Abstract: A casket shell comprises an elongated inner box and an elongated outer box. The inner box is congruently disposed in the interior region of the outer box and a core is sandwiched between the inner and outer boxes. The core includes a top surface attached to the inner box and a bottom surface attached to the outer box. The core can be made form a closed-celled material or a honeycomb material having a plurality of interconnected cylinders. Both inner and outer boxes are foldable to a generally planar configuration to minimize the volume during shipment. A casket shell in accordance with the present invention can also include a plurality of panels, each panel includes a core having a top surface and a bottom surface, first and second stabilizing surface element attached to the bottom and top surfaces, respectively. The panels connected together by a plurality of connectors to define the casket shell.

Abstract: A combination comprises a burial casket designed and constructed so as to have a visible theme, a music media storage and display assembly incorporated into the casket selectively movable to and between a generally concealed storage position and a generally exposed display position, and music media including recorded music selected so as to have an audible theme, corresponding to the casket visible theme, stored and displayed in the assembly. The casket includes a shell and head end and foot end caps pivoted to said shell. The foot end cap includes a header board mounted on a head end thereof. The storage and display assembly comprises a platform slidable through the header board to and between the storage and display positions within and without the foot end cap respectively, the platform having a recess therein for receiving the music media, and an ejector mounted to the platform operable to eject the music media from the recess for easy grasping when the platform is moved to the display position.

Abstract: A burial casket comprises a shell, a cap enclosing the shell and memorabilia tray pivotally connected to the shell with a linkage. The tray is pivotally movable from a position inside the shell to a position outside the shell when the cap is open. The tray is maintained in an upright, upwardly facing orientation during movement of the tray. The linkage comprises a pair of links, each link being pivotally connected at one link end to an end of the tray and at the other link end to the shell. The tray is generally elongated, rectangular in shape and shallow and includes a plurality of individual compartments therein. The tray is oriented lengthwise generally parallel to the length of the shell and is mounted to a side wall of the shell. The tray may include individual covers enclosing the individual compartments.