Casket Bed System

This invention relates to a bed system for supporting a corpse in a casket, and in particular to an inflatable air mattress capable of having its upper surface adjusted vertically and/or angularly to position the corpse at a first level and/or angle during viewing and for lowering it to a second level at casket closing for burial.

The common bed system in known caskets consists of a flat metal frame and spring system, with crank means being provided at each end of the frame for vertically raising and lowering the frame and corpse. The end adjustments are separately operable so that the corpse may be inclined downwardly in the casket from head to toe during viewing by mourners. It is common practice at some funeral parlors for the body to be angled downwardly at perhaps three degrees or so, with the face of the deceased being above the top level of the base of the casket and the toes or shoe tips being approximately at the top level of the base. While body placement varies somewhat from one funeral parlor to the next, the face forward of the ears is usually viewable from the side from across a room. In addition to a portion of the head level being above the base, the body is frequently tilted angularly a small amount, particularly the upper torso, so that the body faces slightly toward the viewing side of the casket. Some higher-priced caskets are known to have an auxiliary mechanism associated with the crank means to enable the bed frame to be so tilted.

Although the separate end adjustments of the conventional frame in moderate and lower-priced caskets can readily provide the desired head-to-toe angle, they cannot accommodate the angular torso tilting. It is also believed that none of them in any price range can accommodate another desirable feature, i.e., placing the chin relative to the chest so that the face has a natural, restful reclining appearance in relation to the rest of the body. These are ordinarily compensated for by selectively placing cushions, cotton stuffing, plastic bottles, folds of cardboard or other objects under the upper torso and head in order to prop the torso and head to the desired viewing positions. This is not known to the general public, some of which would find it objectional.

This invention provides a casket bed system which enables making all of the usual body adjustments from a single source, using air to selectively inflate and deflate independent sections of an air mattress. Not only is the system capable of easier and quicker adjustment without requiring the use of auxiliary items for body propping, it does so with a relatively inexpensive structure. Once the body is placed on the casket bed, all adjustments can be made without manual lifting of the body by one person while another locates a propping device in a selected location. Thus, a single individual can adjust the various body and head positions, avoiding the necessity to require assistance. The bed system of the invention is also light in weight, somewhat reducing the burden for carrying by pallbearers.

It is a primary object of this invention to provide an elongated air mattress having independently adjustable sections for selectively positioning a corpse in a casket, both for viewing and for subsequent burial.

A more specific object is to enable the upper torso of a deceased person on display for viewing by mourners to be angularly adjusted toward the viewers by relatively controlling the amount of air in independently inflatable and deflatable side sections of the mattress.

Still another object is to adjust an air pillow on which the head of the corpse rests so as to place the deceased's chin in a normal reclining position relative to the chest.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent from the following description, in which reference is made to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view taken substantially along lines 1--1 of FIG. 2, showing the outline of a corpse lying on a bed system constructed according to my invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view taken looking from above FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a horizontal sectional view looking in the direction of lines 3--3 of FIG. 2, illustrating an angular tilt of the upper torso of the corpse, which is one of several primary features of my invention.

FIG. 4 is an isometric view of an alternative form of my casket bed system, wherein the mattress is supported on, and is preferably integral with, a hammock supported on the inside walls of the casket base.

FIG. 5 is a simplified plan view of an integral mattress and hammock, illustrating a preferred arrangement of inflatable/deflatable sections and controls therefor.

FIG. 6 is a detailed vertical fragmentary view of one of the supports for hanging the hammock of FIGS. 4 and 5.

A bed system according to a preferred form of the invention includes a mattress 10 for supporting a corpse 12 in a casket base 14. The mattress 10 can be made of any flexible, air-impervious material such as is commonly used for air mattresses and water flotation gear. Heat-sealable polyvinyl chloride sheet material is but one example. The thickness gauge and method of producing the mattress 10 should be such as to give adequate body support without risk of puncture for the period of use prior to burial. Since the actual details of construction and methods of making air mattresses are well known, they will not be discussed herein. While I prefer for the sake af simplicity, cost and handling to make the mattress 10 as a unitary structure, it is within the scope of my invention to make the sections separable, as will be obvious once the invention is completely understood.

The mattress 10 is inflatable by means of a pump P (FIGS. 1 and 5). The pump P can be motorized or operated manually. For convenience, ease and speed of operation, an electrically-operated pump is preferable. Its original cost is insignificant, since it is attached, used, disconnected before burial and used over and over again. The pump P is connected to a manifold 16 below the base 14 of the casket. The manifold is intended, under normal circumstances, to be placed within the casket and buried along with the deceased. The manifold can be of conventional construction, having individual valves (not shown) which can be manually controlled by knobs to admit introduction of pressurized air, hold the air in the sections and bleed the air to deflate the sections, all as required to meet the specific needs of a given situation. The manifold 16 is shown as having a series of dotted lines extending therefrom to indicate connections between the manifold and various ones of the sections of the mattress about to be described.

