GB2083091A - Automatic mechanism for raising a W.C. seat and flushing a cistern - Google Patents

Abstract

In a water closet wherein the seat 16 is automatically raised after use by a spring or other device 10 which simultaneously actuate the flushing lever 37 (e.g. via a pinion and rack linkage 36), the seat raising mechanism is provided with a latch (22, 26) Fig. 3 (not shown) which initially holds the seat in a lowered position against the bias of the device 10, but which is automatically retracted as the seat is depressed further, i.e. as a person sits down, and is then automatically held retracted (by peg 32) until the seat has been automatically raised after. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Automatic mechanism for flush and raising toilet seat This invention relates to water-closets and in particular provides an automatic mechanism for controlling the discharge of water from the cistern for flushing the pan thereof. It further provides means for use in association with a conventional automatic seat raising device for holding the seat temporarily in a lowered position.

Manual operation of a water closet, generally referred to as a toilet, or the seat thereof, is often somewhat unpleasant due to traces of urine left on the toilet seat. Furthermore, the flush valve is not always operated after use of the toilet because of either an oversight or reluctance on the part of the use; to touch the operating handle of the flush valve.

To overcome these problems, toilets provided with separate devices for automatically raising the seat thereof and flushing after use have been developed.

However, such devices are disposed separately on the conventional toilet and therefore they are complicated in construction, undurable in use, expensive in manufacture and generally inefficient in operation.

A principal object of the present invention is to provide an automatic mechanism for raising a toilet seat and flushing the pan thereof in which the actuating device is positioned on the rear portion of the pan so that the seat may be temporarily retained in a lowered position before use and is automatically urged to a raised position after the user has vacated it and so that the operation of the flush valve in the cistern is thereby automatically controlled.

According to the present invention, a toilet comprises in combination a pan, a cistern, having a flushing mechanism and a pipe for conveying water from the cistern to the pan, a seat hingeably mounted on the pan, a device for raising the seat about said hinges to an upstanding position, meansfortem- porarily retaining the seat in a lowered position, against the influence of the raising device, means for automatically activating the raising device and means connected to the seat and operable by the raising movement thereof automatically to activate the flushing mechanism.

The seat-raising device may be a straightforward mechanical device such as a spring, for example a torsion spring mounted concentrically with and around a conventional toilet seat hinge bar, or may be a purpose-built device such as those already known in the art, or a combination thereof.

The flush activating means preferably comprises a gear wheel attached to and movable with the seat hinge and meshing with the teeth of a rack which is pivotally connected to the operating lever of the flushing mechanism to open the flush valve. The seat and/or rack may be provided with engagement/disengagement means. Such means include cams, pressure pads, spring means and the like to bias the gear wheel and rack into mesh on raising the seat (i.e. to open the flush valve) and out of mesh, having raised the seat, to allow the rack to return to its original position once the cistern has emptied, (i.e. to close the flush valve) thus allowing the cistern to refill. Preferably, the gear wheel comprises a ratchet gear wheel and the rack is correspondingly equipped with ratchet teeth, thus permitting the seat to be lowered without the gear wheel and rack meshing and jamming the system.

The means for temporarily retaining the seat in a lowered position preferably comprises a springloaded latch comprising a bolt slidable in a housing attached to the seat, the head of the bolt being bevelled to provide a downward and forward-facing sloping surface thereon, the bolt being biased to a forward station relative to the housing by spring pressure, and a first lug disposed on the pan adapted to deflect the bolt to an intermediate rearward station as the seat is lowered and to allow the bolt to return forwardly behind the said first lugs as the seat is further lowered, thereby to retain the seat in a lowered position. Preferably the spring is a helical spring mounted around the shaft of the bolt.

Means for activating the raising device comprises a second lug disposed beneath and spaced apart from the first lug, the second lug being adapted to deflect the bolt, on further lowering the seat to a lowermost position, to a final rearward station, and means for retaining the bolt at the final rearward station at least until the head of the bolt has cleared the said first lug on allowing the seat to rise.

