His original tomb began to collapse so there was a mad scramble to “save” his body and move it to a new tomb. Not easy to accomplish as the inner coffin was almost 50 pounds of solid lead and the outer ebony coffin was later encased in nearly a foot of solid cement after multiple body-snatching attempts.
50 pounds of solid lead doesn’t sound like very much.
50 pounds per side ?
A pound of feathers weighs exactly the same as a pound of lead. + depending on the density of aggregate used in concrete the concrete casing weighted between 105 and 145 lbs per cubic foot. Plus Lincoln himself weighted 180 lbs and his coffin alone weighed 200 lbs. Lets average out the concrete to 115 lbs. 115(concrete)+180(Lincoln)+50(lead)+200(Coffin)= 545 pounds of dead guy they needed to move.
NERD!!!
#theydidthemath
What I think n3tj3st3r was getting at was that sure 50 lbs of lead weighs 50 lbs, duh. But it comes out to about 2 liters (www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=volume+of+50+pounds+of+lead). 2 liters of anything used as the coffin of a man 6’4″ and 180 lbs isn’t much of a deterrent to breaking in. The foot of cement (not concrete, so no aggregate) on the other hand poses a more substantial barrier.
The coffin was lead lined the lead wasn’t used a deterrent for theft as they could still take the coffin.
From a funeral company that has a replica of Lincoln’s coffin:
President Lincoln’s coffin was the most elaborate of that time. His coffin was constructed of solid walnut, lined with lead and completely covered in expensive black cloth. It was 6 feet, 6 inches long and was decorated with sterling silver handles and sterling silver studs extending the entire length of its sides. Though the coffin appears austere compared to modern caskets, the original was custom made for the president and featured a removable two-part top and a lead lining.
Oh, and…NERD!!!
As I understand it the lead was more of a Anti-Body Snatching measure. You can’t just smash through the top or sides to break open the coffin. But yeah. Solid Walnut dyed/stained to resemble Ebony. That part always slips my mind.
Yeah, that’s a mybad. My Pocket Ref seems to have grown legs and walked away so I googled the weight and concrete came up instead of cement. Either way, it’s under-measured in the math part given his height.