EP0814697B1

EP0814697B1 - A toilet cover assembly

Info

Publication number: EP0814697B1
Application number: EP96906705A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Nis Ollgard; Klaus Rehnquist
Original assignee: Pressalit AS
Current assignee: Pressalit AS
Priority date: 1995-03-24
Filing date: 1996-03-22
Publication date: 1999-12-22
Anticipated expiration: 2016-03-22
Also published as: WO1996029923A1; DE69605775D1; DE69605775T2; JPH11502444A; DK0814697T3; EP0814697A1

Description

Technical Field

The invention relates to a toilet cover assembly comprising a seat and a cover interconnected adjacent their rearmost edges by means of at least one hinge comprising a seat hinge member and a cover hinge member, each provided with a bearing portion and pivotally connected with a shaft of a mounting means for the mounting of the toilet cover assembly on a toilet bowl, the seat hinge portion being secured to the seat by means of a fastening portion having a fastening opening, and the cover hinge member secured to the cover by means of a fastening portion having a fastening opening, the fastening portion of each hinge member extending essentially parallel to its bearing portion and beyond one end of said portion by a protruding pan provided with the fastening opening.

Background Art

DE-A-36 29 001 discloses a toilet cover assembly of the above type and provided with two interspaced hinges. Each hinge comprises two hinge members which are each provided with a bearing portion and a fastening portion extending essentially tangentially from the bearing portion. The fastening portion of the seat hinge member is screwed onto the lower face of the seat, while the fastening portion of the cover hinge members is screwed onto the lower face of the cover. As a result, the fastening portions are visible when the cover is raised as well as when both the cover and seat are raised.

Moreover, DE-A-1 274 493 discloses a toilet cover assembly where the seat and the cover are hingedly interconnected by means of a hinge arrangement formed essentially as described above, the fastening portion of the hinge members however being formed of a cylindrical pin extending radially from the bearing portion and firmly glued in a bore in the rearmost edge of the seat and in the lower face of the seat respectively. This method of assembly however, causes certain problems. Firstly, special auxiliary tools are required to arrange the cylindrical fastening portions of the hinge members in the correct position in the bores in the seat and the cover respectively. Secondly, in a glue process, the surfaces to be glued together need to be carefully cleaned to obtain a reliable bond, in particular when lubricants or release agents are used in the manufacture of the parts. Furthermore, depending on the type of degreasing agents and glue used environmental problems can arise.

Finally, US-A-3,506,983 discloses a toilet cover assembly as stated in the preamble to claim 1. As the fastening portions of the hinge members are secured to the lower faces of the seat and the cover respectively, said portions are visible when the cover is raised as well as when both the cover and the seat are raised.

Brief Description of the Invention

The object of the invention is to provide a toilet cover assembly of the above type in which the hinges are formed such that they apart from the bearing portions are barely visible and reliably connected with the seat and the seat cover respectively.

The toilet cover assembly according to the invention is characterised in that the bearing portions of the hinge members are arranged axially adjacent each other on the shaft, the protruding part of the seat hinge member being of a width and a length respectively, essentially not exceeding the width and the length respectively of the bearing portion of the cover hinge member and situated radially immediately adjacent said bearing portion and the protruding part of the fastening portion of the cover hinge member being of a width and a length respectively essentially not exceeding the width and the length respectively of the bearing portion of the seat hinge member and situated radially immediately adjacent said bearing portion, and that the cover hinge member is secured to the lower face of the cover, and that the fastening portion of the seat hinge member is secured to the rear edge of the seat.

As a result, the bearing portion of the seat hinge member covers the fastening portion of the cover hinge member and vice versa such that essentially only the bearing portions are visible in the raised position of the cover, in which position the hinge is most visible. Moreover, the hinge members can be easily and quickly secured to the seat and the cover by passing a mechanical fastening means such as a screw or a rivet through the fastening opening and into engagement with the cover or the seat. The resulting fastening is highly reliable.

Furthermore, according to the invention, the cover hinge member may advantageously be secured to the lower face of the cover.

Moreover, according to the invention, the width of the fastening portion may be less than 3/4 of the width of the bearing portion. As a result, when the seat is raised, the bearing portion of the first hinge member essentially completely covers the fastening portion of the second hinge member and bearing portion of the second hinge member essentially completely covers the fastening portion of the first hinge member.

Further, according to the invention, the fastening opening may be a countersunk screw hole for a screw having a countersunk head. Thus in effect, the bearing portion of the first hinge member may be arranged immediately adjacent the outer face of the fastening portion of the second hinge member, thus concealing this excellently.

Moreover, according to the invention, the fastening portions of the hinge members may be accommodated in conforming recesses in the seat and the cover respectively, such that their outer surfaces are essentially flush with the adjacent portions of the seat and the cover respectively. In this preferred embodiment of the invention, the edge faces of the fastening portions of the hinge members are also concealed and the bearing portions are essentially immediately adjacent the seat and the cover respectively, such that the hinge or hinges is/are barely visible.

