AU613502B2 - Sanitary ware fixing - Google Patents

Description

613 (8 2 S F Ref: 55930 FORM COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA PATENTS ACT 1952 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION

(ORIGINAL)

FOR OFFICE USE: Class Int. Class Application Number: PI9533 Lodged: 28 July 1988 Accepted: Published: Priority: Related Art: Name and Address of Applicant: a Actual Inventor: Address for Service: Caroma Industries Limited Market Street Brisbane Queensland 4000

AUSTRALIA

Stephen John Cummings Spruson Ferguson, Patent Attorneys, Level 33 St Martins Tower, 31 Market Street, Sydney, New South Wales, 2000, Australia Complete Specification for the invention entitled: Sanitary Nare Fixing The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me/us REPRINT OF RECEIPT S~-COO8712 i -1 0 7 8 131 5815/3 The present invention relates to the supporting of sanitary ware fixtures such as lavatory pans, wash basins and urinals. Such sanitary ware fixtures are normally made from ceramic materials and are moderately heavy.

In addition, the water pipes leading to, and waste pipes leading from, such sanitary ware fixtures are normally intended to be concealed and

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this is done by means of a cavity wall arrangement for the wet room area which may be a bathroom, kitchen or laundry. The cavity wall arrangement 0 0takes the form of a rear wall which is normally solid brick, or the like, a or o"n planar support formed from studs and a front covering secured to the studs. The front covering is often tiled and the spacing between the front 00 m covering and the rear wall defines a cavity space which accommodates the various pipes.

Such sanitary ware fixtures have been secured by a variety of 0' 5 brackets of which the ones disclosed in Australian Patent Specification No. 275,012 are typical.

a°0, There is a substantial jmount of time involved in the fitting out of such wet room areas because of the need to secure supporting brackets in the correct positions and such time must be paid for at skilled tradesmen rates. In addition, the cavity space occupies a substanital area, the cavity space typically being 300mm wide in known prior art arranr ,ents.

In multi-floor buildings, in particular, the floor area consumed by this cavity space (which is essentially wasted space), is substantial when accumulated for each floor of the building.

In order to address this problem it is known to provide a supporting frame which rests at its lower end on the floor surface and which is secured at its upper end to the wall, wall studs or like support. This upper end fixing is necessary to prevent the frame from toppling over under -2nas/181o the influence of the torque created by the weight of the sanitary ware fitting. Australian Patent Application No. 11708/88 is a recent representative of a sequence of such prior art devices.

However, the abovementioned prior art devices suffer from the problem that the frame is not free standing and must be supported by the wall studs or like mechanically strong structure. This creates a problem in those locations where there is no structural wall or where light gauge sheet S metal studs (which are not inherently rigid) are used. In the first instance either the sanitary ware fittings and the low cost prior art frame cannot be located where desired, or a structural support in the form of a wall has to be built. This places a restriction on the architectural oo design, or increases costs, respectively.

In the second instance, wooden studs need to be substituted for the sheet metal studs, or the sheet metal studs need to be reinforced. This is 08 15 a particular problem in office blocks where it is not always the most

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desirable layout to locate the sanitary ware fittings adjacent a structural wall. Thus it would desirable to locate the sanitary ware fitting adjacent a low cost "partition wall" having such sheet metal studs. However, the need to strengthen the studs adds unnecessary cost.

4 It is the object of the present invention to enable such a frame to be self supporting without the need for upper end, torque counteracting, fittings so that sanitary ware fittings can be located anywhere within a building or a floor of a building.

According to one aspect of the present invention there is disclosed a free standing frame for supporting a sanitary ware fixture on the floor of a wet room area in front of a cavity wall arrangement comprising a planar support formed from studs and a front covering secured to said studs, said frame having a transverse dimension and a front to rear dimension to permit 3 nas/181o said frame to be located between a pair of adjacent studs and be substantially co-planar therewith, said frame having at least one securing device arranged to support said sanitary ware fixture and being secured to said frame, and said frame having mounting means to secure said frame to said floor and resist torque applied to said frame via said securing device.

According to a second aspect of the present invention there is disclosed a method of supporting a sanitary ware fixture on the floor of a wet room area in front of a cavity wall arrangement comprising a planar S support formed from studs and intended to be covered by a front covering secured to said studs; said method comprising the steps of forming a waste outlet or an opening therefore in said floor between a pair of adjacent ones of said studs, locating a free standing supporting frame between said pair of studs, securing said frame to said floor, supporting said sanitary ware fixture by at least one securing device fixed to said frame, 4 15 connecting said sanitary ware fitting to said waste outlet or opening, and securing said front covering to said studs.

