. 2, the end pieces or sections 9 meeting at the center of the casket. 65 When these two ’ blanks are assembled one within the other, it will be noted that the end joints of blank A will be completely covered by the solid or uncut portions of the blank B and that the joint between the end sections of 70 blank B will be at the middle of the end piece 5 of blank A. Blanks of this form are placed one within the other in alternate layers- until the casket-wall. is of the proper thickness, it being understood, of course, that between each 7 5 layer is a layer of suitable cement.

The blanks C and D (illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4) are employed in constructing a casket having round ends. It will be noted that blank C is cut out at its ends to form the ra- 8° _:dial end sections 10, which sections when brought to a vertical position form a complete rounded end for the casket-body,. the inner ends of the said sections terminating on a semicircle, which marks the curve that is to 85 be given to the end of thecasket. The blank P is formed at each end with the two end sections 11, which are longitudinal extensions of the side piece 2, and the ends of the bottom section are cut on a curve which corre- 90 sponds to the curve marking the inner ends of the radial end sections 10 of the blank C. The two end.sections 11 are of. such length that when they are brought to a vertical po768,481 sition around the curved end of the bottom ’ It is obvious that if blanks are employed oi the ends of said end sections will abut to- ! such shape and cut in such manner that when gether on a line perpendicular to the longitudinal center of the casket. It will thus be j 5 seen that when these two blanks (’ and I) are properly shaped, as shown at C' and D' in Fig. 4, and assembled one within the other the .joints in one end section will not at any ' point register with '.joints in the end section j io of the other blank. It will also be noted that the end sections of the blank C are integral j with the bottom section of said blank, while the end sections of the blank D are integral with the side pieces and separated from the 15 bottom section. These blanks are to be arranged in alternate layers in the same manner as the blanks shown in Fig. 1.

The blanks E and F (shown in Fig. 5) are employed in constructing octagonal caskets. 20 The blank E is cut out to form the end sections 12, the inner ends of the cuts terminaling at points which mark the corners of the ! casket, said cuts being so made that when the end sections are brought to a vertical posi25 tion the edges of said end section abut closely together. It will be noted that these end sections are integral with the bottom section of the blank and are separated from each other and from the side sections by vertical 30 cuts or joints. The blank F is cut out along the lines 13, 14, and 15 to form the points 16 on the ends of the bottom section and to form the end sections 17. The point 16 is bent up on the dotted line 18 to form a portion of the 35 end, and the end sections are bent on the dotted lines 19 to form with the bent-up portion of the end section 16 the complete end of the casket layer. When the two blanks E and F are properly bent to form, as shown in E' 40 and F' in Fig. 6, and are placed one within the other, it will be noted that the joints of one will not register at any point with the joints of the other, so that each will be braced by the other. It will also be noted that the 45 end sections of one blank are separated from the bottom section, while in the other blank the end sections are integral with the bottom section and are separated from each other along vertical lines.

It will thus be seen that I form my casket of two differently-shaped blanks, in one of which the end sections are integral with the bottom section and separated from the side sections, and in the other the end sections are 55 separated from the bottom section and are integral with the side sections, said blanks being so formed that none of the joints of one blank will register with the joints in the other blank. It will also be noted that I use these 60 blanks for alternate layers of the casket-body, the thickness of the wall of the casket being determined by the number of layers employed.

folded to the linal form of the casket-body 65 any of the joints between the end sections and the body of the casket register in the various layers the completed casket will be weak at that point. It is one of the main objects of this invention to avoid this defect. 70

If it is desired to form the caskets flaring from the bottom to the top, this may be readily done by cutting the sides and end pieces of the blank larger at their outer ends than at their inner ends, as shown in Fig. 8. 75