Although the individual sections of the mattress may take different forms to meet the individual preferences of a funeral director, I have illustrated only one form of mattress in both bed system embodiments shown in FIGS. 1 and 4. For this reason, and in order to better understand the description of the mattress in relation to the corpse in FIGS. 1-3, let us cross refer to FIGS. 1 and 5, where the vertical and horizontal mattress sections are most simply depicted. Knobs 18, 20, 22, 24, 26 and 28 of manifold 16 (FIG. 5) are operatively connected to air lines 19, 21, 23, 25, 27 and 29 respectively. Air line 19 feeds a head pillow section 30, line 21 a right side torso pillow 32, line 23 a lower chamber 34 for the upper torso, line 25 a left side torso pillow section 36, line 27 a lower chamber 38 for the lower part of the body and line 29 feeds a foot or leg pillow section 40. Chamber 34 is substantially T-shaped horizontally, as shown by the cross-hatching angled upwardly to the right in FIG. 5. The dotted hatching represents that portion of chamber 34 which is below and separate from the head pillow 30. Similarly, chamber 38 is shown as being cross-hatched upwardly to the left, with that portion of the chamber 38 underlying the leg pillow 40 being in dotted lines hatching. Each of the knobs 18, 20, 22, 24, 26 and 28, as well as a knob 42 for air pump P, control the inlet, retention and outlet of air with respect to the sections to which they and their respective air lines are connected.

Referring back to FIG. 1, the base 14 has a top or upper level 44 which helps form part of a sealing surface with a hinged lid or cap which closes the casket at time for burial. The lid is open as shown in FIG. 4 during viewing. For viewing during visitation by mourners, the body 12 is normally raised as shown, with the face of the deceased above the level 44 and ordinarily with the upper torso tilted very slightly toward viewers. The foot or toe level is customarily below or approximately at the level 44. In FIG. 1, it will be noticed that the mattress 10 is tapered downwardly from the head end to the foot end. The taper inclines the body perhaps about three degrees when chambers 34 and 38 are equally pressurized. This angle, and whether or not the mattress is tapered is a matter of personal preference. Many funeral directors prefer to have the face at a level where at least part of an ear is visible by a person standing across the room.

The side from which a body is viewed is a matter of personal preference, sometimes dictated by the cause of death. As shown in FIG. 1, the head is at the left end, and the manifold 16 is adjacent the head end. If desired, the head could be placed at the right end of the base, and the manifold either remaining at the left end of the casket or located at the right. To enable this, a plug 46 can be removed from below the base and the manifold mounted to extend through the unplugged opening. The location of the manifold is immaterial, just so long as it can be easily reached manually from the open top of the casket at any time the knobs are to be operated. Obviously, when the casket is ready for its final closing, the knobs are operated to bleed air from the appropriate sections of the mattress to lower the body below the upper level 44 so as to enable easy closing of the lid.

The position of the leg pillow 40 on the mattress is designed to accommodate either a tall or short person. Thus, the pillow 40 may be beneath the calf of one person while beneath the ankle or heel of another. The head pillow 30 is preferably inclined to assist in positioning the head so that the chin of the deceased is spaced from the chest to provide a natural reclining pose, rather than one in which the head appears to lay back too far or the chin appears to crowd the chest. The head pillow achieves both the chin positioning as well as raising the head level to the proper height above the base.

FIG. 3 illustrates how the angular tilt of the body can be achieved. Ordinarily, it is only the upper torso, i.e., from the waist up, that is tilted if tilting is to be done at all. The teaching of my invention could allow for angular tilting of the entire body, if desired, by extending pillows 32 and 36 toward the foot end of the mattress. Tilting is achieved by selectively inflating and deflating the two torso pillows 32 and 36. It can be seen that pillow 36 is inflated more than pillow 32, resulting in an angular tilt toward the right as viewed in FIG. 3 by the exaggerated dot-dash lin3 48. The difference in inflation can be the result of bleeding air from pillow 32 or adding air to pillow 36. In preparation of the body for viewing, I prefer to first fully inflate all of the independent sections and chambers and then to selectively bleed air to achieve the desired results. The technique employed, however, depends on what the director finds most convenient. Regardless which approach is used, my invention enables one person to do the entire task by himself. Everything can be accomplished by appropriately manipulating the manifold knobs and operating the air pump by one's self, without assistance from a second person.

Referring now to an alternative embodiment of my invention illustrated in FIGS. 4-6, the primary difference is in the fact that the mattress is supported in a hammock 50 at both sides and both ends of the internal walls of the base. Preferably in this variation, the mattress 10 and hammock 50 are integral, with the hammock being the lower side of the mattress. The support is provided by attaching means 52 which are already found in conventional caskets. Escutcheons 54 are mounted on the outer side and end walls of the base 14, and in turn, the escutcheons and attaching means support conventional carrying handles 56 gripped by pallbearers while transporting the casket manually.

As seen in FIG. 6, the escutcheons 54 are fastened by means of screws 58 which pass through holes in a base wall 60. The threaded caps or nuts 62 for screws 58 are molded of thermoplastic material and have a hex-headed portion 64 for tightening purposes. A modification has been made in the conventional nut by circumferentially grooving it at 66 to enable grommets 68 in the peripheral edge of the hammock 50 to hang from the grooved nuts. This is illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 6. Since the hammock is shown in its flat condition in FIG. 5, gussets 70 will appear at the corners of the hammock when it is suspended from the nuts 62, as in FIG. 4.

The construction of the mattress, its manner of support in the base and whether the various sections of the mattress are integral or separate are matters of choice. In addition, some of the independent sections may be combined, e.g., the lower chamber 38 and foot pillow 40 may be made into a single air section. Various other changes may be made in the details of construction without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention.