GB2306522A

GB2306522A - Toilet seat assembly

Info

Publication number: GB2306522A
Application number: GB9602831A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Bernard Robinson; Keith Bevin; Robin Whitfield; Atkins Ian
Original assignee: MARLETON CROSS Ltd
Current assignee: MARLETON CROSS Ltd
Priority date: 1995-10-18
Filing date: 1996-02-12
Publication date: 1997-05-07
Anticipated expiration: 2016-02-12
Also published as: GB2306522B; GB9602831D0; GB9521378D0

Abstract

A toilet seat assembly comprises an adult seat 10, a child seat 13 and a cover 14 tor the child seat. The child seat 13 and child seat cover 14 together form a lid for the adult seat 10. The adult seat and the child seat have means whereby they can be hingedly connected to a conventional toilet bowl unit for independent movement about a common axis. The child seat has a smaller opening 15 than the opening 11 in the adult seat. The child seat cover 14 is moveable between a closed position in which it covers the opening 15 in the child seat and an open position in which it exposes the opening in the child seat. Means are also provided to releasably fasten the child seat cover in its closed position relative to the child seat so that when the child seat and child seat cover are moved to expose the adult seat, the child seat cover will remain in its closed position. The child seat cover may be readily detachable from the child seat to facilitate cleaning. The opening in the child seat may be in a recess which is of substantially smaller width than the maximum width of the child seat and may be contoured to give lateral support to a child sitting on the child seat.

Description

A TOILET SEAT ASSEMBLY This invention relates to a toilet seat assembly.

According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a toilet seat assembly comprising an adult seat, a child seat and a cover for the child seat, the child seat and child seat cover together forming a lid for the adult seat, the adult seat and the child seat having means whereby they can be hingedly connected to a conventional toilet bowl unit for independent movement about a common axis, the child seat having a smaller opening therein than the adult seat, the child seat cover being moveable between a closed position in which it covers the opening in the child seat and an open position in which it exposes the opening in the child seat, means being also provided to releasably fasten the child seat cover in its closed position relative to the child seat so that when the child seat and child seat cover are moved to expose the adult seat the child seat cover will remain in its closed position.

Preferably, means are also provided to releasably fasten the child seat cover in its open position.

Conveniently, the child seat cover is hingedly connected to the child seat at a position intermediate the front and rear ends of the child seat.

The child seat cover may be readily detachable from the child seat. In this case, the child seat cover may have a rear projection which is slidably insertable into, and slidably removable from, a slot in the child seat. Alternatively, a readily removable hinge is provided between the child seat cover and the child seat. In this case, the said readily removable hinge may comprise two plastics hinge pins and an elongate flexible plastics element extending between the two hinge pins, the elongate element being of such a length that it holds the hinge pins in operative positions to hingedly connect the child seat cover the child seat and being deformable so that the hinge pins can be readily removed. The provision of a readily detachable child seat cover allows the child seat cover to be removed to facilitate cleaning of the child seat and the child seat cover.

Preferably, the child seat has a depending skirt extending around its opening to prevent the transfer of liquid from the child seat to the adult seat.

Preferably, the child seat cover is received in a recess formed in the child seat, the recess following the outer peripheral edge of the child seat over an angle which is substantially less than 1800.

According to a second aspect of the invention there is provided a toilet seat assembly comprising an adult seat, a child seat and a cover for the child seat, the child seat and the child seat cover together forming a lid for the adult seat, the adult seat and the child seat having means whereby they can be hingedly connected to a conventional toilet bowl unit for independent movement about a common axis, the child seat having a smaller opening therein than the adult seat and the child seat cover being readily detachable from the child seat to facilitate cleaning of the child seat and the child seat cover.

The child seat cover may have a rear projection which is slidably insertable into, and slidably removable from, a slot in the child seat.

Alternatively, a readily removable hinge may be provided between the child seat cover and the child seat. In this case, said readily removable hinge may comprise two plastics hinge pins and an elongate flexible plastics element extending between the two hinge pins, the elongate element being of such a length that it holds the hinge pins in operative positions to hingedly connect the child seat cover to the child seat and being deformable so that the hinge pins can be readily removed.

According to a third aspect of the invention there is provided a toilet seat assembly comprising an adult seat, a child seat and a cover for the child seat, the child seat and the child seat cover together forming a lid for the adult seat, the adult seat and the child seat having means whereby they can be hingedly connected to a conventional toilet bowl unit for independent movement about a common axis, the child seat having a smaller opening therein than the adult seat and the child seat opening being formed in a recess in the child seat, said recess being substantially smaller in width than the maximum width of the child seat to give lateral support to a child sitting on the child seat.

The child seat and child seat cover may be supplied alone for use with an existing adult seat and the invention also therefore provides a toilet seat conversion assembly comprising a child seat and a child seat cover having the features of the child seat and child seat cover set out in the first and/or the second and/or the third aspect of the invention.

