US3477070A - Toilet lid lock - Google Patents

Description

Nov. 11, 1969 D, w, KIMBER 3,477,070

TOILET LID LOCK Filed May 27, 1968 JZ/VENTOQ.

.D/AWE W E/MBER IQTTOENESJ United States Patent-O 3,477,070 TOILET LID LOCK Diane W. Kimber, 3420 Beverly Drive, San Bernardino, Calif. 92405 Filed May 27, 1968, Ser. No. 732,438 Int. Cl. A47k 13/24 US. Cl. 4253 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A simple flexible, plastic strap having pressure adhesive discs at its opposite ends for securing said ends respectively to the lid and bowl of a toilet fixture to deny access to the toilet bowl to irresponsible infants. One of the buttons has a readily detachable connection with the strap for freeing the lid to permit authorized use of the toilet bowl.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention Numerous devices have been developed and patented for the purpose of denying access to a toilet bowl by a person unauthorized to use the same. Most of these devices have been relatively complex and thus expensive to manufacture and bothersome to use. Three such patents are No. 2,404,124 issued July 16, 1946 and No. 3,048,854 issued Aug. 14, 1962, and No. 3,056,972 issued Oct. 9, 1962.

Description of the prior art Patent No. 2,404,124 discloses a web strap adjustable in length :and joined at the middle by a complex buckle, said strap terminating at its ends in wire hooks which hook over the rim of the toilet bowl from the inside to anchor the ends of the strap which are then brought together over the top of the lid and buckled together. Thi device is provided mainly for use in locking the lids on toilets in residences open for inspection to prevent their being used by persons inspecting the property. This device is quite operative for locking a toilet lid but it is too complex to be conveniently unlocked by a person authorized to use the toilet.

The device shown in Patent No. 3,048,854 also straps down the lid and is anchored by a metal clamp applied to the rim of the bowl. It is subject to the same criticism. The device shown in Patent No. 3,056,972 is also clamped to the rim of the toilet bowl and is junky in appearance and difficult to keep clean.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention aims to provide a means for effectively locking the lid of a toilet against unauthorized use of the latter by an irresponsible infant and yet leave the bowl quickly available for access thereto by any authorized person who is familiar with the mechanism of the lid lock, and of course permit the easy re-application of the lock to the lid after using the toilet.

Another object of the invention is to provide a toilet lid lock no part of which will be located within the toilet bowl and thus not subject to the necessity of the same being frequently cleaned.

A further object is to provide a toilet lid lock which is simple in structure and inexpensive to produce, and a lock which is not unsightly when applied to a toilet.

The present invention includes a flexible, plastic strap in the general order of about /2" wide, having a round stiff sheet plastic button at one end thereof, one face of said button being coated with a pressure adhesive which is normally covered with a neutral overlay, the opposite end of said strap having one or more holes which are slit at one side to receive a button provided on a stiff sheet plastic disc the bottom of which is coated with a pressure 3,477,070 Patented Nov. 11, 1969 ICC adhesive and which is normally covered with a neutral paper overlay. To apply the invention, the paper overlays are removed from the pressure adhesive on both discs at the opposite ends of the strap and one of these discs is applied to the toilet lid and the other disc is applied to the outside of the toilet bowl with the strap stretched taut between said discs. This locks the lid closed, at least as far as the ability of an irresponsible infant is concerned in gaining access thereto, until a person knowing how to operate the invention pulls the perforated end of the strap from off of the button of the disc providing the latter which frees the lid for use of the toilet. To restore the lid lock following the use of the toilet, it is required merely to reapply to the button that one of the perforations in the strap which had been removed from this.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURE 1 is a plan view of a conventional toilet with the seat and lid thereof closed and showing the preferred embodiment of the present invention applied to the toilet so as to lock the lid in closed position.

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged detail fragmentary sectional view taken on line 22 of FIGURE 1 and illustrating the manner in which the invention secures the lid in closed position. The broken lines in this view show how the invention is released to unlock the lid when this is desired.

FIGURE 3 is a perspective view of the strap of the invention and shows in perspective the discs permanently secured to one end of the strap with the pressure adhesive coating of one of these discs facing upwardly.

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged sectional view taken on the line 44 of FIGURE 3 and illustrating said permanently secured discs of the invention with the pressure adhesive coated surface thereof turned downwardly.

FIGURE 5 is a perspective view of the button disc of the invention with the pressure adhesive coated surface thereof exposed upwardly.

FIGURE 6 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of FIG- URE 5 with the pressure adhesive thereof turned downwardly.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The invention is used in connection with a toilet fixture 9 including a bowl 10 having a hinge 11 secured to a rear portion 12 thereof, and a seat 13 and lid 14 which are independently coaxially pivotally mounted on said bowl by said hinge.

