US177101A - Improvement in the art of manufacturing artificial-stone coffins - Google Patents

Description

T. E. DANIELS. ART OF MANUFACTURING ARTIFICIALSTONE CQFFINS No. 177,101.

Patented May9,187'6'.

w'i 'i'nesqse:

N- PET ERS, PHOT U T ESTATEE PATENT orrrcn.

TAYLOR DANIELS, OF, DETROIT, MIOHIGAN.

IMPROVEME'N-TlN IIHEAR-T OF MANUFACTURING A-RTlFlC-IAL-STONE COFI I'NS.

Speoification formingpartof Letters Patent No. 17 75-101, dated May 9, 1876; application filed July 16, 1875.

. "To *all "wh'om it' mag concern ='Be :it known that LTAYLOR D'A'NrELs, of Detroit, inithe county of Wayneand State of Michigan, 'haveinvented-certain new and useful Improvements in the Art of Manufac- '=turing Artificial btone Oofli11s, of which the :following isaspecification:

My invention consists in an improved meth-.

0d of forming thin artificial-stone cofiins, to'

takeLtheiplace of the wooden and metal ones now in general use; and it consists'incasting the'coffin'in an inverted position, in a mold having a fixed core and 'removableuside-walls, "ashereinafter fully'explained. Many attempts have hitherto been made to devise a practical mode of forming :artificial-stone coffins or burial-eases; but, owing to the peculiar-nature of the material to be=dealtfwith andthe peculiar requirements of "the'casepall such attempts have resulted in failure, and consequently artificial-stone coffins are not to be found in the market, although, when properly made, they possess many and decided advantages over those of wood and metal. My cases are intended and adapted to takethe place of the usual coffins or cases, and not merely as a case to inclose the same, and hence, in their manufacture, several requirements must be fulfilled: the case must be smooth and regular inside and out; the walls must be thin,'in order to render the coffin light, but at the same time of a uniform thickness, so that the coffin will have no weak points; the corners, angles, and edges must be sharp, clean, and true; provision must be made for paneling, molding, or otherwise ornamenting the exterior of the coffin; provision must be made for the introduction of a skeleton metal frame into the walls when they are being formed, to give them the requisite strength when made very thin; provision must also be made for the application of a trimming or edging to the upper edges of the.

walls, for the purpose of giving the same a finish and affording a means of securing the lining material in place; and, finally, provision must be made for removing the outside walls of the mold and exposing the soft, damp coffin to the air without danger of fracturing or marring it in so doing. Two methods of forming the coffins have been tried and .set.

without succ'essone in which the :material was -plastered by hand upon *the inside -of a mold, and another in which the'coffins were mist-in an-npright position in a mold, in which they necessarily remained until well hardened The first plan was slow/laborious, andexpensive, resulted in the production of crude and:imperfect coffins, and didniot permitthe application of the frame 'or the edgin g. The-second =plan required the use ofthe mold'for a great -length oftime,and :necess'itated the-employment of many moldsin order to producethe coffins rapidly; itfailed to produce sharp angles andcorners; it often left flawsin the-walls, and it did not :permit the accurate'adjustment of: either the strengthening-frame -or the edging. After long and tedious experiments, -I have-found'that I can -='overcome allthe'evils above-enumerated, and

produce the coffins cheaply and in such form as to answer all requirements, by casting them in an inverted position, bottom upward, in a mold having a fixed core corresponding with the interior of the required coffin, and outside walls which are removable, as represented in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 represents a plan view of my mold complete and ready for use; Fig. 2, a plan View of the same with one side loosened and thrown back; Fig. 3, a longitudinal ver- I tical section of the same.

It will be seen that the mold has a base or distance equal to the thickness of the coffin-- bottom. The end walls 0 are set in grooves in the side-walls, which latter are held up in place by transverse rods 0, seated in notches in the sides, and provided on their ends with nuts for tightening them up, as clearly shown in the drawing. The walls are provided on their inner faces with panels, beading, molding, or other equivalents, for giving the required ornamentation to the exterior of the coffin.

When the mold is to be filled, the walls are secured firmly and tightly upon the base by screws or other devices which will admit of their being readily released when desired. After the mold is properly adjusted, the ma terial is filled into the space around the core and on top of the same, packed or settled down, so as to fill all the corners and angles, and then leveled off flush with the top of the walls. As soon as the material has set or hardened sufficiently to permit it, the rods are released and the walls of the mold removed, and the exterior of the coffin therebyexposed to the air, by which it will be caused to harden very rapidly.-

As the coffin-wallsilean inward upon and are sustained by the core, the walls of the mold can be removed very soon after the material is cast therein. This early removal of the walls is attended with two advantagesfirst,,that it permits the coffin to be hardened and finished quickly, and, second, that it per:

mits the mold-walls, which, with their ornamentations, are quite expensive, to be used in a connection with different cores quite frequently, thus saving the expense of extra walls,

which would otherwisebe required to do the same amount of work.

When the coffin is to be provided with the edging around the top of its walls, the edging ,is placed in the bottom of the empty mold between the core and the walls, which hold it securely and accurately in place, and insure a smooth, flush finish where it joins the cofiin such finish, strength, and lightness as to render their manufacture both practicable and profitable in competition with those made of wood and iron.

I am aware that sectional molds are old, and, also, that it is old to castarticles in various positions; but, so far as I know, no one has hitherto produced an artificial-stone coffin in the manner above described, and by extensive practical use I have demonstrated my method to be far preferable to all others, ard to be a great improvement in the art to which it appertains.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is a As an improvement in the art of manufacturing artificiahstone coflins, casting them in an inverted position in a sectional mold, substantially as described and shown.

TAYLOR E. DANIELS.

Witnesses: l a

EDWIN J. MCLAIN, HARRY O. BIRCH.

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