Casket lid and method of making same

Details Casket lid and method of making same Casket lid and method of making same

1999-12-08

2003-01-07

Theisen, Mary Lynn (Department: 1732)

Plastic and nonmetallic article shaping or treating: processes

Forming articles by uniting randomly associated particles

Stratified or layered articles

C264S109000, C027S014000, C027S016000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06503429

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates generally to caskets, and more particularly to a method of making one-piece, unitary lids for caskets by a novel molding process.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
A casket includes a shell and, in the case of so-called “split top” caskets, a pair of lids or caps, a head end cap and a foot end cap. Caskets have most often been fabricated of either metal or wood for aesthetic reasons. More recently, some lower end caskets have been fabricated out of materials such as plastic, hardboard, and cardboard. While such materials are much less expensive than sheet metal and fine furniture grade wood, there is a consequent decrease in the aesthetics of the casket. Thus, efforts continue to be made by those in the industry to devise more economically produced, less expensive caskets which do not exhibit a consequent decrease in aesthetics and ornamentality.
Each cap in a so-called split top casket is comprised of a crown, a pie, a rim, a header and, in the case of convex shaped lids, a web. More particularly, the crown is, as its name implies, the crown portion of the lid, which is often, though not necessarily, convex in shape. As its name implies, the pie is a pie-shaped section which fits into a pie-shaped cutout in one end of the crown. The crown and pie assembly is typically referred to in the industry as the “cover”. The cover thus has opposed sides and opposed ends. Each of the opposed sides has a decorative piece of molding known as a side rim member secured thereto. Similarly, the pie has secured thereto a decorative piece of molding known as an end rim member. The pair of side rim members and the end rim member together comprise the rim. At the end of the cover opposite from the pie, there is attached to the crown a web panel, and there is attached to the ends of the side rim members and to the lower edge of the web a header panel. In the case of flat top casket lids, there is no web, but simply a header. The term “header”, as used herein, shall be deemed to encompass both a) a header panel only, and b) a header panel in combination with a web panel. The combined assembly, i.e., crown, pie, rim and header, comprises the casket cap or casket lid.
In order to fabricate a cap, several different pieces must be time-consumingly assembled and secured together. For example, in the case of sheet metal caskets, a number of sheet metal stampings must be fixtured and then welded together to form the cap. In the case of wood caskets, the crown is formed from a plurality of boards secured together lengthwise with glue and fasteners. The pie is likewise formed from a plurality of boards and is secured to the crown with glue and fasteners. Next, the side and end rim members, themselves formed from a plurality of boards, are secured to the cover and the header is secured to the cover and the side rim members, again via glue and fasteners. As can be appreciated, utilizing a combination of glue and fasteners to secure together the various components of a wood casket cap is tedious and time consuming.
It would be desirable to reduce the number of component parts necessary to fabricate a cap thereby reducing assembly time and costs, etc. One attempt at accomplishing this, commercialized by Werzalit AG & Co., Federal Republic of Germany, involved the use of a mixture of wood chips and binder which was molded with tooling into a one-piece cover, i.e. crown and pie assembly. This molded one-piece cover thus eliminated the separate crown and pie and the steps required to secure the two together. The tooling for forming such a one-piece cover comprised a male portion configured into the shape of the under side of the cover to be formed, and a female portion configured into the shape of the upper side of the cover to be formed. However, once this single-piece cover was formed, a manufacturer was still required to fabricate and install separate side rim members, end rim member and header to the one-piece cover in order to complete the cap assembly.
Another less than completely successful attempt at fabricating a one-piece casket cap utilized fiberglass and resin applied to a form in the shape of a casket cap, the process otherwise being known as “laying up.” While such a one-piece, integral fiberglass casket cap did include a crown, a pie, side rim members, end rim members and a header, the fiberglass material itself as well as its use created difficulties. For example, the process of laying up of fiberglass is time and labor intensive and does not readily lend itself to automation. Further, the glass fibers are difficult to manage and the resin produces noxious odors.
It would be desirable to eliminate even more of the separate component parts of a casket cap in order to eliminate the costs associated with producing the component parts as well as the costs associated with assembling together all of the component parts, while at the same time avoiding the difficulties associated with fiberglass construction techniques.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is a method of making a one-piece, unitary lid for a casket and a casket lid made by the method. The method and lid of this invention completely eliminate the separate component parts required to be assembled together in prior casket lids. The method of the invention comprises providing tooling configured to produce a one-piece, unitary casket lid having a crown, a pie, a rim and a header, providing settable material from which to mold the lid, molding the settable material with the tooling and permitting the settable material to set thereby producing the one-piece, unitary casket lid having a crown, a pie, a rim and a header.
The method preferably further includes molding, with the tooling, a pattern into the settable material, which preferably simulates wood grain. The wood grain pattern applied to the settable material of the crown on one side of a longitudinal axis of symmetry of the lid is preferably continuous with the wood grain pattern applied to the settable material of the crown on the other side of the longitudinal axis of symmetry of the lid, when viewed rotated 180° about an axis perpendicular to the plane defined by the lid, located medially of the transverse extent of the lid and coinciding with the header end edge of the lid. Even more preferably, the wood grain pattern of the crown on one side of the longitudinal axis of symmetry of the lid is that of a portion of the length of a plurality of “full length” boards, i.e. boards which start out as being the length of the head and foot end cap crowns combined, and the wood grain pattern of the crown on the other side of the longitudinal axis of symmetry of the lid is that of the remaining length of the plurality of full length boards, rotated 180° about an axis perpendicular to the plane defined by the lid, located medially of the transverse extent of the lid and coinciding with the header end edge of the lid. Therefore, when two such lids are positioned together atop a casket shell header end-to-header end, the simulated wood grain pattern of the crowns of the lids match thereby creating the visual impression that the crowns of the casket caps are fabricated of so-called full length boards, a feature which is more visually and aesthetically appealing than constructing the head and foot end caps of a casket out of non-full length boards. The settable material is preferably comprised of wood chips and binder.
In another aspect of the invention, a method of making a one-piece, unitary lid for a casket comprises providing tooling configured to produce a one-piece, unitary lid having a crown, a pie, a rim and a header, the tooling having a male portion and a female portion, providing settable material from which to mold the lid, applying the settable material onto either or both of the male and female portions of the tooling, molding the settable material by compressing the settable material between the male and female portions of the tooling, and permitting the settable material to set thereby producing the one-piece, unitary casket lid having

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