CA2143557A1 - Automatic closure for toilet seat - Google Patents

Abstract

An improved toilet seat closure is described employing weight-driven cords or cables for pivoting forward and lowering a toilet seat and its lid without a loud noise upon flushing of the toilet. The seat and mechanism for achieving the automatic closing can be easily retrofitted to existing toilets without any unsightly or major modification of the toilet or tank. The mechanism employs a flexible cable or cord which runs through a tubular sleeve and extends under and behind the tank and over the rear lip of the tank so as to be substantially out of sight to the users. The cord or cable is connected to a weight in the tank (which weight has a specific gravity slightly higher than 1 ) so that on flushing the weight draws down the cord or cable a short distance. The cord also runs over a fixed pulley and runs free to the end of a pivoting arm extension from the seat member. The end points of arc of the end of the pivoting arm are so related to the fixed point that the falling weight causes the cable to initially pivot the arm and thus the seat member from its raised position forward to past its forward tipping or falling point. The seat thereby then pivots by gravity downward but is restrained and slowed by the cable and weight system as it approaches its down or closed position.

Description

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 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 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 -- 3 -- ~

3~7 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.

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.

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 ~ 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 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.

Claims (3)

1. Self-lowering apparatus for lowering a toilet seat member in combination with a flush toilet, the toilet being of the type that has a water tank mounted adjacent and rearward thereof on a horizontal surface of a bowl, which tank when in operation holds water and the level of water in the tank falls upon flushing of the toilet, comprising:
a toilet seat member having means for securing it to the toilet bowl and having a rearward pivot for pivoting of said member slightly more than 90 degrees between a lowered position and a raised position, said seat member including an extension arm extending generally rearward beyond said pivot, said arm connected at one end to said seat member so as to pivot with it, such that, as the seat member pivots upward between said lowered and raised positions, the extension arm pivots downward slightly more than 90 degrees, said member having a tipping position of approximately 90 degrees with respect to said horizontal surface, which, if slightly forward thereof, said member tends to pivot downward by gravity;
a flexible cable connected at one end to said arm and at its other end to a weight at least partially submerged in the water in the tank, so that said weight will exert greater force on said cable when the water level falls in the tank than when the tank is full;
means mounting the cable so that the torque exerted by said weight through said cable in response to the draining of the tank during flushing when said seat member is in said raised position is sufficient to pivot said arm causing said seat member to pivot forward to beyond said tipping position but, after the seat member begins to pivot downward by gravity, it is checked in its free fall and kept from banging on the bowl by said cable and weight.

2. The invention of claim 1, wherein said cable exerts positive torque on said seat member when it is in its raised position and negative torque on said seat member when it has pivoted toward its covered position.

3. The invention of claim 2, wherein said negative torque is sufficient to check the fall of said seat member so as to prevent or lessen the noise made by said member upon assuming its lowered position in response to the action of the apparatus.