Batesville Casket Company

Kenneth J Gulick

Dennis C Laphan

Wilbur A Schebler

John R Enneking

Gary L Henby

Leslie W Smith

Carolyn Wetzler

James F Kirschner

A casket is assembled from prefabricated components to provide an attractive and aesthetically appealing casket design with a minimum amount of metal components so that the casket is adapted for cremation. A shell of the casket is constructed from upstanding sidewalls with a peripheral frame and facing panel secured to the frame. The respective walls are joined by cooperating cam and post connectors that they can be easily assembled without skilled personnel or specialized tooling. A cap enclosing the casket shell is constructed with a peripheral rim formed from rim members also joined by the cam and post connectors. A dish assembly is positioned on an inside surface of the cap and includes puffing members which are securely retained within cooperating grooves on the rim and dish assembly to thereby avoid the need for metal staples or other mechanical fasteners. The panels of the casket are preferably formed by hardboard to provide a structurally rigid and stable shell without the need for additional reinforcing members and which are readily consumable in the cremation process.

Ready-to-assemble casket

A casket cap brace support comprises a support bracket adapted to be affixed to a wall of the casket body and including an aperture therethrough adapted to receive an end of a brace member, an elongated brace member having one end pivoted to the cap and the other end received in the support bracket aperture, the other end having a projection thereon, the support bracket having an elongated slot therein with a terminal end, the brace member projection being received in the slot during at least a portion of the movement of the cap to and between the closed and open positions, the slot being so configured such that when the cap is in the open position the brace member is in compression, the brace member projection residing in the slot terminal end and being prevented from moving out of the slot terminal end by the action of the weight of the cap, the cap thereby being resistant to inadvertent closing in the event that the casket cap or body is accidentally bumped. In another form, the slot is routed directly into the casket wall and receives the brace member projection.

Cap brace and bracket

Growing community of inventors

Cincinnati, OH, United States of America

Kenneth J Gulick