Casket and method of manufacture

Claim 1

A casket base or shell having a planar bottom wall and outwardly flared planar side and end walls, all of which are integrally formed from a planar sheet of corrugated fiberboard, each side wall of the shell being unitary and planar throughout its length and each side wall of the shell being coextensive in length with the bottom wall and being integrally connected with the bottom wall along a side edge of the bottom wall throughout the length of the bottom wall, each end wall comprising two layers of the corrugated fiberboard, a first of which is integrally connected with the adjacent end of the bottom wall and a second of which comprises corrugated fiberboard pieces respectively integrally connected with the adjacent ends of the planar side walls and having edges adjacent to each other in the mid-region of the end wall, said first and said second end wall layers of the casket base being cut and folded so as to be mounted in outwardly flared position, and the pieces of said second end wall layer being cut and folded so as to mount the planar side walls of the gasket base in outwardly flared position when said edges are adjacent to each other in the mid region of the end wall of the casket base, whereby to provide a casket base having a substantially uniform and smooth external appearance throughout both the flared planar side walls and the flared planar end walls, and including a rim secured to the upper edge of the flared side and end walls, and further including fabric covering for the casket base including a strip extended along each side wall of the casket base and around a corner between the side wall and an end wall.