EP0787063B1

EP0787063B1 - A method and mould for the manufacture of toilet seats

Info

Publication number: EP0787063B1
Application number: EP94931238A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Birgit SÖDERBERG
Original assignee: Soderberg Birgit
Current assignee: SOEDERBERG, BIRGIT
Priority date: 1994-09-26
Filing date: 1994-09-26
Publication date: 2004-07-28
Anticipated expiration: 2014-09-26
Also published as: WO1996009923A1; DE69433924D1; AU8007394A; EP0787063A1; ATE271961T1; DE69433924T2; AU691841B2

Abstract

A method for the manufacture of toilet seat, wherein a slurry of porcelain clay and water is poured into a bowlshaped mold of a strongly liquid absorbing material which slurry is then kept in the mold for some time, so that water should be absorbed by the walls of the mold whereas porcelain clay is deposited in a layer (17) on the inner surface of the mold. For molding a partition between a foremost collecting bowl for urine and a rearmost bowl for more solid feces, there is used a core (11) which is removably inserted into the mold, whereas, for molding of uppermost portions of the toilet seat, such as skirts (16), and if desired, also a part of the partition (12), there is used a lid (15) tightly sealed against the remainder of the mold and composed of the same or similar material as the material of the remainder of the mold.

Description

The present invention relates to a method and a mold for the manufacture of toilet seats.

The invention has been created in connection with certain jobs relating to so called milieu toilets, and, therefore, it will be disclosed below essentially with reference thereto, without being restricted exclusively to such toilets.

Very generally it may be stated that toilet seats are manufactured by pouring a slurry of porcelain clay and water into a vertically divided, upwardly open, bowl-shaped mold of a suitable design, which slurry is then retained in the mold for a limited period of time, such as of the order of about 1 hour. Thereby, water is absorbed by the walls of the mold while the clay is deposited in a layer on the inner surface of the mold. The deposited layer, which may have a thickness of the order of about 9 - 12 mm, forms after drying a toilet shell, which is burnt and glazed to form the toilet seat. If the toilet seat is to be provided with additional details, such as various partition walls, protrusions, tubular extensions or the like, it is common to manufacture such details separately, and then to affix them to the "basic" shell by what is called "decorating", i.e. securing them by means of a clay slurry, before the "basic" shell has dried entirely, or in any case before it has been burned and glazed. These methods have to be carried out manually and using high skill, for which reason they turn out to be time consuming and cost-ly.

In the patent specification SE-C-91 01282 (= WO 92/19824) there is disclosed a toilet and hygiene equipment comprising individual collecting bowls for urine and feces, disposed below a common support ring and one after the other, so that a person sitting on the support ring can move to reach each one of the collecting bowls.

The just mentioned previously known toilet and hygiene equipment is characterized essentially in that each one of the collecting bowls has its own individual outlet conduit. The outlet conduit from the urine collecting bowl may be connected to a first outlet channel which leads to a collecting vessel, a transport vessel or the like, and it may also communicate with a second channel, which leads to a soil pipe. The outlet conduit from the feces collecting bowl may, as is ordinary, be adapted to be connected to a fixed soil pipe, preferably through a water trap. Preferably, at least the conduit to the transport vessel is preferably closable by means of a shut-off means that may be controlled as desired.

By the manufacture of a toilet seat of the just disclosed kind there normally exists a need for provision of a partition between a foremost urine collecting bowl and a rearmost collecting bowl for more solid feces. Further, it may be advantageous to form the upper edges of the rearmost collecting bowl with a downwardly directed skirt,whereas the foremost collecting bowl for urine may have its upper edge, adjacent the foremost end of the seat, designed without any downwardly directed skirt.

Obviously, a manufacture of "milieutoilets" in the way as commonly used hitherto, as disclosed above, requires that certain details are affixed by decoration, viz. either in that a prefabricated partition is affixed by decoration to give a foremost and a rearmost collecting bowl, or in such a manner, that a foremost collecting bowl is affixed to a rearmost collecting bowl by decoration. Of course, such affixing of details by decoration demands a considerable manual skill, as has been noted above, and is, therefore, time and cost consuming, to which comes an inclination to cracking and thus rejection during the manufacture.

The present invention has aimed at providing a method for the manufacture of toilet seats by which the above recited disadvantages and problems are avoided, and the invention has also aimed at providing a mold for the manufacture of toilet seats by the method in question.

To the just mentioned end the method of manufacturing toilet seats, by which there in a bowl shaped mold and comprising a strongly moisture absorbing material, is filled a slurry of porcelain clay and water, which slurry is maintained in the mold for a short period of time, so that water is permitted to be absorbed by the walls of the mold whereas porcelain clay becomes deposited in a layer on the inner surface of the mold, which layer after drying forms a toilet sea hell that is burned and glazed to form a toilet seat. The method according to the invention is characterized essentially in that a separate core removably inserted into the mold or an internal mold portion is utilized to form at least a portion of the partition between the foremost urine collection bowl and the rearmost bowl for collection of feces, whereas, for forming of uppermost portions of the toilet seat, such as skirts, if any, also on the partition, if desired, this molding is carried out against an upwardly removable lid, which is tightly closed against the remainder of the mold, and wherein both said core and said lid, at leat at their forming portions, consists of a similar or of the same material as the material of the remainder of the mold.

Preferably, the slurry in the mold cavity is filled up from the outside during the molding step to compensate for the absorbed water volume.

Alternatively, or additionally, it may be advantageous to rotate or turn the mold during the molding operation to ensure that the clay is evenly deposited at both the inner surface of the mold as such, as on the inner surface of the lid.