Furthermore, according to the invention, the outer surfaces of the fastening portions may have concave cylindrical face portions having a radius of curvature slightly larger than the radius of curvature of outer surfaces of the opposite bearing portions. Due to the essentially complementary shapes of the fastening portion of the seat bearing portion and the outer surface of the bearing portion of the cover hinge member and the immediate adjacent position of the two surfaces, the bearing portion of the seat hinge member conceals the fastening portion of the cover hinge member in the most optimum manner.

Moreover, according to the invention, the two hinge members may be identical, whereby advantages are obtained in the production in relation to the use of two different hinge members.

Finally, according to the invention, a bushing may circumscribe the shaft and at one end provided with a flange abutting an end face of the bearing portion of one hinge member, said bushing provided with at least one flexible tongue formed by an essentially U-shaped slot and provided at its outer free end with a projection abutting the opposite end face of said bearing portion of the said hinge member on one side and abutting an end face of the bearing portion of the other hinge member on the other side. The projection of the tongue thus serves as a spacer preventing the two bearing portion from coming into direct contact with each other. When the seat and the cover are interconnected by means of two hinges (most common) and both of the hinge members which are secured to the cover are provided on the outer face or on the inner face of the hinge members secured to the seat, the bushing joins the seat and the cover prior to the insertion of the hinge shaft into the bushing, which is advantageous in connection with the mounting of the toilet cover assembly on the toilet bowl.

In connection with the above embodiment of the invention it is preferable that the fit of the bearing with the shaft is more close tan the fit with the bearing portions of the hinge members.

Brief Description of the Drawings.

The invention is explained in detail below with reference to the drawings, in which

Fig. 1: is a partial sectional view through a toilet cover assembly according to the invention,
Fig. 2: is a sectional view along the line II-II in Fig. 1, showing a raised cover,
Fig. 3: is a partial sectional view of the mountings of the toilet cover assembly according to the invention, and
Fig. 4: shows isometrically a hinge member of the toilet cover assembly according to the invention seen in a bottom and top view respectively.

Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

The toilet cover assembly shown in the drawing comprises a toilet seat 1 and a toilet cover 2 interconnected by means of two interspaced hinges 5 of which only one appears on the drawing. Each hinge 5 comprises a hinge member 6 secured to the lower face 7 of the cover 2 and a hinge member 6' secured to the rearmost edge face 40 of the seat 1. Each hinge member 6, 6' comprises with a fastening portion 8,8' secured to the seat 1 and cover 2 respectively, and a bearing portion 9,9'. The cover hinge member 6 and the seat hinge member 6' are both arranged pivotally on a shaft 10, which forms part of a mounting means 11 for the mounting of the assembly on a toilet bowl 12.

As it appears from Fig. 3, the mounting means 11 comprises a base 13 and an upwardly extending post 14 bent 90° to form the shaft 10. The base 13 is provided with a cavity 17 and a bottom plate 15 having a slit. A head 19 of a screw 20 is accommodated in the cavity 17 of the base 13 and its shank 21 extends through the slit 16. The shank 21 of the screw 21 extends through an aperture in the toilet bowl 12 and secured to the toilet bowl by means of a wing nut 22.

As it is particularly evident in Fig. 4, the bearing portions 9 of the two identical hinge members are provided with cylindrical outer surfaces 25 and arranged at one end of the fastening portion 8 which is essentially box-shaped and has

rounded end faces

23,24. A pan 26 of the fastening portion 8 thus extends axially beyond one end face 27 of the bearing portion 9. A countersunk screw hole 28 is provided in the projecting part 26, the countersink 29 being formed in the surface 30 of the projecting part 26 situated on the same side of the fastening portion 8 as the bearing portion 9. The surface 30 is provided with a cylindrical face portion 31 having a slightly larger radius of curvature than the cylindrical surface 25 of the bearing portion 9. As illustrated in Fig. 2, in assembled state of the hinge the cylindrical surface 25 of the bearing portion 9 of the cover hinge member 6 is thus immediately adjacent the cylindrical surface 31' of the fastening portion 8 of the seat hinge member 6', and correspondingly the cylindrical surface 25' of the bearing portion 9' of the seat hinge member 6' is immediately adjacent the cylindrical surface 31 of the fastening portion 8 of the cover hinge member 6.

Opposite the bearing portion 9, the fastening portion 8 of the hinge member 6 is provided with a projection 32. The width a of the fastening portion 8 is less than the outer diameter d of the bearing portion 9. Furthermore, the length b of the projecting part 26 of the fastening portion 8 does not essentially exceed the length 1 of the bearing portion. As a result, in the mounted stated of the hinge, the bearing portion 9 of the cover hinge member 6 covers the projecting part 26' of the seat hinge member 6', and correspondingly the bearing portion 9' of the seat hinge member 6' essentially covers the projecting part of the cover hinge member 6 when the toilet cover assembly is viewed from above in the raised position of the cover 2 (confer Fig. 2).

