WO1999058777A1

WO1999058777A1 - A flushing toilet

Info

Publication number: WO1999058777A1
Application number: PCT/GB1999/001469
Authority: WO
Inventors: Darrell Lee Mann
Original assignee: Darrell Lee Mann
Priority date: 1998-05-09
Filing date: 1999-05-10
Publication date: 1999-11-18
Also published as: GB9809899D0

Abstract

A flushing toilet comprising a toilet bowl (11) for receiving waste, and outlet (14) in the bowl for disposal of toilet contents, passage means (17) leading from the outlet (14) for directing the waste to a waste connection (19) and water inlet means (13) for supplying flushing water to the toilet bowl (11). The passage means (17) is movable, at least in part, between two configurations, in the first of which the passage means defines with the outlet of the bowl a U-bend (31) and in the second of which the passage means defines with the outlet of the bowl a downwardly inclined passage (32) to the waste connection, the movement to the second configuration being actuated when the toilet is flushed.

Description

_«,,„_«- PCT/GB99/01469

WO 99/58777

A FLUSHING TOILET

The present invention relates to flushing toilets.

Global water consumption is a major environmental issue. The combination of increasing population, increasing per capita consumption 5 and falling availability of fresh water demands new ways of thinking about how the resource is used. One of the biggest wasters of water is the toilet. The vast majority of current appliances work on the principle of gravity-feed of a charge of water to displace the contents of a water _{ι n} containing U-bend which contains water to provide a seal to prevent odours being transmitted from the downstream drainage pipework. Because the incoming charge of water is able to mix freely with the U-bend water, large quantities are required to ensure that an adequate majority of the contaminated water is removed. This method of operation

15 is massively inefficient. Each flush of a typical unit uses around 14 litres of water. Based on an average of twelve flushes per household per day, the UK alone consumes nearly 1400 billion litres of expensively processed potable domestic water every year simply to empty the contents

20 of toilets.

The main functions of a toilet system are i) hygienic disposal of toilet contents, and ii) prevention of odour transmission from the downstream drainage system. Conventional toilet flush systems satisfy these requirements using an extremely crude method of operation first

25 derived during the early part of the century. In fact, even the latest 'state of the art', so-called low-consumption, 7 litre systems use the same basic method of operation, but this often results in inferior waste disposal ability.

30

Beyond these two variants, very few other types of toilet unit have seen commercial success, despite there being a rather large number of attempts to look at the problem. Some types are not attractive because the need for retro-fittability (e.g. dry systems require a complete re-think - 2 -

practically none have considered the toilet design as a whole rather than a sum of individual parts. Solutions have fallen into a number of distinct families :-

a) cistern inserts b) cistern valves/' dual flush' c) vacuum assisted d) water clean-up/re-circulation e) dry systems

It is worth looking briefly at each type to see where they have been technically both successful and unsuccessful :-

Cistern inserts are becoming quite common. They are simple devices which sit in the cistern in order that the cistern holds less water and therefore uses less per flush. Typical inserts will save around 2.5 litres per 14 litre flush. Because the method of operation of the toilet is fundamentally unchanged, as with the low consumption variant, reducing the amount of water coming in to the bowl, reduces the efficiency of disposing of contents.

Cistern valves/dual flush toilets effectively offer a more elegant way of reducing water usage from the cistern compared to an insert. Dual flush is probably the more effective method because it allows for user feedback in determining how much water is used per flush to dispose of bowl contents. Neither method, however, again does anything to improve the fundamentally inefficient disposal method once water enters the bowl.

Vacuum assisted toilets use an improved method of bowl contents removal in that they actively seek to suck the contents away and - 3 - thus require less water in to the bowl because now the vacuum rather than the water is providing the means of commencing fluid flow. Vacuum assisted units are becoming common in areas where water shortages are common or the cost of water usage merits their installation - eg large corporate users in California.

The main problems with vacuum assisted units relate mainly to their complexity because firstly, they require some external power supply to drive the section pump (hence actually just swapping one environmental concern for another), and secondly they are inevitably more expensive - not just from the standpoint of initial purchase cost but, because of the large number of parts they contain, also from the standpoint of increased likelihood and expense of maintenance by appropriately skilled plumbers.

