There are numerous 18th- and 19th-century designs for 'safety coffins' with features designed to prevent their occupants from being buried alive. Do we have any evidence of how common these contraptions were, if any are still intact today, and if they actually saved any lives?
related question- I remember reading that these contraptions were sometimes "rented" by people who were poor. If so, how did they reclaim their device- dig up the body?