AU611225B2 - Moulded plastic toilet seat with tag - Google Patents

Description

l1.25 \I 1.4 1.6 I liii IIONO ZAXMAn1S8odONW1NfH 1o3'ia'V 'id 8 068L9S"el zx/AAnjx s bdoua p qo 'A1,n~syodONWi) rlHOa:i v 'Id 01 11111 1l~1~ 1.25 1.4 S F Raf: 43620 FORM COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA PATENTS ACT 19..2 COMPLETE SPECIFICATIO 2

(ORIGINAL)

FOR OFFICE USE: Class Int. Class Application Number: Lodged: PI5417 13 November 1987 Accepted: Published: 0 S

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60

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Priority: Related Art: Name and Address of Applicant: Actual Inventor: Address for Service: Caroma Industries Limited 31 Market Street Brisbane Queensland 4000

AUSTRALIA

Bruce Russell Thompson Spruson Ferguson, Patent Attorneys, Level 33 St Martins Tower, 31 Market Street, Sydney, New South Wales, 2000, Australia Complete Specification for the invention entitled: To I.l Tr &a -r MOULDED PLASTIC4A WITH TAG The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me/us s~2~sa 9

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N. &11/1 1/88

ATTACHED

05/22 MAIL OFFICE I The present invention relates to moulded plastic toilet seats intended to be displayed at point of sale, and to a method of packing such toilet seats.

In accordance with modern retailing methods, moulded plastic toilet seats are desirably displayed at point of sale for selection by Intending purchasers. In making such selection, intending purchasers are very substantially influenced by price since factors such as the recommendation of salesman cannot be brought into play because the purchaser normally makes the selection completely unaided by such sales staff. Indeed, the retail establishment often only provides staff at checkout counters.

It is therefore hl:hly desirable that the toilet seat be able to be displayed easily and in a tasteful manner and that the packaging itself be of low cost. Where the toilet seat to be displayed comes in several colours, it Is also desirable that the packaging be tran, -rent In order 15 that the des'red colour of the article can be selected ir. addition to selecting the type of article to be purchased.

:It is known to meet these desiderata by the provision of so called blister packs. Such blister packs have a cardboard base upon which an :i article is located and a transparent covering which holds the article to the base. A hole or other aperture in the top of the cardboard provides a means by which the entire package may be suspended from a long rod or other hook arrangement.

However, the foregoing arrangement suffers from a substantial disadvantage in that the weight of the article able to be displayed thereby Is limited by the strength of the cardboard. Accordingly, this meth;od of display and packaging Is not able to be used with moulded plastic toilet seats which are relatively heavy and bulky items such as moulded plastic toilet seats.

It is known from US Patent No. 4,460,143 to provide a flexible tag on 00 30 the base of a blood or plasma containing bottle which enables the bottle to be Inverted to dispense the contents by means of gravity flow. However, this arrangement is not suitable for displaying such articles for sale since the liquid may leak through the bottle cap or the arrangement be subjected to practical jokers opening the bottle cap whilst the bottle was thus Inverted. Furthermore, such prior art tigs are clearly not Intended to be detachable by rupturing the material between the tag and the remainder of the article, since the tag is intended to support the article {+RF10451o jji fe HRF/4126U ii i i in use where the article may be knocked, bumped or otherwise subjected to physical forces.

It is also known from US Patent No. 4,545,521 to provide an envelope with a detachable tag. This tag has openings permitting the tag to be hung from the door knob of a hotel, for example, so that a message for hotel guests can be retained within the envelope. Such an arrangement is essentially analogous to the above mentioned blister pack in that only light weight articles eg. paper messages, are able to be used. Also the article itself is contained within the envelope and thus the tag and article are not integrally formed.

It is known from French Patent Application No. 83 03573 published under No. 2,541,885 to provide a toilet seat with an integrally formed moulded plastics handle which is connected to the seat by a flexible hinge. The handle is intended to enable the toilet seat to be carried or 15 hung, for example in a display case. The toilet seat is constructed to allow th, handle to be folded underneath and located within a hollow formed in the seat, when the seat is mounted on a toilet bowl.

Accordingly, there is no disclosure of the handle being detachable by rupturing of the hinge. Furthermore, there is no disclosure as to how to protect the toilet seat from being scuffed or soiled whilst being carried S0 or displayed. This may not be of great consequence as the toilet seat is Intended to be displayed In a display case. However, where the toilet seat is intended to be displayed at point of sale to self service customers, who touch all the seats offered for sale, some form of protection must be .:26 devised which will not Interfere with the self-selection process which it is intended that the customer undertake.

It is the object of the present invention to provide a solution to the above problem by using a detachable portion of the toilet seat as a means whereby the entire toilet seat can be suspended for display and by 3o enveloping the toilet seat with a low cost transparent cover.