Water clean-up/re-circulation are domestic water re-use systems and these so called 'grey water' systems are currently very fashionable from the standpoint of their inventors and people researching the field.

They effectively treat the home as a whole system and therefore propose that things like the toilet, where flush-water potability is not an issue, can be supplied with water that has previously been used in the household for washing, bathing, etc and has subsequently been (partially) cleaned and stored rather than letting it all go down the drain.

Looking at a household as a complete system is not a bad thing to do. The problem which arises however is that a re-circulation system (with a not inconsiderable water storage and cleaning space requirement) is both very expensive in terms of hardware required, and is very difficult indeed to retro-fit into the large majority of domestic properties. As with the vacuum-assist scheme, it is unclear whether the benefits of net lower water usage aren't completely offset by increased environmental cost in other areas - in this case the manufacture of a great number of additional parts. - 4 -

Dry systems were once, at the time the WC was conceived, a worthy competitor. In fact if water consumption had been an issue^" in the last century, dry systems may well have become the accepted standard. They basically work on the principle that the natural bacteria and enzymes present in soil will rapidly and odourlessly breakdown human waste to form a compact and highly useful fertiliser. They represent the ultimate in water conservation and all round environmental friendliness. Unfortunately, they also demand a complete re-think of the country's sewage infra-structure, the costs of which make it's adoption unlikely in the extreme.

According to the present invention there is provided a flushing toilet comprising a toilet bowl for receiving waste, an outlet in the bowl for disposal of toilet contents, passage means leading from the outlet for directing the waste to a waste connection and water inlet means for supplying flushing water to the toilet bowl, the passage means being movable, at least in part, between two configurations, in the first of which the passage means defines with the outlet of the bowl a U-bend and in the second of which the passage means defines with the outlet of the bowl a downwardly inclined passage to the waste connection, the movement to the second configuration being actuated when the toilet is flushed.

Normally, said water inlet means comprises a valve which is opened when the toilet is flushed and which controls the flow of flushing water. Preferably, the water inlet means directs water under a top rim of the toilet bowl which inclines towards the outlet.

In preferred arrangements the water inlet means directs a sheet of water across the outlet of the bowl whilst the passage means is in its second configuration.

With further preferred embodiments a single actuation means is provided to open the water valve and to move the passage means into its second configuration simultaneously. - 5 -

Conveniently, the actuation means may be hand or foot operated or may be automatically operated by, for example, proximity sensors. In some arrangements the actuation means for opening the wate valve and/or moving the passage means may be mechanical in operation although in other arrangements the actuation means for opening the water valve and/or moving the passage means may be electro-mechanical in operation. In other arrangements the water valve controls the flow of flushing water and the flow of water to a device for moving the passage means.

In one envisaged embodiment the passage means comprises a flexible tube, a portion of which can be raised to produce the first configuration or lowered to produce the second configuration. However, in an alternative embodiment the passage means has a flexible lower surface which is movable between upper and lower positions which define the two configurations.

Preferably, after flushing is complete the passage means returns to the first configuration automatically by, for example, resilience of the passage means and/or spring means. A further preferred feature is that after flushing is complete and the passage means has returned to the first configuration, the water valve remains open for a predetermined time to allow the U-bend fill with water.

Embodiments of the invention will now be described in more detail. The description makes reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a schematic sectional side view through a toilet according to the present invention,

Figure 2 is a view similar to figure 1 showing the toilet in an alternative configuration,

Figure 3 is a schematic sectional side view of a second embodiment showing alternative configurations, Figure 4 is a plan view of a detail of the figure 2 arrangement, - 6 -

Figure 5 is a schematic side view of an actuating mechanism for the toilet of figures 1 and 2,

Figure 6 is a schematic side view of an alternative actuating mechanism, and

Figure 7 is a schematic side view of a further alternative actuating mechanism.

Figures 1, 2 and 4 show a basic embodiment of the present invention in which there is a flushing toilet 10 having a toilet bowl 11 which has a top rim 12. At the rear end of the toilet 10 is a water inlet 13 for supplying flushing water under the rim 12 and around the bowl 11.

