EP3360450B1

EP3360450B1 - Seat assembly with a coupling device for fixing the seat assembly to a sanitary fixture

Info

Publication number: EP3360450B1
Application number: EP18155679.6A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Livio Francesco Eugenio Cavagna
Original assignee: Sipex Cavagna SpA
Current assignee: Sipex Cavagna SpA
Priority date: 2017-02-10
Filing date: 2018-02-08
Publication date: 2023-11-01
Anticipated expiration: 2038-02-08
Also published as: EP3360450A1; IT201700014760A1; PL3360450T3; EP3360450C0

Description

The present invention relates to a coupling device, particularly for fixing the seat assembly to a sanitary fixture. More particularly, the invention relates to a coupling device, particularly for fixing the seat assembly to a toilet.
Document DE202014101077U discloses relevant background art useful to understand the invention.
As is known, the seat assembly is fixed to a toilet normally by using pivoting elements which connect the ring or seat and the lid of the seat assembly, which are connected to threaded stems which are inserted in holes provided in the toilet and are fixed by means of a wing nut and in most cases are difficult to actuate.
Although this embodiment is normally used, it has the drawback that it does not allow easy removal of the seat assembly of the toilet and is not always able to allow stable fixing.
EP0853916 has introduced a new solution, which allows to connect a pin with a shaped head to the toilet, with which a slider engages with which the seat assembly pivoting element is associated, allowing to obtain a quick and safe coupling without having to use tools of any kind.
Although this solution has proved itself valid in many respects, it too can be improved, especially as regards the tightening force that can be applied to connect the pin.
EP1800585 describes a coupling solution which comprises a pin which can be fixed to a toilet provided with a shaped head which can be accommodated detachably in a seat of a transverse pivot which forms the element for pivoting between the lid and the ring of the seat assembly.
This document provides for detachable means for fixing the transverse pivot to the pin, which are constituted by screw means accommodated with threaded seats formed in the transverse pivot and which can translate substantially at right angles to the pin. There are also extraction prevention means in order to ensure the disengagement of the screw means from the threaded seat.
The solution described above is certainly effective, but it too can be improved, especially as regards the simplicity of the coupling device.
The aim of the present invention is to provide a coupling device, particularly for fixing the seat assembly to a sanitary fixture, in which the coupling device is extremely simplified with respect to the coupling devices of the background art.
Within this aim, an object of the present invention is to provide a coupling device for fixing the seat assembly to a sanitary fixture that does not require tools of any kind both for coupling and for uncoupling the seat assembly with respect to said sanitary fixture.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide a coupling device particularly for fixing the seat assembly to a sanitary fixture that is highly reliable, relatively simple to provide and at competitive costs.
This aim, as well as these and other objects which will become better apparent hereinafter, are achieved by a seat assembly with a coupling device as defined in claim 1.
Further characteristics and advantages of the invention will become better apparent from the description of preferred but not exclusive embodiments of the device according to the present invention, illustrated by way of non-limiting example in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is an exploded perspective view of the coupling device according to the present disclosure, applied to a sanitary fixture;
Figure 2 is a perspective view of the coupling device according to the present disclosure;
Figure 3 is a longitudinally sectional elevation view of the coupling device according to the present disclosure, shown in the uncoupled condition;
Figure 4 is a longitudinally sectional elevation view of the coupling device according to the present disclosure, shown in the coupled condition;
Figure 5 is an exploded perspective view of the coupling device, not forming part of the present invention;
Figure 6 is a longitudinally sectional elevation view of the coupling device, not forming part of the present invention.