According to the present Invention there is disclosed a method of packaging a toilet seat for display at point of sale, wherein said toilet seat is moulded from plastics material and includes an integrally moulded tag shaped to form a hook engaging aperture, said tag being joined to said toilet seat by means of a rupturable line of weakness forming a hinge about which said tag can pivot relative to said seat, said method comprising the steps of passing said seat into an open end of a tube of transparent sheet 5-3plastics material being closed at its other end save for a opening therethrough dimensioned to receive said tag, extending said tag through said opening, and welding the open end of said tube closed to protectively seal said toilet seat within said tube.

An embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings in which: Fig. 1 Is a plan view of a toilet seat assembly of the preferred embodiment, Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line 2-2 of Fig. 1, Fig. 3 is an exploded perspective view illustrating the method of packaging the article, and Fig. 4 is a perspective view illustrating the articles displayed for sale, As seen in Fig. 1, the preferred article of the present invention takes the form of a toilet seat assembly 1 having a lid 2, a hinge plate 3, and a seat 4 (Fig. 3).

As best seen in Figs, 1 and 2, a tag 6 having an aperture 7 is integrally moulded with the hinge plate 3 and joined thereto by means of two hinge portions 8 each of which Is of substantially reduced cross-section. As a result, the tag 6 can be removably detached from the hinge plate 3 after sale of the article, by removing the tag 6 from the hinge plate 3 by rupturing or cutting through the hinge portions 8, The method of packaging the toilet seat assembly 1 is illustrated in Fig. A tube 11 of transparent sheet plastics material is transversely heat sealed at its upper end 12, Then an opening 13 Is formed, for example by cutting, at a central location. The toilet seat assembly is inserted Into the open lower end 14 of the tube 11 until the tag 6 passes through the opening 13, Then the lower end 14 is transversely heat sealed so as to S form the tube 11 into a transparent package 15 (Fig. the lower end of 30 which comprises a seal 16.

As seen in Fig. 4, a number of the toilet seat assemblies 1, each in their Individual package 15 are displayed for sale by means of hanging the assemblies 1 from a long rod 18 which is formed into a cantilever hook, The rod 18 passes through each of the apertures 7 In the corresponding tags 6.

It will be apparent from Fig. 4 that the above described arrangement enables an intending purchaser to select which of the individual toilet -4- HRF/0451o 1 seat assemblies he wishes to purchase, this selection being based possibly upon the colour of the assembly which is apparent through the transparent package 5. In addition, the hinge portions 8 enable those assemblies 1 towards the front to be pivoted relative to the tags 6 by the intending purchaser in order to enable a better view to be obtained of those assemblies 1 towards the rear. Such flexing of the hinge portions 8 is easily accommodated without breakage.

it will also be apparent to those skilled in tle art that the above described arrangement is of extremely low cost and therefore the total cost of the toilet seat assembly for sale is able to be reduced to a minimum.

Furthermore, the weight of the toilet seaf assembly is carried by the tag 6 and not by the package 15. Thus the thickness (and hance strength) of the tag 6 and hinge portions 8 can be adjusted by the manufacturer to suit the weight of the toilet seat. It this way, identical packaging can be used for articles each of a different weight. For example, toilet seats moulded from different grades of plastics materials can have differing weights but still be packaged In identical fashion.

The foregoing describes only one embodiment of the present invention and modifications, obvious to those skilled in the art, can be made thereto without departing from the scope of the pr-3'ent invention.

For example, the package 15 can be used to include extraneous items such as mounting fasteners and/or instruction sheets.

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Claims (7)

1. A method of packaging a toilet seat for display at point of sale, wherein said toilet seat is moulded from plastics material and includes an integrally moulded tag shaped to form a hook engaging aperture, said tag being joined to said toilet seat by means of a rupturable line of weakness forming a hinge about which said tag can pivot relative to said seat, said method comprising the steps of passing said seat into an open end of a tube of transparent sheet plastics material being closed at its other end save for a opening therethrough dimensioned to receive said tag, extending said tag through said opening, and welding the open end of said tube closed to protectively seal said toilet seat within said tube.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein said open end is heat welded.

3. The method as claimed In claim 2 wherein said closed other tube end Is welded completely closed and said opening is subsequently formed therein.

The method as claimed in any one of the preceeding claims am: wherein prior to welding closed said open tube und, mounting fasteners and/or Instruction shoet(s) are Inserted into said tube. o.2*

5. The method as claimed in any one of the preceding claims herein said toilet seat includes a lid.

6. A method of packing a toilet seat for display at point of sale, said method being substantially as described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings. 2

7. A toilet seat packaged in accordance with the method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 6. DATED this TWENTY FOURTH day of JANUARY 1991 Caroma Industries Limited Patent Attorneys for the Applicant SPRUSON FERGUSON