Inventions are inspired by the problems and demands of the time in which they are made. They are also inspired by fears. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, many people were afraid of the idea of ​​being buried alive, and for good reason. Although cremation and embalming existed, most people washed, dressed and buried at home. They were also buried quickly, usually within three days of death, to prevent decomposition. There was probably no physician available for many people who could examine the body, and even if there were, the medical equipment used at that time made it difficult for a physician to distinguish actual death from diseases such as catalepsy. imitating death.

William Tebb and Edward Vollum in 1896 I prepared a book It describes dozens of cases of premature burial and narrow escapes reported in newspapers and magazine articles. However, the most dramatic and, I suppose, somewhat embellished account of the early burial occurred slightly later, in 1915, and involved a woman named Essie Dunbar. Like recently retoldEssie’s body was placed in a coffin, the coffin was placed in a grave, and the process of covering it with soil was completed. Just then Essie’s sister arrived and begged to see Essie one last time. The coffin was lifted, and after opening the lid, Mrs. Dunbar sat up and smiled. HE lived until 1955 when he “died” for the second and last time.

Unsurprisingly, such horror stories proliferation of patents Offering escape or rescue routes to prematurely buried people. Representative of these “safety coffins” is the coffin (USA), invented by Franz Vester and patented in 1868. 81,437)

The elements in the Vester coffin are typical of almost all safety coffins, to varying degrees and with some variations. As shown above, the coffin has a tower (B) that connects to the top lid of the coffin (A) directly over the face and upper body of the prospective corpse. Where the tower connects to the cover, there is an open square or rectangular section (C) wide enough for the interred person to pass through and possibly surprise visitors to the cemetery at the time. This tower extends upwards and in use its top (E) will be just above the soil used to cover the coffin. The upper part is attached to the tower so that it can be opened from the inside and is equipped with a glass plate to allow a person standing above the burial site to observe the face of the person interred at the bottom of the tower and vice versa. An opening near the top of the tower allows air to pass from the outside environment into the coffin. There are steps along the inner wall of the tower to provide a staircase for an early burial to climb out. The invention involves a rope (F) that is wrapped around the hand of the person being buried during burial and tied to a bell located near the top of the body, in case the person is too weak to do so. tower. Thus, the bell can be rung by the person being buried, giving a clue to the listeners that the funeral may be a little early.

More recently, it seems that our focus may have shifted from avoiding the consequences of premature burial to simply entertaining the bodies. WE 7,765,656 (released August 3, 2010) and US 9,226,059 (released December 29, 2015) describes audio systems that transmit recorded messages or music to a casket full of corpses. It’s even possible for a corpse and his girlfriend to enjoy a few songs together:

Figure 1, from US 9,226,059

While secure coffins have managed to alleviate some of the fear associated with early burial, there are no documented cases where one of these devices has actually saved someone. And even for those who narrowly escaped burial, the escape was not permanent….