Apparaturs and Method for Supporting Headstones

Abstract

An apparatus for supporting headstones, including a rigid structure situated below the surface of the ground, and a plurality of sockets formed in the top of the rigid structure, wherein each of the sockets is formed to receive the lower end of a headstone and hold the headstones in an aligned position with respect to one another and with respect to the surface of the ground.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0001]The present invention relates to systems for positioning headstones in conditions in which the headstones are susceptible to movement over time.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]Once headstones are set into the ground, they may shift, sink, and settle over time, thereby losing their orientation with respect to the ground and to surrounding headstones. Such movement, widely acknowledged as undesirable, arises from a variety of causes. Often, the headstone is placed in soil that has been filled into the gravesite. This soil is generally looser than the ground around it and over time it settles and erodes. Further, in instances in which a coffin is placed directly in the gravesite without a burial vault, the coffin itself is subject to deterioration. This causes the soil on top of and around the coffin to displace, thereby relieving support from around and beneath the headstone. Additionally, in nearly all parts of the U.S. there exists some depth in the grou...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0014]First, because of the increased size of the rigid structure as compared to individual-headstone support systems, the present rigid structure better resists any localized outside forces. This would be true with respect to isolated ground swell, localized vibration from nearby heavy equipment, settling or erosion of the ground beneath one area of the structure, etc.

[0015]Second, to whatever extent such forces cause minimal movement of the rigid structure, the resulting shift in the headstones is uniform. Thus if the rigid structure is elevated by two inches, all of the headstones are elevated by two inches, maintaining uniformity. Even if only one side of the rigid structure is elevated by two inches, the headstones would lift at a uniform angle (i.e. from around 2 inches at the one end, to nearly no lift at all at the far end, with all headstones in between lifting a proportional amount). There would not be a high headstone in one location, a tilted one in another, a low one in another location, etc. Accordingly, in an environment in which uniformity of headstones is a chief concern, the benefits of uniform motion of an entire row at once, if there be any motion at all, should be immediately recognized.

[0016]Third, because the rigid structure spans several caskets or burial vaults, where deterioration of any single (or even multiple) casket or vault causes the soil above and around it to collapse, the rigid structure i

Problems solved by technology

Once headstones are set into the ground, they may shift, sink, and settle over time, thereby losing their orientation with respect to the ground and to surrounding headstones.

Such movement, widely acknowledged as undesirable, arises from a variety of causes.

Further, in instances in which a coffin is placed directly in the gravesite without a burial vault, the coffin itself is subject to deterioration.

Forces from above the ground, too, can cause the movement of the ground and corresponding shifting of headstones.

Heavy machinery required in the excavating of nearby gravesites can transmit enough vibration and force into the ground to cause shifting in the position of nearby headstones.

In spite of these improvements, however, certain lim

Images