A Coffin That Saved Lives In The Past: The Safety Coffin

In the old days when anesthesia was newly introduced to the world of medicine there were many times when patience did not come around as the anesthesia took time to wear off. These patients were declared dead and buried in the cemetery. The unconscious person woke up 6 feet underground in a coffin traumatized not knowing what is happening. Imagine falling unconscious in a surgery room and then waking up in a coffin. This led to the invention of the safety coffin back then.

The coffin was designed with a bell on a stand above every coffin ground and a rope attached. One end of the rope was tied to the bell and the other to the person’s hand. This rope went through the 6 feet mud into the coffin and was tied to the person’s hand. If a live person was buried and they woke up then they would pull the rope which rung the bell signaling people that there is a live person buried in the grave. This safety coffin invention had saved many people’s lives in the past. But sometimes there were false alarms also since the dead bodies would swell making the rope move and ring the bell.

Source = Gizmodo