Infocult readers probably know about the great nineteenth-century panic over being buried alive. Edgar Allen Poe is the most famous exponent of this anxiety, but there were many ways people responded.
Some turned to invention. For example, patent US 371626 A is a "Device for indicating life in buried persons", designed by an Austria-Hungarian creator.
This invention relates to a safety device and alarm apparatus applied to coffins for the use and saving of such persons as may be buried while only apparently dead...
One part of the device:
In the first modification the coffin is provided with an opening, over which may be placed an air-pipe. This opening and also that at the upper end of the airpipe are closed up by a hinged or sliding plate, which may be opened by the movement of the buried person,so that fresh air may enter into the coffin.
(thanks to Jesse "Not Dead Yet" Walker)
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