The means to retain the bolt at the final rearward station preferably comprises a spring-loaded catch which automatically grips the shaft portion of the bolt when the latter reaches the final rearward station and which on automatic raising of the seat is caused to release its grip after the head of the bolt has cleared the said first lug.Conveniently, the shaft of the bolt is provided with a recess or a waist portion which is engaged by the spring-loaded catch, for example one or more spring-loaded jaws, although in a preferred embodiment the recess comprises a hole formed in the shaft of the bolt and the springloaded catch comprises a peg mounted fast with the bolt housing to permit of relative sliding movement between the shaft of the bolt and the peg, the peg being spring-biased into contact with the shaft and adapted to engage under spring pressure in the hole when the bolt reaches the final rearward station. The spring may be for example a "U" spring, one limb of which is secured to or fast with the bolt housing and to the other free limb of which is secured the peg. As an alternative arrangement, the spring could be provided with a hole and the shaft of the bolt could carry the peg.

Conveniently, the bolt housing is attached to a seat hinge arm and the "U" spring is attached to the rear of the housing, the shaft of the bolt extending through the rear of the housing to slide relative to the spring.

The invention also includes release means for releasing the bolt from the final rearward station on raising the seat. Conveniently, release means comprises a projection, for example a pin or other device, mounted to or fast with the toilet, for example to the pan thereof, for releasing the springloaded catch on raising of the seat. Suitable release mechanisms are known but a preferred embodiment for use with the peg and "U" spring catch comprises a projecting pin adapted to impinge directly on and depress the free limb of the spring, thereby disengaging the peg from the hole and allowing the bolt to return to its forward station, as the seat approaches its upstanding positions.

The invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which : Fig. 1 is a perspective left-side view of an automatic mechanism for raising a toilet seat and temporarily retaining it in a lowered position in accordance with the present invention; Fig. 2 is a perspective right-side view of a flushactivating mechanism in accordance with the invention; and Fig. 3 is a side view showing the operation of the mechanism of Fig. 1.

Figures 1 and 2 show perspective left and right side views of an automatic mechanism fortemporarily retaining a toilet seat in a lowered position, for activating the seat raising mechanism and for activating the flushing mechanism in accordance with the present invention. The automatic mechanism as shown includes a seat-raising device 10 secured to the back of a conventional toilet pan 15 and supported by two brackets 12,13 on a base plate 11 which is screwed to the pan 15 by bolts 14. A seat 16 has two arms 17,18 hinged to the seat-raising device 10 by means of a shaft or bar 19.As the device 10 does not fall within the scope of this invention, it is not specifically described in the embodiment herewith illustrated but any device which is capable of urging the seat 16 to rise from a horizontal, operative position to an inoperative, upstanding position may be used with the present invention.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 3 in greater detail, an automatic mechanism for temporarily retaining the seat in a lowered position against the influence of the seat-raising device and for automatically activating the seat-raising device is described.

The mechanism comprises a bolt 22 the head of which has a bevelled downward and forward-facing sloping surface thereon slidably contained in housing 20 secured to seat arm 17. The bolt is biased to a forward station (shown in dotted outline in Fig. 3) by means of helical spring 23. The shaft ofthe bolt extends through the end of the housing which is equipped with a rearward extension plate 30to which is attached one limb of "U" spring 31. The free limb of spring 31 carries a peg 32 which engages in hole 25 formed in the shaft or extension thereof of bolt 22 when the bolt is retracted against the pressure of spring 23.An angle structure including spaced-apart lugs 26 and 27 is attached to a forward portion of base plate 11, lug 27 projecting rearwardly to an extent greater than lug 26, and a further angle structure 28 is attached to a rear portion of base plate 11 and is equipped with a projecting pin 29.

In use, and with the seat in an upstanding position, the bolt 22 is in the forward station. The seat is manually lowered against the influence of the seatraising device until the head of the bolt 22 is deflected to an intermediate rearward station and thence is caught beneath lug 26. The seat is thus retained in a lowered position against the influence of the seat-raising device.On applying further downward pressure to the seat, for example by sitting on it, the bolt 22 is deflected by lug 27 to a final rearward station against the pressure of spring 23. a During deflection, the lower surface of extension plate 30 slides over the peg 32 carried by spring 31 until, at the extent of deflection, caused by lug 27, peg 32 engages in hole 25 thus keeping the bolt at the final rearward station against the pressure of spring 23, and the seat is no longer mechanically retained in a lowered position. On vacating the seat or otherwise releasing the pressure thereon, the seat raising device is thus automatically activated and the seat rises to an upstanding position at which the free limb of "U" spring 31 is depressed by pin 29, thus disengaging peg 32 from hole 25 and allowing the bolt to return to the forward station.