With reference to the figures, the coupling device according to the present disclosure, generally designated by the reference numeral 1, comprises a pivot 2 which can be fixed to a sanitary fixture 3 and is provided with a head 4 that can be accommodated in a seat 5 of a transverse pivot 6 which forms the element for pivoting between a lid 7 and a ring 8 of the seat assembly of the toilet.
Conveniently, the seat 5 is constituted by a through hole, which thus can be fitted over the pivot 2.
The coupling between the pivot 2 and the hole 5 thus allows to keep the seat assembly coupled to the sanitary fixture 3.
Advantageously, once coupling has been performed, the head 4 of the pivot 2 can protrude from the seat 5.
The transverse pivot 6 in turn engages in a bushing 9, which is accommodated in a seat 10 formed jointly in the lid 7 and in the ring 8.
Conveniently, the pivot 2 has a circumferential protrusion 11 (or an enlargement in diameter) adapted to allow the resting of the transverse pivot 6 when the pivot 2 is coupled within the through hole 5 of the transverse pivot 6.
The disengagement of the seat assembly from the sanitary fixture 3 can occur only if the seat assembly is lifted perfectly vertically, a situation which cannot occur neither during use, since the user is sitting on said seat assembly and therefore the weight of the user prevents disengagement, nor when the ring 8 is opened, since in order to remove it it would be necessary to make the pivot 2 follow a perfectly rectilinear path vertically within the hole 5, since a lifting in an oblique position or on only one side would not allow to slide the seat assembly off the pivot 2, which is fixed to the sanitary fixture 3.
Moreover, the fact of providing a pair of pivots 2 paired with the sanitary fixture 3 makes extraction of the seat assembly from the sanitary fixture 3 even more difficult if said seat assembly is not lifted perfectly vertically.
Figures 5 and 6 are views of a second embodiment of the coupling device, not forming part of the present invention, wherein the pivot 2 is provided with at least one groove 15 adapted to accommodate a gasket, for example of the O-Ring^® type 16.
The through hole 5 is provided with at least one groove adapted to accommodate an O-Ring^®.
The solution proposed above allows to avoid any screw means, threaded seat and in any case types of complex coupling, since it merely provides a pivot or pin which can be fixed to the sanitary fixture, which is already normally present in sanitary fixtures of the known type, and a transverse pivot with a through hole.
In this manner, the absence of screws, plugs or grubs and therefore the lack of use of tools of any kind allows extremely quick coupling and uncoupling without the user having to act with his hands to screw or unscrew anything.
The coupling device according to the invention is therefore particularly easy to use and manufacture, since all the component elements of the devices of the known type have been eliminated, leaving simply a pin by providing a transverse pivot with a through hole.
In practice it has been found that the coupling device according to the present disclosure achieves fully the intended aim and objects, since it allows the quick coupling without tools of any kind of a seat assembly to a corresponding sanitary fixture.
The device thus conceived is susceptible of numerous modifications and variations. The invention is defined by the appended claims.
Thus, for example, the head 4 of the pivot 2 can have any kind of transverse cross-section.
All the details may furthermore be replaced with other technically equivalent elements.
In practice, the materials used, as well as the contingent shapes and dimensions, may be any according to the requirements and the state of the art.
This application claims priority from Italian Patent Application No. 102017000014760 (UA2017A000855)
Where technical features mentioned in any claim are followed by reference signs, those reference signs have been included for the sole purpose of increasing the intelligibility of the claims and accordingly, such reference signs do not have any limiting effect on the interpretation of each element identified by way of example by such reference signs.

Claims

A seat assembly with a coupling device (1) for fixing the seat assembly to a sanitary fixture, the coupling device (1) comprising a pivot (2) which can be fixed to the sanitary fixture (3), the pivot (2) is provided with a head (4), the coupling device (1) further comprising a transverse pivot (6), the head (4) adapted to accommodate in a seat (5) of said transverse pivot (6) which forms an element for pivoting between a lid (7) and a ring (8) of said seat assembly, said seat (5) being constituted by a through hole (5), characterized in that said head (4) protrudes upward from said through hole (5), the through hole (5) being provided with at least one groove (15) accommodating an O-ring gasket (16).
The seat assembly according to claim 1, characterized in that said pivot (2) is provided with a circumferential protrusion (11) that is adapted to allow the resting of said transverse pivot (6) when said pivot (2) is coupled within said through hole (5) of said transverse pivot (6).
The seat assembly according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the uncoupling between said transverse pivot (6) and said pivot (2) occurs only following a vertical translational motion of said transverse pivot (6) with respect to said pivot (2).
A sanitary fixture, characterized in that it comprises a seat assembly according to one or more of the preceding claims.
The sanitary fixture according to claim 4, characterized in that it comprises a seat assembly with a pair of coupling devices according to one or more of claims 1 to 3.