The bowl 11 has an outlet 14 at its lowermost part, the sides of the bowl 11 being downwardly inclined towards this outlet 14. Also shown in figures 2 and 4 is the optional feature that the water inlet 13 also provides water to a water injection slot 15 in the bowl adjacent the outlet 14. The slot 15 is formed such that when it is fed with water during flushing it produces a thin, continuous sheet 16 of water which acts like a seal across the outlet 14 of the toilet bowl 11. This will be discussed later.

Sealingly connected to the outlet 14 is passage means 17 which in this embodiment comprises a flexible tube 18 made out of a suitable plastics or rubber material for example. The other end of the tube 18 is sealingly connected to a waste connection 19, which leads to a sewage main pipe, or to a septic tank or to some other waste disposal/recycling system.

The tube 18 has a first configuration, a steady state condition in which it is shaped so as to form a U-bend with the outlet 14 of the bowl. This configuration is shown in figure 1 and there is also shown the usual charge of water 20 lying in the U-bend.

When the toilet 10 is flushed, flushing water is supplied by way of the water inlet 13 and also the flexible tube is moved into its second configuration as shown in figure 2. In this configuration the U-bend has - 7 -

been transformed into a downwardly inclined passage 21 leading directly from the outlet 14 of the bowl 11 to the waste connection 19.

It will be appreciated that the downwardly inclined passage 21 during flushing allows the toilet contents to pass quickly and easily under the force of gravity to the waste connection 19 without requiring a large quantity of flushing water. This is because in this configuration the flushing water does not have to push the toilet contents around the U-bend and so the flushing water is used largely to rinse under the rim 12 of the bowl 11, outlet 14 and tube 18. A much reduced quantity of flushing water is therefore required without impairing the quality of the flushing action.

The optional feature of the slot 15 gives rise to the sheet 16 of water across the outlet 14 as described above. This sheet 16 of water acts as a seal across the outlet 14 to prevent the transmission of smell from the downstream drainage system.

At the end of the flushing, the tube 18 is returned to its initial steady state configuration as shown in figure 1 until flushing is again required, and an amount of water continues to flow from the water inlet 13 in order to produce the charge of water 20 in the U-bend.

The arrangement shown in figure 3 is similar in most respects to that shown in figures 1 and 2 except that only part of the passage means 17 is movable. In this arrangement, the upper surface 30 of the passage means 17 is of a fixed shape similar to that of the upper tube portion of the figure 1 arrangement in its steady-state configuration. The lower surface of the passage means 17 is however flexible such that it can be moved between the two indicated positions 31 and 32. In position 31 there is a U-bend defined by the passage means and in position 32 there is a downwardly inclined passage extending from the outlet 14 to the waste connection. - 8 -

The water inlet 13 can be connected directly to the mains supply such that a cistern is not required. This clearly results in a saving of space. Ideally the flow of water and the movement of the passage means 17 to the second configuration are linked so as to occur simultaneously with the water flow continuing after the return of the passage means 17 to its configuration to enable the U-bend to fill with water.

Figure 5 shows a basic technique for moving the flexible tube 18. A simple push handle 40 is provided in the toilet 10. The handle 40 is attached at its lower end to a collar 41 which surrounds the tube 18.

Clearly as the handle is depressed, the tube 18 takes up its second configuration. When the handle is released, the tube returns to its first configuration. The action of the handle 40 can be linked to a water inlet valve which allows flushing water to flow into the toilet 10 when the handle is depressed and for a short while after its return to enable the

U-bend to fill.

The return of the tube to its steady state could be achieved in a number of ways. Spring means could be used to urge the tube into its

U-bend configuration or the tube could rely upon its own resilience to return to its steady-state U-bend configuration or even a combination of both. Other mechanical or electro-mechanical means could, however, be used to bias the tube.

In figure 6 there is a foot-operated arrangement which utilises similar principles to that shown in figure 5. In figure 6 there is a foot pedal 42 mounted on pivotted lever 43. A cord 44 at the other end of the lever 43 passes under a fixed loop and is attached to the collar 41. Again the tube 18 is biased into its U-bend configuration whilst actuation of the foot pedal 42 causes the tube to take up its flushing configuration.

