Joseph Karwowski

Joseph Karwowski was a Russia-born inventor, known for his corpse preservation invention.

Career

Born in Russia, Karwowski immigrated to the United States and was based in Herkimer, New York. He obtained US Patent Number 748,284 in 1903 for his Solid Glass "Coffin" designed to preserve dead bodies for as long as intended.^[1] According to his application for the patent, addressed to the United States Patent Office, the coffin, which is actually a transparent tank made of glass, is capable of storing either the whole corpse or just the head. He specified that the coffin would be air-tight.^[2]

Legacy

A fact concerning Karwowski's dead body-preserving invention appeared on the June 29, 2013 Ripley's Believe it or Not! comic strip by John Graziano.^[3]

References

^ The Ethnic Almanac. Doubleday. 1981. pp. 387–. ISBN 9780385141437.
^ Quigley, Christine (1998). Modern mummies: the preservation of the human body in the twentieth century. McFarland & Company Incorporated. pp. 148–. ISBN 9780786404926.
^ Graziano, John (June 29, 2013). "Ripley's Believe It or Not by John Graziano". Ripley's Believe it or Not!. Retrieved July 2, 2013.

[1] The Ethnic Almanac. Doubleday. 1981. pp. 387–. ISBN 9780385141437.

[2] Quigley, Christine (1998). Modern mummies: the preservation of the human body in the twentieth century. McFarland & Company Incorporated. pp. 148–. ISBN 9780786404926.

[3] Graziano, John (June 29, 2013). "Ripley's Believe It or Not by John Graziano". Ripley's Believe it or Not!. Retrieved July 2, 2013.

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