Abstract: A container for an article includes a series of walls including a top wall that cooperate to define an interior of the container. A brace assembly is positioned toward an upper end defined by the interior of the container, and includes a brace member that is positioned below the top wall of the container and that defines opposite ends, each of which is located adjacent one of a pair of opposite sidewalls of the container. The brace assembly includes a carrier, which may be formed of a series of corrugated panels, and the brace member may be secured to a hinged brace member mounting panel such that the brace member is suspended above an upper surface of an article within the container interior and below the top wall of the container.

Abstract: A self-supporting body support structure for a casket is provided. The body support structure is fabricated from a sheet of cardboard and comprises a planar body supporting portion having a pair of lateral edges and longitudinal supporting structure along each lateral edge of the body supporting portion for supporting the lateral edges of the body supporting portion above the bottom of the casket. Each longitudinal supporting structure is formed by folding a lateral edge portion of the cardboard sheet beneath the body supporting portion. A plurality of supports is spaced laterally between the longitudinal supporting structures and longitudinally along the length of the body supporting portion and supports the body supporting portion between the longitudinal supporting structures and along the length of the body supporting portion above the bottom of the casket. Each support is formed by folding a first tab potion of the cardboard sheet beneath the body supporting portion.

Abstract: A method of shipping a burial casket in a knocked-down configuration and subsequently assembling the casket at its point of destination comprises the steps of providing a kit of disassembled casket components assemblable into a casket having a shell and a cap, packing the kit of components into shipping container, shipping the packaged casket kit to a destination point, removing the kit from the container and assembling the casket from the kit utilizing at least a portion of the shipping container as an interior component of the casket. A casket comprises a shell and cap assembled from a kit shipped in knocked-down configuration, a body support structure positioned in the shell for supporting a body and a floor for the casket upon which to support the body support structure in the shell. The body support structure is formed from the bottom of an elongated, shallow, generally rectangular shipping carton in which the casket kit is shipped. The floor is formed from the top of the carton.