Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
5~7
SPECIFICATION
Field of t~le Invention -
Ille present invention relates to automatic toilet seat closure
devices and me~h~nicrnc
Background of the Invention
The proper "default" or between-use positioning of the
common toilet seat is a matter that leads to domestic non-tranquil-
ity. Men commonly leave the seat up after use. Women generally
prefer to find it down when they go to use the toilet. Whatever
the psychological'or cultural causes of this commonly-occur~ing
difference of opinion, there has been long recognized a need for an
automatic seat closure or lowerer so that men may leave the seat
up and women find it down.
While some early privies provided for automatic closure of
tight-fitting lids (~g., ~erman Patent 72,094, 1892, stepping off a
floor board in front of privy lowers lid; German Patent ~03,960,
1908; and US. Patent 2,117,663, opening door to privy lowers lid~,
many modern suggestions exist'for flush toilets which use the act of
f~us~ing to lower the lid. See, r example, U.S. Patent Numbers
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3a57
5,058,216; 4,914,757; 4,433,442; and 3,781,924. As &r as applicant is
aware, none of these suggestions have met with commercial success
and, despite the great desirability for such a device, there is no
automatic toilet seat closure in common commercial use in this
5 country.
The reasons for this are believed to be the complex and
unsightly nature of the prior suggestions, such as those of the U.S
patent references mentioned above. There, therefore, still exists a
need for an automatic flush seat closure which is easy to make,
10 install, use, and has an installed appearance which is not unsightly
Summa~y of the Tnyention
In ~ o~ g one or more of the drawbacks of prior flush-
actuated toilet seat closures, the present invention provides a self-
lowering ~dl~ , for lowering a pivotal toilet seat member, either
15 the seat itself or its lid or both. The invention apparatus includes
a rearward arm attached to the seat member. Attached to it is a
flexible cable or cord which runs over a pulley or like fr~ed location
behind and below the seat. The cable runs through a routing
means (such as brackets and pulleys) to a weight in the toilet tank.
20 When flushed, the falling water increases the force applied by the
weight and pulls on the cable. The first location is so related to
the arm's range of positions that, if the seat member is in its raised
pos;tion, the pull on the cable from a flush pulls the arm and thus
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3~
the member forward until it passes over the tipping point and starts
to fall by gravity, but, before it can land down on the bowl, tlle
cable catches it and c~lecks its fall.
Another feature of the invention which allows for ease of
S installation is tlle use of a flexible tubular sleeve for the cable or
cord.
The invention, together witS~ further advantages and features
thereof, may best be understood by reference to the followin~
description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in
the several figures of which like reference numerals identify like
elements.
Brief Description of the Drawin~s
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the left side of a f~ush toilet
equipped with a toilet seat and a closure mechanism made in
accordance with the principles of the present invention.
FIG. Z is a perspective view of the right side of the toilet of
F~G. 1.
F~G. 3 is a side view of the toilet of FIGS. 1 and 2 with
some interior hidden parts shown in dashed outline.
FIG. 4 is a top view of the toilet of F~GS. 1 - 3 with parts
broken away to show interior parts and with some parts s~lown in
dashed outSine.
~;IG. 4A is a partial sectional view as seen from the Sine
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4A-4A in FIG. 4.
FIG. 4B is a partial view witll parts broken away to show
interior parts and ot~ler interior parts shown in dashed outline as
seen from the line 4B-4B in FIG. 4A
FIG. 5 is a side elevational view of the toilet of FIGS. 1 - 4
with the seat and lid in their raised position and witll parts broken
away to show interior parts.
FIG. 6 is a view similar to that of FIG. 5 of the toilet of
FIGS. I - 5 with parts in a moved position shown in dashed out-
line.
Detailed Description of One Preferred Embodiment
Referring to the figures and especially FIG. 1, there is
depicted a conventional flush toilet 10 having a bowl 12 and a tank
14, a tank top 16, and a flush lever or handle 18. These may be
15 . entirely conventional and therefore need not be described in detail,
it being understood that the manual depressing of t~le lever 18
opens a relatively large valve at the bottom of the tank 14 and
empties or largely empties the water contained in the tank 14 into
the bowl 12 to flush-clean it, and tlle majority of the water and any
20 waste in the bowl 12 is passed through a trap to a sewage drain
(not shown) - all in the conventional manner. After a flush, the
tank 14 is refilled relatively slowly compared to the rapid drop of
its water level upon flushing.
