NZ270849A - Toilet seat lifter; pivotable lever with a fluid receptacle suspended from one end and receptacle connected by conduit to a bladder containing fluid - Google Patents

Description

270849 MivWR J996 n f- . ; V' ^ PATENTS FORM 5 Number: 270849 PATENTS ACT 1953 Dated: March 31, 1995 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION TOILET SEAT LIFTING DEVICE We, THOMAS WAHANGU HOHEPA of 31 Leaity Street, Moerewa, Northland, New Zealand and WILLIAM LLOYD DOWNS of 1 Plunket Street, Moerewa, Northland, New Zealand, both New Zealand citizens, do hereby declare the invention for which we 30 pray that a patent may be granted to us, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement. 270849 This invention relates to sanitary apparatus and in particular to a device for lifting the seat and/or lid of a toilet pan.

Background to the invention Conventionally a seat and a lid are connected by a hinge to a toilet bowl so that the lid and also the seat if desired can be swung upwardly to enable access to be obtained to the interior of the bowl. This lifting action is generally effected manually and it is recognised that this can introduce difficulties in correct hygienic use of the toilet generally. In an endeavour to meet this objection, various devices have been proposed in the past by 10 which the toilet lid and seat can be mechanically lifted so that it is not necessary to touch the toilet lid or seat by hand.

One known form of mechanism for lifting a toilet seat and lid has been described in United States patent specification 4103371 (Wilson) which utilises a foot actuated air or IS liquid dispensing mechanism which is connected through a cylinder and piston apparatus by which the seat and lid can be lifted. The difficulty with the apparatus disclosed in Wilson is that if excessive weight remains on the seat or the lid then undue stress can be placed on the mechanism and the possibility of damage to the mechanism is present.

Another form of toilet seat lifting device is disclosed in United States patent specification 2849728 (Gyllenberg). In Gyllenberg a lifting device is disclosed which is attached to the toilet seat hinge with part of the mechanism being housed within the toilet bowl itself. The mechanism as described in Gyllenberg, comprises a hydraulic ram which is connected to a source of water pressure with a foot operated valve being provided to 25 control the supply of water to the ram and to exhaust water from the ram to allow the seat to be lowered. The device in Gyllenberg suffers from various disadvantages, one of these being that because the mechanism is partly located within the toilet bowl, it is subject to soiling. Another disadvantage is that it is not easy to attach the mechanism to a range of different toilet seats which can have different forms of hinging mechanism. Yet another 30 disadvantage is that if excessive weight is placed on the toilet seat or toilet seat lid then damage can be caused to the mechanism when water under pressure is let into the hydraulic Z/U849 ram. In addition, if for instance the weight is removed from the seat after pressure has been applied to the hydraulic ram then the seat can raise suddenly with undesired results.

Another form of toilet seat lifting mechanism is disclosed in New Zealand patent 5 specification 217767 (Highnam). In Highnam a lifting device for a toilet seat and/or lid is described which comprises an inflatable bladder positioned between the rear of the pan and the seat adjacent to the seat hinge. The bladder is so positioned that when it is inflated the seat and the lid are raised and when the bladder is deflated, the seat is lowered. The bladder is designed to be inflated by means of water under pressure and for this purpose 10 the specification discloses that the supply of water under pressure may typically be a domestic cold water supply. The supply of water is controlled by a suitable valve means such as a foot switch positioned on the floor adjacent to the toilet pan. While the toilet seat mechanism disclosed in the Highnam has the advantage of being able to be utilised with a variety of styles and constructions of toilet seats, nevertheless it still suffers from 15 the disadvantage in that if excessive weight remains on or is placed on the toilet seat or lid, then the lifting mechanism is subject to damage.

Object of the invention It is therefore an object of this invention to provide an improved lifting mechanism for a toilet seat and/or lid which will minimise the above disadvantages or which will at least provide the public with a useful choice.

