Regency Advertisements: Metallic Coffins

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To the British Public THE object of the following pages is not to excite public indignation against the perpetrators of those shocking out rages which have so long prevailed as at length to assume the form of a syste matic trade but to submit to the Com munity an effectual plan for the preven tion of future depredations However plausibly the avowed Patrons of the Grave Robbers may plead their public utility they cannot certainly claim any right to trample under foot the feelings of surviving relatives and friends by dragging forth the corpse of a husband a wife or a child after it has been de cently interred at a considerable expence for they might with equal justice super sede the serious cost and mournful cere A complete set of implements or tools for grave robbing were taken from a person who was detected in a Church yard near the Mansion House where they were taken
mony of a funeral by dispatching their base and unfeeling emissaries to tear them from the bed where they had just breathed their last It is true the laws of our country have not declared the robbery of graves to be a crime and hence those depredations have been and still are car ried on to an almost inconceivable extent but this practice is not the less immoral and indecent because the law winks at it nor is it the less repugnant to the best feelings of civilized society It is not easy to imagine a more cruel mockery than the almost moral certainty that the dearest relative or friend whom we consign to the peaceful tomb with all possible respect to day will instead of being suffered to sleep there in peace be dragged forth for dissection before the morrow's dawn upon the specious pretext of public ne cessity If that necessity does really exist if the Faculty absolutely must be supplied with from one to two hundred corpses per week which as can be proved from good authority is the average num ber of bodies raised in London during the winter besides a very considerable num
ber even in the summer it assuredly lies with the Medical Students themselves to devise some honest and less exceptionable method of procuring subjects than that of degrading their respectable profession by acting as receivers for the sacrilegious plunderers of the dead Happily how ever it is not left entirely to their choice whether the present highly immoral sys tem shall or shall not be continued The Invention here submitted to public notice ensures the safety of the corpse and sets the Grave Robbers at defiance The Patent Coffin is made of iron brass or any hard metal according to the wishes of the family and when once closed down cannot be re opened by any force which Grave Robbers can employ The subjoined sketches and explanation will convey a correct idea of the principles upon which this excellent Invention is constructed and of the impossibility of extracting the body without causing a A respectable Surgeon assures us that a dead body remains in the first stage of putrefaction for a long time without perceptibly becoming more of fensive and that he has lectured for six weeks upon a corpse in that state when persons unaccustomed to dissection could not have borne to enter the room
E noise so loud as to alarm the whole neighbourhood while the carrying it off is also prevented by the imminent risk of discovery and of transportation for felony if discovered for though body stealing is not a legal offence carrying off the coffin or the grave clothes is felony and incurs the penalty of transportation EB 10 BD In the above figures AA represent an iron ledge band or bead which runs all round and is firmly rivetted to the upper edge of the coffin upon this ledge the lid is let down so that it lies about the eighth of an inch beneath the surface of the upper edges of the coffin which in consequence are not covered by the
lid as in the common coffins but rising a little above the level of it effectually preclude the raising it up by introducing any kind of instrument in an horizontal direction while the iron ledge upon which the lid rests also prevents the in troduction of any implement perpendicu larly for the same purpose At BBB in the coffin lid a similar iron ledge band or bead is rivetted as that on the coffin upon which it rests when the lid is down In this at various distances 12 or 14 springs like that marked CD are screwed The upper part C represents the screw the lower D the spring part which catches when the coffin lid is shut down upon the lower part of the iron ledge or band in the coffin whereon the lid rests and as these screws and springs are not externally visible and are irre gularly placed it becomes wholly im possible for the Grave Robbers to ascertain their situation The coffin lid is not only The raising of the sides of the coffin above the lid is in order to solder the latter down with an iron cement prepared for the purpose by which the coffin is not only made perfectly air tight but as solid and firm as if all of one piece of iron
strengthened by this iron band but to pre vent it from being burst open a number iron bars EE reaching from side to and dove tailed into the iron ledge which the lid rests are fixed across as as the lid is to be closed down bars not only support and strengthen lid but prevent its being forced in and side of the coffin from being burst open by the introduction of an iron lever of any other Grave Robbers instrument The Patent Coffin may be ordered either of beaten or of cast iron and where ex pence is no object of brass all which will most admirably answer all the pur poses for which lead has so long been pre ferred Leaden Coffins have been fre quently known to burst which is a most disagreeable objection to which the Iron or Metallic Coffins are not at all liable Besides for lead an additional external wooden shell is always required and as it can be easily cut away with a strong knife An instance of this kind has lately occurred in which two Leaden Coffins one inclosing the other burst twice before the body was removed indeed lead is peculiarly liable to this objection which cannot be urged against iron
it offers an additional temptation to the Grave Robber who can find as ready a sale for the lead as for the body which it con tained The Patent Iron or Metallic Coffins require no addition of any kind though they admit of being completely ornamented if required In order to render them per fectly air tight and doubly secure an iron cement is employed to close up the lid This is especially suited to those coffins intended to lie in vaults for which those of cast iron which are not liable to rust are peculiarly adapted It has been already stated that the law deems it no crime to rob a grave of the dead body but that to carry away the coffin or any thing appertaining to the corpse constitutes a felony so that there is little apprehension of the Grave Robbers attempting to carry off the coffin in order to open it at their leisure while on the other hand the employment of a force sufficient to break it open upon the spot must unavoidably create so tremendous a noise as to alarm any neighbourhood and frustrate their design The number of springs which secure the lid and espe cially the uncertainty of their position
renders it impossible to ascertain where they are placed so as to unfasten them without making an intolerable noise From all this it will appear that the secu rity of a corpse enclosed in the Patent Iron or Metallic Coffin is complete and that this excellent and long wanted Invention now offers to the British Public a certain prevention for putting a stop to those barbarous outrages by which their feelings have been so wantonly insulted and without which the remains of their dearest relatives and friends must still become the prey of the most inhuman depredators The Present Scandalous System of Robbing Graves Exposed, and a Safeguard for the Dead Now Presented to the British Public in the Newly Invented Iron Or Metallic Coffins, Tablets and Tombs. (1818). United Kingdom: Royal Patent Burial Company.

This publication goes on to name undertakers willing to work with these heavy coffins, and also shares a patent hearse and coach for carrying the heavy object.

 

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