9 The embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings in which: Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a prior art arrangement for supporting a lavatory pan, Fig. 2 is an equivalent side elevation to the same scale showing the arrangement for supporting the lavatory pan in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the frame which is partially illustrated in Fig. 2, Fig. 4 is a side elevation of the height adjusting mechanism illustrated in Fig. 3, Fig. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line A-A of Fig. 4, 4 Snas/181o Fig. 6 is a rear elevation of the embodiment of Figs. 1 to 5 showing the lavatory pan, supporting frame and cistern, Fig. 7 is a rear elevation similar to Fig. 6 but illustrating a second embodiment of the present invention for mounting a urinal, Fig. 8 is a view similar to Fig. 7 but of a third embodiment of the present invention for mounting a hand basin, and Fig. 9 is a view similar to Fig. 3 but illustrating a different pan S mounting arrangement.

Illustrated in Fig. 1 is a wet room area 1 having a floor 2 and rear 0 O wall 3. The wet room area 1 is a toilet in which it is intended to mount a S lavatory pan 4.

SFixed to the floor 2 by means of bolts (for example, and not illustrated) is an L-shaped frame 5 having an upright portion 6 and two cantilever arms 7 only one of which is illustrated.

A conventional waste pipe 8 passes through the floor 2 and is connected to the rear of lavatory pan 4. A front covering 9 is used to hide the presence of the L-shaped frame 5 and the distance A in Fig. 1 between the front covering 9 and rear wall 3 defines a cavity space having 01 a width of approximately 300mm.

Fig. 2 illustrates the equivalent side elevational view for the wet room area 10 in which the first embodiment of the present invention is installed. The floor 2, rear wall 3, lavatory pan 4 and front covering 9 are substantially as illustrated in the prior art arrangement of Fig. 1.

However, the front covering 9 is secured to studs 12 and, if desired, a supporting frame 15 illustrated in more detail in Fig. 3. A waste pipe 18 again passes through the floor 2 and is connected to the lavatory pan 4.

Of substantial importance is that the width of the cavity space indicated by distance B in Fig. 2 is only of the order of approximately 100mm and nas/181o T I LI therefore a substantial saving in floor space is achieved.

Turning now to Fig. 3, the supporting frame 15 is illustrated in detail and comprises a pair of uprights 16 secured to a mounting flange 17. The mounting flange 17 is secured to the floor 2 using c'nventional fasteners. Adjustably positioned on the uprights 16 is a yoke 19 which carries a rectangular member 20. The yoke 19 includes a central aperture 21 which is dimensioned to receive an L-shaped flush pipe 51 (Fig. 6) which 9 oJOo connects a cistern 52 to the pan 4.

0 0 ooooo A'securing device 22 having a central opening 23 dimensioned to 0 1 o° 10 receive the flush pipe 51, and a pair of cantilever arms 27, is fixed to ooo 0° 0 0 the yoke 19 by means of bolts 28 and threaded apertures 29.

00o o a 0! The vertical position of the yoke 19 and rectangular member 20 above the uprights 16 is able to be adjusted by means of a securing mechanism illustrated in detail in Figs. 4 and 5. The securing mechanism 30 takes 000o 0 t 5 the form of an elongate slot 31 in each of the uprights 16 and a traveller 00 o 00 32 located within each of the uprights 16. Each traveller 32 is provided °o with two threaded apertures 33 which receive bolts 34 which pass through openings 35 in the yoke 19 and through the slots 31.

In addition, each traveller 32 is provided with an L-shaped flange 36 ooo to which a nut 37 is fixed and arranged to receive a corresponding long bolt 38. Each long bolt 38 carries a locator 39 and a spacer In order to carry out the necessary installation, a hole 50 (Fig. 2) is cut in the floor 2 in order to receive the waste pipe 18. The waste pipe 18 is then positioned and the uprights 16 located to either side of the hole 50. The uprights 16 are then secured to the floor 2 by means of the mounting flange 17. With the securing device 22 securely bolted to the yoke 19, the yoke 19 is slid over the uprights 16 and the bolts 34 passed through openings 35 and into the travellers 30. However, the bolts 34 are 6 nas/181o -T not fully tightened. The long bolts 38 cre then rotated using a spanner so as to bring the spacers 40 into abutment with the yoke 19. The yoke 19 is then able to be moved by hand into the desired final position so as to achieve the correct spacing between the floor 2 and cantilever arms 27.

Then the bolts 34 are fully tightened to fix the supporting frame 15 in the desired final configuration.

The next steps in the installation procedure are that the pan 4 is mounted on, and secured to, the securing device 22. Then a flush pipe 51 (Fig. 6) is passed through the central aperture 21 and central opening 23 O and into the pan 4 in conventional fashion. It will be seen in Fig. 6 that a cistern 52 is connected to the upper end of the flush pipe 51 and mounted within the rectangular member It will also be best seen from Fig. 6 that the securing device 22 is provided with an arcuate bight 24 which accommodates the waste pipe 18.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the above described arrangement provides a number of substantial advantages.

SFirstly, the supporting frame 15 can be entirely pre-fabricated and it is supported only by the mounting flange 17 and thus only one member needs to be positioned with accuracy relative to the floor 2 and wall. Secondly, the securing mechanism 30 provides for a convenient, and relatively fine, height adjustment without the need for further holes to be drilled in the rear wall 3, or studs 12, for example.