Disclosure of the invention Accordingly, one form of the invention may be said to comprise a mechanism for raising and lowering a toilet seat pivotally mounted on a toilet pan, said mechanism comprising: a fulcrum, means to pivotally mount the fulcrum in relation to the toilet pan, 270849 means associated with the fulcrum to contact the said toilet seat so that pivotal movement of the said fulcrum will result in a raising or lowering of said toilet seat, a reaction container connected to the said fulcrum and adapted to be charged with 5 a liquid of sufficient weight to counterbalance the weight of the toilet seat and thereby raise the toilet seat, and means to enable liquid to be discharged from the reaction container to lower the said seat.

Preferably the interior of said reaction container communicates through a tube to a bladder of a capacity that it can contain sufficient liquid to charge the reaction container to counterbalance the weight of the seat.

Preferably the said bladder is adapted to be rested on the ground and to have a weight applied to it to expel the liquid within the bladder into the said reaction container, Preferably the said weight is applied by the foot of the user.

Preferably the means associated with the fulcrum to contact the said seat comprises a contact member which projects from the said fulcrum and which can contact the underside of the said seat.

Preferably the fulcrum comprises an elongated member and wherein the means to 25 pivotally mount the fulcrum in relation to the toilet pan comprises a mounting hole formed intermediate of the length of the said fulcrum and adapted to be engaged over a pin projecting from a mounting bracket formed to be anchored to the said toilet pan.

Brief description of the drawings A preferred form of the invention will now be described with the aid of the accompanying drawings wherein: 270849 Figure 1 is a diagrammatic view of a typical toilet bowl with the seat lifting mechanism in place.

Figure 2 is a similar view to Figure 1 but showing the mechanism operated to 5 partially lift the seat and Figure 3 is an enlarged diagrammatic view of part of the mechanism.

Best mode of carrying out the invention Referring to the drawings, a typical toilet bowl 1 has a seat 2 and a lid 2a which are joined together by means of a hinge which is anchored to the bowl 1 by posts 4 in the usual manner so that either the seat lid 2a or the combined seat 2 and seat lid 2a can be pivoted together or independently between a closed position and an open position in the usual manner. In one preferred form, a fulcrum 6 which may typically be formed from a 15 length of metal stock or the like or from a suitable plastics material which has sufficient inherent strength for the purpose. The fulcrum includes a pivot point 7 which in the form illustrated comprises a hole positioned approximately midway of the length of the fulcrum and which can be engaged on a pin 8 extending from a mounting bracket 9 as shown particularly in Figure 3. The mounting bracket 9 includes a mounting hole 10 so it can be 20 anchored to the seat hinge between the seat 2 and the toilet bowl 1 by engaging the mounting hole of the mounting bracket 9 over a post 4.

The fulcrum 6 also includes a contact member 12 which is so formed that when the fulcrum is in position on the toilet bowl, the contact member 12 can engage under the seat 25 2. When the fulcrum 6 swings about the pin 8, the seat 2 and seat lid 2a will be lifted from the closed position shown in Figure 1 to the semi open position shown in Figure 2 or with further rotation of the fulcrum 6 to a fully open position, the seat and the seat lid will be at approximately right angles to the toilet bowl opening. The contact member can be formed from a stiff wire or other flexible substance so it can be manually bent or 30 formed to act in the desired manner. For instance, if the contact member is to be shortened, then it can be bent back on itself or otherwise shaped as desired. The purpose 270849 of the flexible contact member is to enable the device to be used with different shaped and sizes of seats and seat lids. Generally the device will be used with seats that overlap the toilet pan and in such a case the contact member will contact the underside of the part of the seat that overlaps the rim of the pan. If the seat design results in no overlap, the 5 contact member is bent towards the rim of the pan so it lies between the rim of the pan and the seat. In another example, if it is desired to raise the seat lid only with the device, then the contact member is positioned under the lid.

