US704899A - Burial-vault and method of constructing same. - Google Patents

Description

Patented luly'i'fi, 1902.

L. MILLER. BURIAL VAULT AND METHOD OF DONSTRUGTING SAME.

(Application Bled Jan. 92, 1902.)

(N0 Model.)

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LEWIS MILLER, OF THORNTOWN, INDIANA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO .JAMES T. MGKIM, OF THORNTOWN, INDIANA.

BURlAL-VAULT AND METl-lOD OF CONSTRUCTING SAME.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 704,899, dated July 15, 1902.

Application filed January 22, 1902. Serial No. 90,787. (No model.)

To all when 2, it may concern:

Be it known that I, LEWIS MILLER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Thorntown, in the county of Boone and State'of Indiana, have invented a new and useful BuriaLVa-ult and Method of Constructing the Same, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to an improvement in cement burial-vaults and in the method of constructing the same.

The object of my invention is to produce a vault for single interments into which a casket maybe introduced and around which casket the vault may be formed, so that when completed there shall be incasing the casket a single piece of cement which when it hardens will be without seams or joints.

The accompanying drawings illustrate my improved vault and the method of constructing the same.

Figure 1 is a sectional perspective view showing a portion of the vault in that stage of construction immediately following the insertion of the casket. Fig. 2 is a similar view after the casket has been inserted and while the top of the vault is being constructed.

In operation the grave is dug in the earth 3 in the usual manner, except that it is approxi mately some six inches wider and longer than usual. I then place in the bottom of the grave a floor of cement 4, said cement being preferably that described and claimed in the application of James T. McKim, Serial No. 90,833, filed January 22, 1902. The box 5 in which the casket is usually contained is then laid upon the floor of cement being spaced equal distances from the sides and ends of the grave, and cement is then introduced into the spaces between the sides and ends of the box and the walls of the grave, so as to form the side walls 6 of the vault. It is the intention that the vertical walls of the vault shall be completed at about the time when the funeral cortege reaches the cemetery; but if for any reason the walls are completed before that time it is necessary to provide means which will keep the cement at the upper edges of the vertical walls 6 unset, and for this purpose I provide wedge-strips 7, preferably of soft wood, which will be embedded along the top edges of the vertical walls 6. These wedges are preferably formed with one straight vertical side, which is placed parallel with the ground side of the walls 6, and said wedges are held away from the dirt by means of short wedges or blocks 8, as shown. The wedges 7 extend some distance-say about six inchesvertically into the wall 6 and operate to retard the setting of the cement. When the casket arrives, it is placed within box 5 and cross pieces 9, preferably arched, are laid across the top. of box 5 at suitable intervals. A covering 10, of light stud only sufficient to stand the weight of cement to be placed thereon whilethe same is setting, is then tacked to the upper edges of the arches, extending from end to end of the box 5. Each cross-piece 9 is preferably provided at its lower corners with recesses 11, adapted to receive the vertical side walls of the box 5, and in order to prevent the entrance of cement at the ends of the box one of said pieces is placed close to each end. The wedges 7 and 8 are then withdrawn and the cement cover 12 is formedby spreading a layer of green cement over the cover 10, said cement extending down into the recesses formed by wedges 7 and 8 and uniting firmly with the side walls. of the vault. As a consequence a vault is formed which is seamless, so that it is absolutely impervious to moisture, vermin, or ghouls.

I claim as my invention A method of constructing burial vaults which consists in laying a floor of green cement upon the bottom of the grave, placing the casket-box thereon in the grave, insert ing green cement bet ween the vertical walls of the casket-box and the walls of the grave so as to form a unit with the cement floor, inserting removable absorbent strips in the upper edges of the vertical cement walls, inserting the casket in the casket-box, removing the absorbent strips,'placing a supportingcovering over the open upper end of the casket-box, and placing a layer of green cement upon said covering and extending from side to side of the vertical walls so as to unite therewith and extend into the recesses formed by The removal of theabsorbent strips.

LEWIS MILLER.

Witnesses CHAS. W. McLAUeHLIN, JOHN E. LA RUE.

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