Corresponding to what has just been described, a mold for the manufacture of toilet seats, according to the invention, is characterized essentially in that the mold is completed by a separate core, which is divided or multiple divided, if desired, and is removably inserted into the mold, or an internal mold portion for forming at least a portion of a partition between the foremost urine collection bowl and the rearmost collecting bowl for feces, and is also completed by means of a lid, which is tightly closing against the remainder of the mold and which may be lifted off upwardly, wherein both the core if used and the lid, at least at the forming portions thereof, consist of a similar or the same material as the material of the remainder of the mold.

It should be noted that it would be possible, in certain cases, to replace the clay slurry in water by a suitable composite material.

By the invention a simplified and less expensive production is achieved in that the mileu toilet now may be manufactured quickly and safely, with a reduced rejection, in one single operational step.

The invention will be disclosed in more details below with reference to the accompanying drawing.

Fig. 1 shows very diagramatically and in vertical section one embodiment of a mold according to the invention, picked as an example, for the manufacture of a toilet seat, forming a so called milieu toilet;

Fig. 2 shows a modification of the mold in fig. 1;

Fig. 3 shows a further modification of the mold in fig. 1.

The mold as shown in fig. 1 for the manufacture of toilet seats forms a vertically divided, upwardly open, bowl shaped mold 10 of plaster or a plasterlike material. The mold 10 has inserted therein a core 11, in the example a three part core, to form a partition wall 12, which divides the toilet seat into a foremost collecting bowl 13 for urine and a rearmost collecting bowl 14 for feces.

According to the present invention the mold is completed by a lid 15, which tightly seals against the remainder of the mold and which is adapted to form a downwardly directed skirt 16 at the uppermost edge of the toilet bowl, and preferably also a portion of the partition wall 12.

It should be noted that the toilet seat walls 17 which have been formed by deposition, to facilitate and to gain clarity have been shown only partially, and more precisely, in dashed lines.

In the mold there have been inserted a plurality of plugs to form holes in the toilet seat walls, such as a lowermost plug 18 for an outlet conduit, rear plugs 19 fior fittings etc., and a comparatively big rear plug 20 for a tubular connecting pipe.

The modification in fig. 2 differs from the one as shown in fig. 1 in that it comprises an thin walled internal mold portion 22, which has been drawn comparatively far upwardly, and which is adapted to form a double walled partition wall portion which has its wall portions so close to each other, that they may be burned together to form one single wall, by the burning of the toilet seat.

The modification as shown in fig. 3 differs from the one as shown in fig. 3 essentially in that the mold portion that forms the partition wall is comparatively low and requires insertion of a separately manufactured heightening rib in order to avoid unnecesary loss of urine to the feces collecting bowl and unallowed admixture of feces into the collected urine.

Claims

A method for the manufacture of toilet seats having a foremost urine collecting bowl (13) and a rearmost feces collecting bowl (14), which bowls are separated from each other by a partition (12) by which method a slurry of porcelain clay or a composite material and water is poured into a preferably vertically divided, bowl shaped mold composed of a material with high absorbency, which slurry is then kept in the mold for a short period of time while water is absorbed by the walls of the mold and said porcelain clay or composite material is deposited in a layer (17) on the inner surface of the mold, which layer after drying forms a toilet seat shell which is burnt and glazed to form a toilet seat, characterized in that a separate core (11), which is removably inserted into the mold, or an internal mold portion (22) is utilized to form at least a portion of the partition (12) between the foremost urine collection bowl (13) and the rearmost feces collection bowl (14) and in that for forming of any uppermost portions of the toilet seat, such as skirts (16) also on the partition (12), this molding is carried out against an upwardly removable lid (15) which is tightly closed against the remainder of the mold and which is adapted to form a downwardly directed skirt (16), wherein the core (11) and the lid (15) both, at least at the forming portions thereof, consist of a similar or the same material as the material of the remainder of the mold.
A method as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the slurry in the mold cavity is filled up from the outside during the molding step to compensate for the absorbed water volume.
A method as claimed in claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the mold is turned or rotated during the molding operation to ensure that the construction material is evenly deposited at both the inner surface of the mold (10) as such, as on the inner surface of the lid (15).
A mold for the manufacture of toilet seats having a foremost urine collecting bowl (13) and a rearmost feces collecting bowl (14), which bowls are separated from each other by a partition (12), said mold being composed of a material with high absorbency and which is fillable with a slurry of porcelain clay or a composite material and water to permit the porcelain clay or composite material to be deposited in a layer (17) on the inner surface of the mold while the mold material absorbs water from the slurry characterized in that the mold (10) is completed by a separate core (11), which is removably inserted into the mold, or an internal mold portion (22) is utilized to form at least a portion of the partition (12) between the foremost urine collection bowl (13) and the rearmost feces collection bowl (14) and is also completed by an upwardly liftable lid (15) wherein the core (11) and the lid (15) both, at least at the forming portions thereof, consist of a similar or the same material as the material of the remainder of the mold.
A mold as claimed in claim 4, characterized in that the core (11) is divided or multiple divided.
A mold as claimed in claim 4 or 5, characterized in that the mold comprises said internal mold portion (22) for molding of a double walled partition part (12), the space between the double walls preferably being so small that the double walls are burnable together into a single partition (12) by the burning of the seat.
A mold as claimed in claim 4 or 5, characterized in that the said mold portion (22) is so low, that it requires application of a heightening rib to achieve the necessary final height of the partition (12) between the foremost and the rearmost bowls (13, 14).