The invention comprises a lid lock 15 which includes a flexible plastic strap 16 which may be in the neighborhood of 12" long and /2" wide, this strap having permanently secured at one end thereof a pair of discs 17 and 18 which are preferably made of plastic and heat sealed to opposite faces of that end portion of the strap 16. The bottom of disc 18 is provided with a coating of pressure adhesive 19 which in turn is normally covered with a neutral paper overlay 20.

The opposite end portion of strap 16 is preferably provided with a plurality of holes 21 having short slits 22 formed from their inner ends.

Look 15 also includes a button base 23 having a collar button type of button 24 provided on the upper face thereof at the end of a neck 25 which connects said button with said base. The bottom surface of the base 23 is covered with a coating of pressure adhesive 26 which is normally covered with a neutral overlay 27.

OPERATION The lock 15 is provided for the purpose of holding the lid 14 in closed position as shown in FIGURES 1 and 2 of the drawings, for the purpose of preventing use of the toilet by unauthorized persons and particularly irresponsible infants. To accomplish this end, the button 24 is inserted through the endmost of the holes 21 in the strap 16 with the adhesive layer 26 of the button 24 on the same side of the strap as the adhesive layer 19 of the disc 18 at the opposite end of the strap. The neutral overlays 20 and 27 are now stripped from the pressure adhesive layers and the disc 18 is then applied to the top of the lid 14 as shown in FIGURE 1 with the lid in closed position after which the strap 16 is pulled taut downwardly over the extending edge of the seat 13 and until the pressure adhesive coating 26 of the button base 23 comes into pressural contact with an outwardly exposed area on the toilet bowl as shown in FIGURE 2. The opposite ends of the strap 16 thus securely hold the upper end to the lid 14 and the lower end to the bowl 10 and with the strap 16 taut. This application of the lock locks the lid 14 against being opened without the application of very substantial force thereto, such as would be sufficient to rupture the strap 16. This application of the lock 15 to the lid 14 and the bowl 10 etfectively denies access to the toilet by an irresponsible infant.

When an adult familiar with the mode of operation of the lock 15 wishes to use the toilet, he merely pulls the lower end of the strap 16 outwardly to withdraw button 24 from the hole 21 in which it was located and thus free the strap 16 from being held down by said button. The lid 14 is thus free to be swung open during the use of the toilet. When it is desired to close the lid and resecure the lock 15, the lower end of the strap is merely pulled downwardly until the hole 21 previously receiving the button 24, is slipped over this button, thus replacing the strap in locking position as shown in FIGURE 2.

The manner in which neutral overlays and 27 are stripped from the layers of pressure adhesive provided in the invention is illustrated in broken lines 30 in FIGURES 4 and 6. Broken lines 31 in FIGURE 2 illustrate the strap 16 when it is free from attachment to button 24.

I claim:

1. In toilet apparatus having a bowl, a seat mounted on the bowl and generallly overlying the rim of the bowl, and a lid pivotally mounted on the bowl so as to swing between a generally horizontal closed position and a generally vertical open position, the lid having a generally flat top surface bounded by an edge portion of the lid which generally overlies the seat, and the bowl having a generally flat, outwardly facing surface which extends downwardly from the rim of the bowl, the combination with said toilet apparatus of toilet lid locking apparatus which comprises a first attachment member having a substantially flat surface adhesively bonded to said lid surface, a second attachment member having a substantially flat surface adhesively bonded to said bowl surface, and a flexible strap connected proximate its respective ends to said first and second attachment members, said strap extending from said first attachment member in a direction generally parallel to said lid surface, then bending down over said edge portion of the lid and over the edge of the seat, and then extending downwardly past the rim of the bowl to said second attachment member in a direction generally parallel to said bowl surface, whereby said strap will restrain the toilet lid against the unauthorized opening thereof, the restraining force of said strap upon said attachment members being applied in directions generally parallel to the planes of the respective adhesive bond joints between said attachment member surfaces and said lid and bowl surfaces so that the stresses on the adhesive bond joints are principally shear stresses, the connection of said strap to one of said attachment members being releasable for authorized use of the toilet.

2. The combination of claim 1, wherein said releasable connection of said strap to one of said attachment members comprises button means projecting upwardly from said one attachment member and aperture means in the strap through which said button means is releasably engageable.

3. The combination of claim 2, wherein said aperture means comprises a plurality of holes longitudinally spaced in said strap for selective application of said button means so that slack in said strap maybe taken up.

4. The combination of claim 1, wherein said attachment members are adhesively bonded to said lid and bowl surfaces by the provision of pressure adhesive material on said attachment member surfaces.

5. The combination of claim 1, wherein said attachment members comprise plastic discs.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,558,578 6/1951 Palmeri 4-253 2,692,394 10/1954 Paulus 4-234 3,116,527 1/1964 Springer 248l XR 3,395,408 8/1968 Weber et al. 4-253 LAVERNE D. GEIGER, Primary Examiner HENRY K. ARTIS, Assistant Examiner

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