Referring now to Fig. 2, which illustrates an automatic mechanism for flushing a toilet, seat arm 18 is pivoted at 19 to seat-raising device 10 and carries a ratchet gear wheel 33 which is capable of meshing with ratchet teeth 39 of a rack 36 which is hingeably connected at its upper end to the operating lever 37 of the flushing mechanism of cistern 38. The rack 36 hangs free at its lower end and can engage with or disengage from gear 33 by swinging thereto or therefrom but is limited in movement therefrom by angle bracket 34 attached to base plate 11 and defining a space 35 within which rack 36 can swing. The rack is biased into mesh with gear 33 by means of helical spring 44. Seat arm 18 further carries pad 42 which is adapted to contact lug 40 secured to rack 36 when the seat is raised to an upstanding position.

Helical spring 43 is provided to bias the rack 36 upwardly, and lug 41 is provided at the lower end of rack 36 to limit the extent of upward movement of the rack by contacting the lower edge of bracket 34.

In use and on automatic raising of the seat to an upstanding position, spring 44 biases gear 33 into mesh with teeth 39 with the result that rack 36 is drawn downwardly to operate the flushing mechanism. As the seat approaches the upstanding position, pad 42 contacts lug 40 to cause the rack to swing away from the gear 33 against the pressure of spring 44 so that the gear 33 and teeth 39 are disengaged.

The rack is thus free to return to its upper position to allow the cistern to refill with water. On lowering the seat, although the spring 44 is once again biasing the rack into contact with the gear 33, the ratchet action allows the seat to be lowered without the mechanism jamming.

Claims (12)

1. A toilet comprising in combination a pan, a cistern having a flushing mechanism and a pipe for conveying water from the cistern to the pan, a seat hingeably mounted on the pan, a device for raising the seat about said hinges to an upstanding position, means for temporarily retaining the seat in a low ered position against the influence of the raising device and means connected to the seat and operable by the raising movement thereof automatically to activate the flushing mechanism.

2. Atoilet according to claim 1 in which the flush activating means comprises a gear wheel attached to and movable with a seat hinge and meshing with the teeth of a rack pivotally connected to the operating lever of the flush mechanism to open the flush valve.

3. A toilet according to claim 2 including means to engage and disengage the wheel and rack.

4. A toilet according to claim 3 including spring means to return the rack to its original position following disengagement of the wheel and rack, thereby to close the flush valve.

5. A toilet according to claim 2 in which the gear wheel teeth and the rack are ratchet teeth.

6. A toilet according to claim 1 in which the means for temporarily retaining the seat in a lowered position comprises a spring-loaded latch comprising a bolt slidable in a housing attached to the seat and spring biased to a forward station, in combination with a first lug disposed on the pan and adapted to deflect the bolt to an intermediate rearward station and thence to retain the latch on lowering the seat.

7. A toilet according to claim 6 further including as means for automatically activating the raising device a second lug mounted beneath and spaced apart from the first lug to deflect the bolt, on further lowering the seat, to a final rearward station, and means for retaining the bolt at the said rearward station.

8. A toilet according to claim 7 in which the means for retaining the bolt at the said rearward station comprises a spring-loaded catch which grips the shaft of the bolt when the latter reaches the rearward station.

9. A toilet according to claim 8 in which the spring loaded catch comprise a "U" spring one limb of which is secured to or fast with the bolt housing and to the free limb of which is secured a peg, the bolt being adapted to slide on deflection in contact with and relative to the peg, a hole being provided in the bolt for engaging with the peg when the bolt reaches the final rearward station.

10. A toilet according to claim 7 further including release means for releasing the bolt from the said final rearward station on raising the seat.

11. Atoilet according to claims 9 and lOin which the release means comprises a projecting pin mounted on the pan adapted to impinge directly on and depress the free limb of the "U" spring, thereby disengaging the peg from the bolt.

12. Atoilet as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.