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21~3~57
In accordance witll tlle present invention, a modified toilet
seat assembly 19 is provided including a seat member 20 and lid
member 22. The seat assembly is affixed in the more-or-less con-
ventional manner to tlle bowl 12 so that each member 20, 22 may
be pivotally displaced about an axis 21 located toward the rear end
of the members. That is, as shown in FIGS. 4, 4A and 4B, a pair
of elbow members 21A and 21B are secured by plastic nut and bolt
arrangement 23A and 23B (FIGS. 4A and 4B) through bores 12A
and 12B defined in the bowl 12. (The tops of the bolts are cov-
ered by covers 23C.) These members 21A and 21B define pivot
axles 21X which define the axis 21 of rotation for tlle seat 20 and
lid 22. In accordance with the present invention, the nut and bolt
arrangement 23A and 23B and the members 21A and 21B also
secure in place a bracket 70.
The toilet seat 20 and lid 22 are, like conventional seats and
lids, able to be raised and assume a stable position slightly beyond
vertical, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 5. That is, they move slightly
beyond 90 degrees from a closed horizontal position to a raised
poSition. The weight of the seat and lid are so distributed as to
20 cause the seat and lid to pivot downward when tipped forward toslightly less than vertical. That is, the center of mass of the seat
member is well forward of the axis 21 as indicated by the point
SCM in FIG. 6. If not reskained, the seat Z0 and lid 22 would
pivot down and bang against the bowl 12 and each other.
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21~35~
Also in accordance with the present invention, one or, as
shown, both of the members 20 or 22 is provided witll a rearward-
extending arm such as the lid arm 30 (FIGS. 1, 3 and 4). At the
end of the arm 30 is connected one end 51 of a flexible (but not
5 elastic) cable or cord 50, which winds about a pulley 52 which is
fixed in position by means of the bracket 70. The pulley 52 serves
at a fixed location from which the cord or cable 50 extends to the
arm connection, either in front of the pulley 52, as shown in FIG.
5, or above it, as shown in FIG. 6, or in the range of positions
10 therebetween.
After running over the pulley 52, the cable 50 enters a plastic
sleeve 55 and the combination of sleeve or tube 55 and interior
cable 50 runs under and up the rear wall of the tank 14. The
sleeve 55 is secured at one end to the bracket 70 by a claimp 71
15 and near its other end to a tank bracket 14A (FIG. 4) which helps
guide the sleeve 55 over the rear edge of the tank and under the
tank top 16. (Often, there is sufficient space under the loose-
fitting top 16 for this to be done without modification of the tank
during installation. Occasionally, in retrofitting the present system
20 to an existing tank, a small and shallow notch needs to be made in
the top lip or edge of the tank 14 to accommodate the cable 50
and sleeve 55.) The sleeve 55 ends at the bracket 14A but the
cable 50 continues on to a second pulley 80' held in the tank by a
second bracket 14B. Below the pulley 80, the cord or cable 50 is
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~ 21~3~7
secured to a weight 90 wllich has a specific gravity slightly g}eater
than l so that it moves up and down with the flushing of the toilet.
The length of tlle cable 50 between weight 80 and arm 30 is
such that the cable is taut at either of the extreme positions of the
S arm 30 when the tank is filled. The geometry of the fLxed position
of the pivot 52 and the possible end positions of the arm 30 is
shown in FIGS. 5 and 6. That is, the distance A in FIG. 5 is less
than the distance B in FIG. 6.
As shown in FIG. 2, a similar, nearly mirror image, arrange-
10 ment is provided, wherein arm 40 from the seat member 20 has an
end 41 attached to a cable or cord 50' which runs freely to a pulley
52' mounted on another portion of the bracket 70. The cable 50'
runs into and through a tube or sleeve 55' which also has one end
secured by a clamp 72 to the bracket 70 and its other end secured
by a clamp 73 (FIG. 4) which is mounted on a bracket 14C which,
like the brackets 14A and 1413, are secured to the top of the walls
of the tank 14. The clamps securing the tubes 55 and 55' are not
so tight so as to prevent tlle free movement of the cord or cable
50, 50' in the tubes. (The use of such tubes of a preferably a waxy
20 or slippery plastic, such as polypropylene, is a feature of the pres-
ent invention which allows the cable connection bet~veen tlle brack-
et 70 and the tank 14 to be made easily and without any major
tions needed to the tank or attachments to the bottom of
the tank or the surrounding walls.)
2I ~3~7
Ille bracket 14C cantilevers out over the bottom of the tank
14 and mounts a pulley 80'. Ille cable 50' extends from tlle tube
55' to pass over the pulley and is attached to a weight 90' posi-
tioned at least partly in tlle center of the tank 14.
The consequences of the geometry of the arm 30, 40 and the
pulley 52, 52' will become clear from a discussion of the operation
of the apparatus. Assume the starting conditions as shown in FIG.
S with the lid æ and seat 20 up in their raised position and the
tank full. Now assume the user flushes the,.tank by pressing down
lever 18. This causes the water in the tank 14 to fall fairly rapidly.