As illustrated in Fig. 2 the cover hinge member 6 is accommodated in a recess 33 in the lower face 7 of the cover 2, the recess 33 having a shape corresponding to the fastening portion 8 of the cover hinge member 6, whereby the upper surface 30 of the fastening portion 8 is flush with the lower face 7 of the cover. The cover hinge member 6 is secured by means of a screw 34 having a countersunk head, the screw being passed through the countersunk screw hole 28 and screwed into the cover 2. Correspondingly, the hinge member 6' is accommodated in a recess 33' of a shape corresponding to the fastening portion 8' of the hinge member 6', whereby the upper surface 30' of the fastening portion is flush with the rearmost edge face 40 of the seat 1. The seat hinge member 6' is secured by means of a screw 34' having a countersunk head, the screw being passed through the countersunk screw hole 28' of the hinge member 6' and screwed into the seat 1.

As illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, a bushing 35 circumscribes the shaft 10, the shaft being shown separated from the bushing 35 in Fig. 2. The bushing 35 is closed at one end 36 and provided with a flange 37 abutting the outer end face of the bearing portion of the cover hinge member 6. Moreover, the bushing is provided with two opposing, flexible tongues 38, each formed by a U-shaped slot in the wall of the bushing, and provided with projections 39 at their outer free ends. The projection 39 abuts the inner edge face of the bearing portion 9 of the cover hinge member 6 on one side and the inner edge face of the bearing portion 9' of the seat hinge member 8' on the other side. The tongues 38 are flexible in such a manner that the bushing 35 may be inserted into the bearing portions of the hinge members to adopt the position shown in Fig. 2, in which it joins the seat 1 and the cover 2. When the shaft 10 is inserted into the bushing 35, the bushing is retained in the shown position and the projections of the tongues 38 form spacers between the edge surfaces facing each other of the bearing portions of the hinge members. The bushing 35 has a more close fit with the shaft 10 than with the bearing portions of the hinge members enabling the hinge members to rotate in relation the bushing.

The seat and the cover are both preferably moulded in a rigid plastic material such as urea plastic; naturally they can be made of other materials. The hinge members are preferably made of pressure die cast metal such as zinc, aluminium or brass, or of injection moulded plastic such as ABS. The bushing 35 is preferably made of injection moulded plastic such as polyethylene. The shaft 10 is preferably made of stainless steel.

Claims

A toilet cover assembly comprising a seat (1) and a cover (2) interconnected adjacent their rearmost edges by means of at least one hinge (5) comprising at seat hinge member (6') and a cover hinge member (6) each provided with a bearing portion (9,9') and pivotally connected with a shaft (10) of a mounting means (11) for the mounting of the toilet cover assembly on a toilet bowl (12), the seat hinge member (6') being secured to the seat (1) by means of a fastening portion (8') having a fastening opening (28'), and the cover hinge member (6) being secured to the cover (2) by means of a fastening portion (8) having a fastening opening (28), the fastening portion (8,8') of each hinge member extending essentially parallel to its bearing portion (9,9') and beyond one end (27) of said portion by a protruding part (26,26') provided with the fastening opening (28,28'), characterised in that the bearing portions of the hinge members are arranged axially adjacent each other on the shaft, the protruding part (26') of the seat hinge member (6') being of a width (a) and a length (b) respectively, essentially not exceeding the width (d) and the length (l) respectively of the bearing portion (9) of the cover hinge member (6) and situated radially immediately adjacent said bearing portion (9) and the protruding part (26) of the fastening portion (8) of the cover hinge member (6) being of a width (a) and a length (b) respectively essentially not exceeding the width (d) and the length (l) respectively of the bearing portion (8') of the seat hinge member (6') and situated radially immediately adjacent said bearing portion (8'), and that the cover hinge member (6) is secured to the lower face (7) of the cover, and that the fastening portion (8') of the seat hinge member (6') is secured to the rear edge (40) of the seat (1).
A toilet cover assembly according to claim 1, characterised in that the width (a) of the fastening portion (8,8') is less than 3/4 of the width of the bearing portion (9,9').
A toilet cover assembly according to claims 1 or 2, characterised in that the fastening opening (28,28') is a countersunk screw hole for a screw (34,34') having a countersunk head.
A toilet cover assembly according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterised in that the fastening portions (8,8') of the hinge members (6,6') are accommodated in conforming recesses (33,33') in the cover (2) and the seat (1) respectively, such that their surfaces (30,30') are essentially flush with the adjacent portions of the cover (2) and the seat (1) respectively.
A toilet cover assembly according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterised in that the outer surfaces (30,30') of the fastening portions (8,8') are provided with concave cylindrical face portions (31,31') having a radius of curvature slightly larger than the radius of curvature of the opposing outer surfaces (25,25') of the bearing portions (9,9').
A toilet cover assembly according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterised in that the two hinge members (6,6') are identical.
A toilet cover assembly according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterised in that a bushing (35) circumscribes the shaft (10) and at one end is provided with a flange (37) abutting an end face of the bearing portion (9) of one of the hinge members (6), and that the bushing is provided with at least one flexible tongue (38) formed by means of an essentially U-shaped slot, and that at its outer free end said tongue is provided with a projection (39) abutting the opposite end face of said bearing portion (9) of said hinge member (6) on one side and abutting an end face of the bearing portion (9') of the other hinge member (6') on the other side.