It will be clear that the above described mechanical arrangements could be powered by other means, for example electrically if desired. Figure 7 illustrates a more complex arrangement in which the flexible tube 18 is connected to a rigid cylindrical sleeve 56 having an annular shoulder 57 at its remote end. Also the waste connection 19 incorporates a fixed pipe 50 which is attached to the sleeve 56 by means of a flexible, annular seal element 51. The sleeve 56 extends into the pipe 50 and there is a clearance fit 52 between the shoulder 57 and the inside of the pipe 50. In the pipe 50 there is an inlet for mains water to enter the space 53 between the pipe 50 and the sleeve 56. This flow of mains water is controlled by a water inlet valve 54 which also controls the flow of flushing water to the toilet bowl 11. A simple lever 55 controls the valve 54. Again the tube 18 is biased into the U-bend configuration either by its own natural resilience or by another means such as a spring.

In operation, when the flush is activated, mains water flow into the space 53 and the water pressure forces the tube sleeve 56 and the tube 18 to move downwards. This moves the tube 18 into its second configuration in which there is no U-bend and the toilet contents are free to flow downwardly to the waste connection 19. When the water flow to the space 53 stops, the pressure in the space 53 drops and the sleeve 56 and the tube 18 move upwards due to the biasing of the tube into its U- bend configuration.

It will be readily appreciated that these are only illustrations of suitable mechanisms of operations.

The above-described arrangements have a number of advantages over known systems. Not only does the present system work effectively as a toilet but can easily be retro-fitted into existing installations. Also there is little maintenance required and there is no need for a cistern and its associated overflow system. The present system is also likely to be less noisy than current systems.

Claims

10Claims

1. A flushing toilet comprising a toilet bowl for receiving waste, an outlet in the bowl for disposal of toilet contents, passage means leading from the outlet for directing the waste to a waste connection and water inlet means for supplying flushing water to the toilet bowl, the passage means being movable, at least in part, between two configurations, in the first of which the passage means defines with the outlet of the bowl a U-bend and in the second of which the passage means defines with the outlet of the bowl a downwardly inclined passage to the waste connection, the movement to the second configuration being actuated when the toilet is flushed.

A flushing toilet as claimed in claim 1 wherein said water inlet means comprises a valve which is opened when the toilet is flushed and which controls the flow of flushing water.

3. A flushing toilet as claimed in claim 2 wherein the water inlet means directs water under a top rim of the toilet bowl which inclines towards the outlet.

4. A flushing toilet as claimed in any one of claims 2 or 3 wherein the water inlet means directs a sheet of water across the outlet of the bowl whilst the passage means is in its second configuration.

5. A flushing toilet as claimed in any one of claims 2 to 4 wherein a single actuation means is provided to open the water valve and to move the passage means into its second configuration -> simultaneously. 11 -

6. A flushing toilet as claimed in claim 5 wherein the actuation means may be hand or foot operated.

7. A flushing toilet as claimed in claim 5 wherein the actuation means may be automatically operated by proximity sensors.

8. A flushing toilet as claimed in any one of claims 5 to 7 wherein the actuation means for opening the water valve and/or moving the passage means may be mechanical in operation.

9. A flushing toilet as claimed in any one of claims 5 to 7 wherein the 5 actuation means for opening the water valve and/or moving the passage means may be electro-mechanical in operation.

10. A flushing toilet as claimed in any one of claims 2 to 9 wherein the " water valve controls the flow of flushing water and the flow of water to a device for moving the passage means.

11. A flushing toilet as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 10 wherein the 5 passage means comprises a flexible tube, a portion of which can be raised to produce the first configuration or lowered to produce the second configuration.

12. A flushing toilet as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 10 wherein the 0 passage means has a flexible lower surface which is movable between upper and lower positions which define the two configurations.

5 12

13. A flushing toilet as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 12 wherein after flushing is complete the passage means returns to the first configuration automatically by resilience of the passage means and/or spring means.

14. A flushing toilet as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 13 wherein after flushing is complete and the passage means has returned to the first configuration, the water valve remains open for a predetermined time to allow the U-bend fill with water.

15. A flushing toilet substantially as hereinbefore described and with reference to the accompanying figures.