The invention will now be more particularly described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a perspective view of one embodiment of a toilet seat assembly according to the present invention, with the child seat cover in an open position, Figure 2 is a perspective view of the toilet seat assembly shown in Figure 1 with the child seat cover in a closed position, Figure 3 is a plan view of the toilet seat assembly shown in figure 1 with the child seat cover removed for clarity, Figure 4 is a side view of the toilet seat assembly shown in Figure 1, Figure 5 is a sectional view of the child seat, Figure 6 is a sectional view of the child seat cover, Figures 7 and 8 are fragmentary perspective views of the child seat and child seat cover, Figure 9 is a perspective view of another embodiment of a toilet seat assembly according in this case to only the first and third aspects of the invention, Figure 10 is a sectional view of the toilet seat assembly shown in Figure 9, Figure 11 is a sectional, perspective view of the toilet seat assembly shown in Figures 9 and 10, Figure 12 is a perspective view of yet another embodiment of a toilet seat assembly according to the present invention, with the child seat cover in an open position, Figure 13 is a bottom plan view of the toilet seat assembly shown in Figure 12, with the child seat cover in a close position, Figure 14 is a sectional view of the toilet seat assembly shown in Figures 12 and 13, and Figure 15 is a fragmentary view taken in the direction of arrow A (Figure 14) showing the removable hinge between the child seat cover and the child seat of the toilet seat assembly shown in Figures 12 to 14.

Referring firstly to Figures 1 to 8 of the drawings, the toilet seat assembly shown therein comprises a conventional adult seat 10 having an adult opening 11 and a lid 12. The lid 12 comprises a child seat 13 and a cover 14.

The child seat 13 has an opening 15 of substantially smaller dimensions than the adult opening 11, and a recess 16 in which the opening 15 is formed. The cover 14 fits snugly in the recess 16 when in its closed position so as to lie flush with the upper surface of the non-recessed part of the child seat 13.

The recess 16 extends rearwardly from the front edge of the child seat 13 and follows the outer peripheral edge of the child seat 13 over an angle which is substantially less than 1800 and which is typically about 900. The recess 16 is substantially smaller in width than the maximum width of the adult seat 10 and hence also substantially smaller in width than the maximum width of the child seat 13 and is contoured to provide lateral support to a child sitting on the child seat 13.

The child seat 13 has an elongate slot 17 at the rear edge of the recess 16.

This slot 17 extends laterally of the child seat 13 and is adapted to receive a rear projection 18 on the child seat cover 14.

The adult seat 10 and the child seat 13 are hingedly connected together by a hinge pin 19 for independent movement about a common axis and are provided with conventional fixing means 20 for fixing to a conventional toilet bowl unit.

The child seat 13 has a depending skirt 21 extending around its opening 15 to prevent the transfer of liquid from the child seat 13 to the adult seat 10. This skirt 21 may extend lower at the front than at the back.

The child seat 13 also has a depending outer peripheral flange 22 which surrounds the adult seat 10 when the child seat 13 is in its lower position.

The cover 14 is readily detachable from the child seat 13 to facilitate cleaning of the child seat 13 and the cover 14. As shown in Figures 5, 7 and 8, the underside of the child seat 13 has two depending frustoconical guide bosses 23 and a depending L- shaped retainer 24 with reinforcing buttresses 25 to releasably fasten the cover 14 in its closed position in the recess 16. The guide bosses 23 co-operate with apertures 26 in the rear projection 18 of the cover 14 as the cover 14 approaches a closed position to guide the rear edge of the rear projection 18 into snapfittable engagement with the L-shaped retainer 24.

When the cover 14 is in its open position, as shown in Figure 1, the rear projection 18 lies in face-to-face contact with a depending flange 27 of the child seat 13 and the rear edge of the rear projection 18, which is convex in cross-section, seats in an arcuate recess 28 at the lower end of the flange 27.

In order to detach the cover 14 from the child seat 13, the cover may simply be raised when in its open position. In order to move the cover 14 from its open to its closed position, the cover is lifted slightly to free the rear edge of the projection 18 from the arcuate recess 28 and it is then swivelled firstly to come into contact with the guide bosses 23 and to then clip into place with the retainer 24.

Referring now to Figures 9 to 11, the toilet seat assembly shown therein differs from the assembly shown in Figures 1 to 8 chiefly in the shape of the recess 16' and cover 14' and in that the cover 14' is connected to a projection 30 upstanding from the rear edge of the recess 16' of the child seat 13' by a hinge 29 and is not, therefore, readily detachable from the child seat 13'.

The cover 14' also has a projection 31 which snap fits behind lug 32 depending from the child seat 13' to releasably retain the cover 14' in its closed position. Also the child seat has two retention clips 33 projecting rearwardly from depending flange 27' to releasably retain the cover 14' in its open position.

Referring now to Figures 12 to 14, the toilet seat assembly shown therein differs from the assembly shown in figures 1 to 8 chiefly in that the cover 14" is connected to the child seat 13" by a readily removable hinge 35.

