Overview
Summary of a coffin invention designed to alert cemetery workers if someone is buried alive, including its features and the reasons it was not widely adopted.
Coffin Safety Mechanism Features
- Movement inside the coffin triggers a mechanism that launches a shiny ball and rings a bell as a warning signal.
- A valve opens simultaneously, allowing fresh air and light into the coffin through a tube.
- The tube also enables sound transmission, letting the buried person yell for help.
Problems with the Invention
- Dead bodies can release gas and move post-mortem, which may unintentionally activate the alarm.
- False alarms would result in actual corpses being dug up unnecessarily.
Outcome
- The risk of frequent false alarms prevented widespread adoption of this coffin safety mechanism.