Last one. "Life Signals" An interesting, somewhat bizarre, but nevertheless important, image in the minds of people during the 19th century was the horrifying prospect of being buried alive. The foundation for such morbid preoccupation stems from an earlier period of great plagues and epidemics when, in the frenzied haste of disposing of the dead, the stricken might well be mistaken for the dead. As early as 1843, "life signals" coffins were being patented. The earliest (1843) to be patented came from the drawing board of Christian Eisenbrandt, of Baltimore, MD. His invention was designed, by an arrangement of wires and pins and a spring lid to enable the occupant of the coffin, by the slightest movement of the hand or head, to cause the coffin lid to spring open. While Eisenbrandt's life-preserving coffin obviously had the utility only before the coffin was buried in the earth, the next four similar devices to appear in the patent files were designed to operate even after the body was interred. The first of these, invented in 1868 by Franz Vester of Newark, New Jersey, consisted of a square tube containing a ladder and a cord, one end of which was placed in the hand of the person laid in the coffin, while the other extended up to a bell on top of the tube, which was attached to the head of the coffin. More improvement in Life-Detectors coffins came in 1871. As far as present research has been able to ascertain, these inventions did not provoke more than a ripple of attention from the world of undertaking and funeral service, and it is doubtful if any were marketed. Reprinted by permission of N.F.D.A. Fumigator This formaldehyde gas generator fumigator, which is also known as the "keyhole fumigator", was part of the undertaker's equipment used in the home. The generator consisted of a stout copper retort (a heavy copper ball) of one-gallon capacity, with funnel-shaped tube and level indicator, so that the operator could readily see the formaldehyde when it was running low in the retort. The outlet tube was of large bore, communicating by means of a special flexible tube with another small brass tube, which was inserted through the keyhole of the room to be disinfected. This was the undertaker's tool, weighing six pounds when emptied and nine-and-a-half pounds when filled for use. It was the most practical lamp ever produced for the undertaker to disinfect the room where contagious diseases had been. It sold for $25, case included. e