Inventions are inspired by the problems and aspirations of the time in which they are made. They are also inspired by fears. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, many people were terrified of being buried alive, and for good reason. Although cremation and embalming existed, most people were simply washed, dressed and buried at home. They were also buried quickly, usually within three days of death, to avoid decomposition. It is likely that, for many people, a physician capable of examining the body was not available, and even if available, the medical equipment used at the time made it difficult for a physician to distinguish actual death from diseases such as catalepsy that mimic death.

In 1896, William Tebb and Edward Vollum he prepared a book describing dozens of cases of premature burial and narrow escapes reported in newspapers and journal articles. However, the most dramatic, and I suspect slightly embellished, account of the premature burial took place a little later, in 1915, and involved a woman named Essie Dunbar. That recently resumedEssie’s body had been placed in a casket, the casket had been placed in a grave, and the process of covering with earth had been completed. At that precise moment, Essie’s sister arrived and begged to see Essie one last time. The casket was lifted, and as the lid was opened, Mrs. Dunbar rose and smiled. It he lived until 1955 when he “died” for the second and final time.

Not surprisingly, horror stories of this type have led to a the proliferation of patents which provided avenues of escape or salvation for people buried before their time. The representative of these “safety coffins” is one invented by Franz Vester and patented in 1868 (U.S. 81,437)

The elements in the Vester coffin are, to varying degrees and with some variations, typical of almost all safety coffins. As shown above, the coffin has a tower (B) that attaches to the top lid of the coffin (A) directly over the face and upper body of the supposed corpse. At the place of attachment of the tower to the lid, there is a square or rectangular open section (C) large enough for the person buried to pass through and probably surprise any visitors to the cemetery who happen to be present at the time. This tower extends upwards and in use its top (E) would be just above the ground used to cover the coffin. The top is attached to the tower so that it can be opened from someone inside and is fitted with a glass plate to allow a person standing above the burial site to see the face of the person buried at the bottom of the tower and vice versa . An opening near the top of the tower allows air from the outside environment to pass into the coffin. There are steps along an inner wall of the tower to provide a ladder for a prematurely buried person to climb out. In case the person is too weak to do this, the invention includes a rope (F) which, at the time of burial, is wrapped around the hand of the person being buried and is attached to a bell near the top of the tower. Thus, the bell could be rung by the person buried to give those listening a hint that the burial might have been a little early.

In more recent times, our focus seems to have shifted from avoiding the consequences of premature burial to simply entertaining corpses. US 7,765,656 (issued August 3, 2010) and the US 9,226,059 (issued 29 December 2015) describe 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 tunes together:

Figure 1 of US 9,226,059

While safety caskets may have succeeded in alleviating some of the fear associated with premature burial, there do not appear to be any documented cases of one of these devices actually saving someone. And even for those people who avoided the burial, the escape was not permanent…