Tales from the crypt: Digging around in patent class A62B33

Patent classification titles are usually pretty boring, but occasionally one will jump out at you and fire up your imagination. A62B33 is one of those. Its full title is Devices for allowing seemingly-dead persons to escape or draw attention; Breathing apparatus for accidentally buried person.

See what I mean? Right now your mind is conjuring up images such as:

This one isn't even that old. It dates back to 2013, and it's not even the most recent disclosure of this type.

Generally though, devices such as these have a very long history with the first recorded back in the late 18^th century. The earliest patent I can find dates to about one hundred years later, in 1892, but it's just one of a flurry of patents in this area over the next decade or so.