The result is that the effective weight exerted by the weight 80 is
increased. This pulls the cable or cord 50 downward and puLls the
end of the arm 30 rearward, which moves the lid 22 forward to the
left, as seen in FIG. 5. If the seat 20 is also up, the same result is
achieved on its arm 40, and the seat 20 also moves forward. As
the lid alone or lid and seat move past tlle vertical point, their
weight terlds to draw them downward and forward, and the lid (and
seat, if raised) pivots forward, initially u~ dilled by the cable.
As the arm end swings further, however, and the point 51 ad-
vances above the plane defined by the frxed axis 21 and the pulley
51, the arm 30 starts to draw back on the cable 50. At the position
shown in dashed outline in F~G. 6, the torque about axis 2 applied
by the effective weight of the wejghts 80 and 90 counterbalances
the torque of the center of mass CMS and CMI of the lid and seat
21~35~
and stops the fall of the seat and lid. As the tank 14 refills, the
effective weight of the weights 80 and 90 dec}eases, and torque
applied about the axis 21 by the lever arms 30 and 40 decreases,
and the lid pivots downward to its closed position shown in solid
S lines in FIG. 6. As the tank 14 is refilled substantially slowly, the
fall of the lid 22 is likewise relatively slow, with the result that it
does not "bang."
It should be noted that the torque at the axle 21 of the
lowered seat and lid is the distance D in FIG. 6 times the weight
10 of the lid and seat. The torque applied by weights 80, 90 upon
flushing in this configuration is the length of the area 30 and 40
times the weight but reduced by the effect of the angle of the
length of cable 50 between pulley 52 at the end of the arm 51.
This torque applied by the weights 80, 90 is less than that of the
15 seat, so that flushing of the toilet with the seats down does not
cause them to rise up.
Note that the torque applied about axis 21 by the weights 80,
90 (through the cables and arm) in a flushed toilet is more than
that the raised seat applies, and that this torque goes from positive
20 to negative as the seat members move from the position of FIG. 5
to that shown in dashed lines of FIG. 6. That is, the cables 50, 50'
first pull the arms 30, 40, in a counterclockwise direction (FIG. 5)
and then in a clock~vise direction (FIG. 6). The torque applied by
the cables 50, 50' is greater than the torque of the seat members in
g
2~4~ 7
the arrangement shown in daslled lines in FrG 6 That is, dis-
tances x and y times the weight of tlle seat member are less tllan
the torque applied by ~he weights 80, 90 and this s~ops the seat
members in the position ;~ tely as shown. As tlle water
S rises in the tank, the torque applied by the cable and weight system
decreases slow~y and the seat members resume their full horizontal
position.
- The geometry of the moving parts of the arms 30, 40 and the
pulley or FLxed point 52, 52' is such that the weights need only
move a short (typically two or three inches) vertical distance
during operation. This allows for ease of placement of the weights
in the tank. Also, since the weights are (preferably slightly) over
the density of the water, they can be made of a glass container and
filled with water or water and sand.
The invention readily adapts itself to retrofitting. The brack-
et 70 may be made to telescope outward and inward somewhat, to
accommodate the apparatus to bowls of differing widths; however,
it may be easier to m~nllf~tllre different-sized units specifically
sized to particular toilets.
The assembly of the seat 20 and lid 2~, together with the
bracket 70 and cord 50, sleeve 55, weights 80, 80', and the associ-
ated brackets, can be sold together as a kit preferably sized and
configured to flt a specific conYentional toilet in common use. The
kit would then be installed by the easy steps of first replacing the
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2143557
seat and lid assembly with assembly 21. Then running the attached
sleeve SS and 55' arrangement as shown and affxing the clips 14A,
14B and 14C as shown. These latter need only be pushed on to
the top edge of the tank 14, filling with water and hanging the
S weights, and making sure the cord or cable 50, S0' is tight, and
replacing the tank top 16 would complete the job.
A prototype of the invention has been built and tested and
shown to work well. In this prototype, a nylon cord was used for
t,lle cable and polypropylene tubing for the sleeve SS and a stan-
10 dard toilet seat and lid modified by adding a bracket and ve,-tical
arms. This unit was fltted to a conventional flush toilet and proved
to work well.
While one particular embodiment of the invention has been
shown and described, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art
15 that changes and modifications may be made without departing
from the invention and, therefore, the aim in the appended claims
is to cover all such changes and ~iifi~ltions as fall within the
true spirit and scope of the invention.
Among the changes that may well be made is to replace at
20 least some of the pu,leys by low-friction eyelets. Further, the arms
may be made so as to be releasably removable, so that a user could
attach and use only one, for example, and the seat could be used
when the user does not wish to have the lid automatically operated.
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