Children suffocating in Lane hope chests was a common enough occurrence that
Lane has a standing offer of new latch mechanisms on their web page. The
chests have a seal ring around the top, and are made to be airtight.

The old latch was kind of like a refrigerator latch, in that it
automatically latches when you close it. The new latch requires that you
push the button in while closing it to lock it, and you can lock the push
button so it can't be pushed in to lock the case shut.



Anyone who owns a Lane Cedar chest should get the new latch mechanism and
install it. It takes a little inletting on chests manufactured before the
early seventies, but not too much. Half hour job, if the chest is full and
you have to pack and repack it.