A slot 17" extending laterally of the child seat 13" is adapted to receive an arcuate projection 18" at the rear edge of the child seat cover 14". This arcuate projection has two upstanding lugs 36 which are connected to two lugs 37, respectively, depending from the child seat 13" by the hinge 35.

The hinge 35 is an integral plastics moulding, typically of nylon, and comprises two hinge pins 38 having a head 39 at one end, and a flexible, elongate leaf 40 connecting the heads 39 of the two pins 38. The pins 38 extend through an aperture in a respective lug 37 and are held in place with the heads 38 abutting the respective lugs 36 by an urging force provided by the leaf 40, the leaf 40 being longer than the distance between the two heads 39 when the pins 38 are in an operative position as shown best in Figure 14.

The hinge 35 can be readily removed by deforming the leaf 40 to remove the pins 38 from respective apertures in the lugs 36 and 37 so that the child seat cover 14" can be removed to facilitate cleaning of the child seat 13" and child seat cover 14".

The projection 18" also has a rib 41 or other protrusion which snap fits beneath the front edge of the slot 17" (as best shown in Figure 14) when the cover 14" is in a closed position so that when the child seat 13" and the child seat cover 14" are moved to expose the adult seat 10" the child seat cover 14" will remain in its closed position.

The above embodiments are given by way of example only and various modifications will be apparent to persons skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention defined by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A toilet seat assembly comprising an adult seat, a child seat and a cover for the child seat, the child seat and child seat cover together forming a lid for the adult seat, the adult seat and the child seat having means whereby they can be hingedly connected to a conventional toilet bowl unit for independent movement about a common axis, the child seat having a smaller opening therein than the adult seat, the child seat cover being moveable between a closed position in which it covers the opening in the child seat and an open position in which it exposes the opening in the child seat, means being also provided to releasably fasten the child seat cover in its closed position relative to the child seat so that when the child seat and child seat cover are moved to expose the adult seat the child seat cover will remain in its closed position.

2. A toilet seat assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein means are also provided to releasably fasten the child seat cover in its open position.

3. A toilet seat assembly as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the child seat cover is hingedly connected to the child seat at a position intermediate the front and rear ends of the child seat.

4. A toilet seat assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the child seat cover is readily detachable from the child seat.

5. A toilet seat assembly as claimed in claim 4, wherein the child seat cover has a rear projection which is slidably insertable into, and slidably removable from, a slot in the child seat.

6. A toilet seat assembly as claimed in claim 4 when dependent on claim 3, wherein a readily removable hinge is provided between the child seat cover and the child seat.

7. A toilet seat assembly as claimed in claim 6, wherein said readily removable hinge comprises two plastics hinge pins and an elongate flexible plastics element extending between the two hinge pins, the elongate element being of such a length that it holds the hinge pins in operative positions to hingedly connect the child seat cover to the child seat and being deformable so that the hinge pins can be readily removed.

8. A toilet seat assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the child seat has a depending skirt extending around its opening to prevent the transfer of liquid from the child seat to the adult seat.

9. A toilet seat assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the child seat cover is received in a recess formed in the child seat, the recess following the outer peripheral edge of the child seat over an angle which is substantially less than 180 .

10. A toilet seat assembly comprising an adult seat, a child seat and a cover for the child seat, the child seat and the child seat cover together forming a lid for the adult seat, the adult seat and the child seat having means whereby they can be hingedly connected to a conventional toilet bowl unit for independent movement about a common axis, the child seat having a smaller opening therein than the adult seat and the child seat cover being readily detachable from the child seat to facilitate cleaning of the child seat and the child seat cover.

11. A toilet seat assembly as claimed in claim 8, wherein the child seat cover has a rear projection which is slidably insertable into, and slidably removable from, a slot in the child seat.

12. A toilet seat assembly as claimed in claim 10, wherein a readily removable hinge is provided between the child seat cover and the child seat.

13. A toilet seat assembly as claimed in claim 12, wherein said readily removable hinge comprises two plastics hinge pins and an elongate flexible plastics element extending between the two hinge pins, the elongate element being of such a length that it holds the hinge pins in operative positions to hingedly connect the child seat cover to the child seat and being deformable so that the hinge pins can be readily removed.

14. A toilet seat assembly comprising an adult seat, a child seat and a cover for the child seat, the child seat and the child seat cover together forming a lid for the adult seat, the adult seat and the child seat having means whereby they can be hingedly connected to a conventional toilet bowl unit for independent movement about a common axis, the child seat having a smaller opening therein than the adult seat and the child seat opening being formed in a recess in the child seat, said recess being substantially smaller in width than the maximum width of the child seat to give lateral support to a child sitting on the child seat.

15. A toilet seat assembly substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

16. A toilet seat conversion assembly comprising a child seat and a child seat cover having the features of the child seat and child seat cover set out in any one of claims 1 to 9.

17. A toilet seat conversion assembly comprising a child seat and a child seat cover having the features of the child seat and child seat cover set out in any one of claims 10 to 13.

18. A toilet seat conversion assembly comprising a child seat and a child seat cover having the features of the child seat and child seat cover set out in claim 14.