US 4,372,018 AGranted

Combined casket and burial vault assembly with stackable components

OwnerJohn P. K. Miller, IV, Benjamin T. Breazeale, IIinventors

Life of this patent

Estimating the term…

Loading patent…

Abstract

A combined casket and burial vault assembly comprises a casket lid having a peripheral depending lip, a casket body having tapered side walls, tapered end walls, and a peripheral flange portion adapted for receiving the casket lid thereon, a removable half couch, and a reusable display carrier having two opposed side walls, two opposed end walls and a reinforced bottom wall. The depending lip of the casket lid and the peripheral flange portion of the casket body are tapered in a complementary manner to create a hermetic seal when the lid is placed on the casket body. The display carrier includes ornamental hardware and hand rails or other carrying means for transporting the combined assembly from place to place. The casket lids, casket bodies and half couches are all separately stackable in a nested manner to facilitate storage. The casket lids and casket bodies are provided with removable interior lining and padding for attachment when needed. A further feature of the invention resides in the use of separate interment bars to enable vertical removal of the casket body from the reusable display carrier.

Claims10

Dependent claims

A combined casket and burial vault assembly of molded material comprising:

(a) a casket body having two opposed side walls, two opposed end walls and a bottom wall, said side walls and said end walls tapering outwardly from said bottom wall and terminating at their upper edges in a peripheral flange portion which defines an enlarged top opening for the casket body, said flange portion comprising:
(1) a flared portion extending outwardly from said side walls and said end walls at an angle relative to the vertical which is greater than the taper angle of said side walls and said end walls, respectively,
(2) an upstanding lip portion tapering outwardly from said flared portion at an angle relative to the vertical which is less than the angle of said flared portion, said upstanding lip portion terminating in a free edge surface suitable for receiving a sealant material,
(b) a lid receivable on the enlarged top opening of said casket body, said lid having a convex top porton and a depending peripheral lip portion, said depending lip portion tapering inwardly from said convex top portion at an angle corresponding to the outward taper angle of the upstanding lip portion of the casket, whereby said depending lip portion may be placed in overlapping and gripping relationship with the upstanding lip portion of said casket body when the lid is closed over the enlarged top opening of the casket body, with the free edge surface of said upstanding lip portion thereby being brought substantially into contact with the interior surface of the convex top portion of the lid for retaining a sealant material therebetween;
and
(c) a display carrier for receiving said casket body, said display carrier comprising two opposed side walls, two opposed end walls, and a bottom wall.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.