In addition, the width of the supporting frame 15 is preferably made to be less than the standard 600mm spacing between adjacent studs 12 and therefore the entire supporting frame 15 can be positioned between two studs 12 without any need for re-working of the stud arrangement. Finally, as indicated in Fig. 2, the front covering 9 is secured to the studs in conventional fashion and yet is only spaced by the reduced distance B from -7nas/181o I the rear wall 3.

It will also be appreciated that the mounting flange 17 is able to easily counteract the torque applied to the frame 15 by not only the substantial weight of the sanitary fitting or pan 4 itself, but also the weight of any person sitting on the pan 4 during use of the toilet. As a consequence, the studs 12 can be formed from light guage sheet metal without any special strengthening or reinforcement. In addition, because co o, the frame 15 is supported (and braced) entirely by the floor 2 (and is therefore entirely free standing) the frame 15 can be located anywhere on the floor area without regard for the location of structural walls, and the *oil 0-0- like. This liberates the floor plan design from such restrictions.

0 o° 0 Turning now to Figs. 7 and 8, respectively illustrated in these drawings are frames 55 and 56 used to mount a urinal 57 and wash basin 58 respectively. The general structure of the frames 55 and 56 is 00- 0 o 5 substantially similar to that of the supporting frame 15 and is therefore o 1 o0 o S not described in detail.

0° In Fig. 9 a modification to the arrangement of Figs. 2-5 is illustrated. The arrangement of Figs. 2-5 is for a conventional wall hung pan which is supported by cantilever arms such as arms 27. Another conventional wall hung pan is a bolt hung wall hung pan which is bolted directly to a vertical surface. Fig. 9 illustrates a suitable supporting frame 75 for such a pan.

As seen in Fig. 9 a yoke 79 is provided with a pair of protruding threaded rods 78 to which the pan (not illustrated) is bolted in substantially conventional fashion. Fig. 9 also illustrates the waste pipe 18 which is supported by a bracket 77 which depends from the yoke 79. As indicated by the arrow in Fig. 9, the waste pipe 18, bracket 77, and yoke 79 all move together vertically during the installation adjustment. When -8nas/181o

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the final position is reached the lower end of the waste pipe 18 is sealed in place.

The foregoing descrines only some embodiments of the present invention and modifications, obvious to those skilled in the art, can be made thereto without departing from the scope of the present invention.

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Claims (9)

1. A free standing frame for supporting a sanitary ware fixture on the floor of a wet room area in front of a cavity wall arrangement comprising a planar support formed from studs and a front covering secured to said studs, said frame having a transverse dimension and a front to rear dimension to permit said frame to be located between a pair of adjacent studs and be substantially co-planar therewith, said frame having at least one securing device arranged to support said sanitary ware fixture and being secured to said frame, and said frame having mounting means to secure said frame to said floor and resist torque applied to said frame via said i0 securing device.

2. A frame as claimed in claim 1 wherein said mounting means comprises a flange secured to the base of said frame.

3. A frame as claimed in claim 1 or 2 having a pair of uprights supporting an upper frame to which said securing device(s) are connected, the height of said upper frame above said uprights being adjustable by adjustable support means interconnecting said uprights and said upper frame.

4. A frame as claimed in claim 3 wherein said upper frame comprises a central yoke and a substantially rectangular member located above, and movable with, said yoke; said rectangular member having a central aperture into which a cistern can be located and said yoke having an opening through which a flush pipe from said cistern can pass to said sanitary ware fixture.

A frame as claimed in claim 3 or 4 wherein a waste pipe co-planar with said frame extends between said uprights towards said floor and is carried by, and movable with, said upper frame.

6. A free standing frame for supporting a sanitary ware fixture on the floor of a wet room area, said frame being substantially as herein described with reference to Figs. 2 to 5 or any one of Figs. 6 to 9 of the accompanying drawings. 10 nas/181o _I

7. A method of supporting a sanitary ware fixture on the floor of a wet room area in front of a cavity wall arrangement comprising a planar support formed from studs and intended to be covered by a front covering secured to said studs; said method comprising the steps of forming a waste outlet or an opening therefore in said floor between a pair of adjacent ones of said studs, locating a free standing supporting frame between said pair of studs, securing said frame to said floor, supporting said sanitary ware fixture by at least one securing device fixed to said frame, connecting said sanitary ware fitting to said waste outlet or opening, and securing said front covering to said studs.

8. A method as claimed in claim 7 wherein said frame comprises a pair of uprights and an upper frame and said method includes the further step of adjusting the spacing between said upper frame and said floor prior to supporting said sanitary ware fixture.

9. A method as claimed in claim 8 including the step of fitting a cistern into said upper frame. A method of supporting a sanitary ware fixture on the floor of a wet room area, said method being substantially as herein described with reference to Figs 2-6 or Fig 7 or 8 or 9 of the accompanying drawings. DATED this THIRTIETH day of APRIL 1991 Caroma Industries Limited Patent Attorneys for the Applicant SPRUSON FERGUSON k" L4 HRF/0181o