A reaction container 15 is suitably hung from the end of the fulcrum 6 distal from 10 the contact member 12, by a rod 16 or the like which is pivotally connected to the fulcrum by a pin or the like passing through a hole 17 formed in the fulcrum (see Figure 3) The reaction container 15 is preferably formed of a plastics material and may be provided with a suitable lid (not shown in the drawings) so the container is essentially 15 sealed and liquid tight. The container is of sufficient size that when the container is filled with liquid as indicated in Figure 2, then the combined weight of the container with the liquid will be sufficient to overcome the weight of the seat 2 and the seat lid 2a so that the fulcrum will rotate about the pin 8 to swing the seat and seat lid to a fully open position.

The charging of the reaction container 15 is arranged by means of a suitable tube 18 which is attached adjacent the floor o* the reaction container 15 so the interior of one end of the tube will communicate with the interior of the reaction container 15. The other end of the tube 18 is connected to a bladder 19 which is of a size and a shape that it can contain sufficient liquid to fully charge the reaction chamber.

As indicated in Figure 1, in the rest position the reaction container 15 is essentially empty of liquid and the bladder 19 is inflated with the liquid. When external pressure is applied to the bladder 19 such as by a foot 20 indicated in Figure 2, then the liquid within the bladder will be expelled from the bladder 19 through the tube 18 into the interior of 30 the reaction chamber 15. This charging of the container with liquid will increase the weight of the container until the weight of the container overcomes the weight of the seat 27 0 849 and the lid so the lid will swing to an open position. The lid will remain in that position until the external pressure is removed from the bladder whereupon the fluid will exhaust from the reaction chamber into the bladder and the seat and the lid will close.

The particular advantage of the lifting device is that the lifting is eifect by the weight of the volume of fluid in the reaction chamber so it is possible to simply add or remove liquid to obtain the desired counterbalance for different weights of seats and seat lids. Consequently the only force that can be applied to the device is dint which is required to effect the lift. Therefore if the lifting of the seat is stopped during the rai .ig 10 movement, no undue stress is applied to the seat, the pan or the lifting device. A further advantage with the present invention is that fluid valves or other forms of fluid restrictions are not required.

The preceding description describes a preferred embodiment of one preferred form IS of the invention. Modifications and amendments as will be apparent to those skilled in the art can be made to the specific form without departing from the concept of the invention as defined in the appended claims. All such amendments and modifications are intended to be included within the scope of this application. 270849

Claims (7)

WHAT WE CLAIM IS:

1. A mechanism for raising and lowering a toilet seat pivotally mounted on a toilet pan, said mechanism comprising: 5 a fulcrum, means to pivotally mount the fulcrum in relation to the toilet pan, means associated with the fulcrum to contact the said toilet seat so that pivotal 10 movement of the said fulcrum will result in a raising or lowering of said toilet seat, a reaction container connected to the said fulcrum and adapted to be charged with a liquid of sufficient weight to counterbalance the weight of the toilet seat and thereby raise the toilet seat, and 15 means to enable liquid to be discharged from the reaction container to lower the said seat.

2. The toilet seat lifting mechanism as claimed in claim 1, wherein the interior of said 20 reaction container communicates through a tube to a bladder of a capacity that it can contain sufficient liquid to charge the reaction container to counterbalance the weight of the seat.

3. The toilet seat lifting mechanism as claimed in claim 2, wherein the said bladder 25 is adapted to be rested on the ground and to have a weight applied to it to expel the liquid within the bladder into the said reaction container,

4. The toilet seat lifting mechanism as claimed in claim 3, wherein the said weight is applied by the foot of the user. 30 - 8 - 270849

5. The toilet seat lifting mechanism as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the means associated with the fulcrum to contact the said seat comprises a contact member which projects from the said fulcrum and wkish can contact the underside of the said seat.

6. The toilet seat lifting mechanism as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the fulcrum comprises an elongated member and wherein the means to pivotally mount the fulcrum in relation to the toilet pan comprises ® Mounting hole formed intermediate of the length of the said fulcrum and adapted lo be engaged over a pin projecting from a mounting bracket formed to be anchored to the said toilet pan.

7. The mechanism for raising and lowering a toilet seat substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings. 5 END OF CLAIMS ^ocrp'"' -9- GREQ WEST-WALKER & CO