GB2332456A

GB2332456A - Bidet attachment for a toilet

Info

Publication number: GB2332456A
Application number: GB9827571A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Parmjit Singh Gill
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1997-12-18
Filing date: 1998-12-16
Publication date: 1999-06-23
Anticipated expiration: 2018-12-16
Also published as: GB9827571D0; GB2332456B; GB9726624D0; GB2332456A9

Abstract

A bidet attachment for a toilet comprises a jet means 12 for directing a jet of fluid to the genital and/or anal area of a user, one or more valve means (28,30) for controlling the flow of fluid from a fluid supply to the jet means, conduit means (24,26) connecting the jet means to the valve means and connection means (32,34) connecting the valve means to the fluid supply.

Description

GIL536I.GB 1 2332456 Personal hygiene system The present invention relates

to a personal hygiene system and particularly, but not exclusively, to a system for cleaning the lower body and/or genital area of a user.

Apparatus are widely known which enable the discrete washing of a person's lower body, genital or anal regions, particularly after using toilet facilities.

Such apparatus, known as bidets, are typically bowl-shaped structures, on which the person sits. An upward jet of water is directed to the genital and or anal area of the person seated so as to clean those regions.

Such apparatus are subject to inherent disadvantages. One particular disadvantage is that in 1 order to clean the genital and/or anal regions after using toilet fadilities, the user is required to physically dismount from the toilet and move to the bidet apparatus. This may be inconvenient or difficult and may be potentially unhygienic owing to spillage of fluids, for example.

Furthermore, the upwardjet of water ejected by the bidet may cause splashes outside of the bowl area, particularly if activated without a user being seated on it.

An aim of the present invention is to provide an improved system for cleaning the genital and/or anal areas of a user's body.

According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a personal hygiene system ID for washing the genital and/or anal region of a user, the system comprising:

jet means for directing ajet of fluid towards said region; first valve means for controlling the flow of said fluid from a first fluid supply to said jet G11-5361.GB 2 means; first conduit means connecting said jet means to said first valve means; and first connection means for connecting said first valve means to said first fluid supply; 1 wherein said first conduit means is securable to a toilet.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a toilet having a personal hygiene system as described in the immediately preceding paragraph.

The present invention is further described hereinafter, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

0 0 Figure 1 is a plan view of part of one embodiment of personal hygiene system according to 10 the present invention; Figure 2 is a plan view of a further part of the system of Figure 1; and Figure 3 is an inverse plan view of the part of Figure 2.

Figure 4 is a side view of a toilet having a system in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention shown with the seat down; Figure 5 is a front view of the toilet of figure 4; Figure 6 is a plan view of the toilet of figure 4; 1 Figure 7 is a side view of the toilet of figure 4 but with the seat in a raised position; and Figure 8 is a front view of the toilet of figure 7.

1 GIL536I.GB 3 Referring to Figures 1 - 3, these show a personal hygiene system 10 which is conveniently supplied as a kit of parts for assembly to an existing toilet bowl or pan (not shown in the drawings).

1 The system has a first jet means 12 which is in the form of a tubing 14 narrowed at one end 5 16 in order to provide a j et or orifice 18 for directing a j et of fluid such as water towards the genital and/or anal region of a user's body.

The tubing 14 can be rigid or flexible and is of any suitable cross section although cylindrical or semi-cylindrical cross section would be preferable.

The system in the embodiment of Figure 1 provides both hot and cold water and the tubing 14 contains two axially aligned pipes, 20, 22. These pipes extend longitudinally within the WI 1 tubing 14 and open at a suitable location spaced from the orifice 18. Either or both tubes 20, 22 can conveniently be provided with one or more openings or outlets at spaced intervals along their lengths in order to provide for thorough mixing of the hot and cold water before it exits from the orifice 18.

The end of the tubing 14 remote from the orifice 18 is sealed to the pipes 20, 22 which exit at the end of the tube 14 remote from the orifice 18. Each tube 20, 22 has a respective extension tube 24, 26 which connects the tubing 20, 22 with respective hot and cold water control valves 28, 30. The control valves are manually operated and are used to turn on or off the hot and cold water and control the amount of supply. Each of the valves 28, 30 is connected to fluid supply means in the form of the relevant household water supply by way of a connection pipe 32, 34.

The extension tubes 24, 26 are conveniently secured to the toilet bowl, ideally to an upper surface, with the valves 28, 30 being conveniently secured to the toilet bowl at each side thereof or adjacent the toilet bowl at any suitable location.

1 X CILS361.GB 4 The extension tubes 24, 26 can be held in place by suitable brackets 36, 38 which fit on top of the toilet bowl and under the toilet seat and are conveniently held in position by the existing toilet seat securing brackets.

1 Figure 2 shows a plan view of a triangular member, conveniently planar, of metal or plastics material which is secured at each comer 42, 44 at or adjacent the brackets 36, 38.

The plate 40 has, when viewed from beneath (Figure 3) a recess 46 which locates over the C.

jet means 12 and holds it in position when the toilet seat is raised. The recess 46 may be of part cylindrical cross-section but is suitably shaped to correspond with the cross-section of the jet means 12. Suitable strips securing or locating members 48 are provided to hold the 10 tubing 14 in the recess to restrict its movement.

Figures 4-8 show various views of a toilet having a system in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention.

In this embodiment, only one extension tube 24 is provided with a valve 28 and a connection pipe 32. The tubing 14 contains only a single pipe 20 connected to the extension tube 24.

In this embodiment, the fluid supply means consists of a separate cistern or tank 46 which contains the fluid. The fluid in the tank may be replenished from a suitable supply such as an existing water supply, or by hand. If the existing water supply is used, a shut off valve 0 such as a ball valve may be included to prevent overflow of the tank.

Such an arrangement may be practicable where the fluid used is not water, or for use in regions where regulations require an isolating air gap between an external fluid supply and thejet means 12, such that directly feeding thejet means from, for example, an existing cold water supply is not perri-fitted.

From figures 4 and 6 it can be seen that the jet means 12 is inset within the seat overhang such that there is no protrusion of the tubing 14 from beneath the toilet scat when it is the 1 G11-536LC13 down position.

As described above with reference to Figs 1 to 3, the extension tube is 24 is secured to the toilet bowl. The valve means 28 is secured to a mounting plate 50 which is itself secured to the toilet bowl.

The connection pipe 32 is connected between the valve means 28 and the fluid supply means 46 which is located at a position elevated from the jet means so as to allow gravity-feeding of the fluid to the jet means.

Figures 7 and 8 illustrate the effect of the plate 40 in preventing the jet means from moving 1 when the toilet seat is raised. The dashed line represents a trajectory of the jet of fluid 10 provided by the jet means.

The above-described system provides the benefits of a bidet and enables the lower parts of the body and between the legs to be washed without moving from the toilet itself 1, It will be appreciated by a person sMled in the art that there are various other embodiments and modifications that can be made to the above invention, As described above, two separate fluid supplies may be provided, one for hot water and one for cold water, or alternatively a single fluid supply could be used. The latter would probably, though not necessarily, be from the cold supply. Equally, more than two fluid supplies may be provided if a further fluid were required to be used for cleaning purposes.

In this regard, the present invention is not limited to using water as the fluid since any other 20 fluid may be used as desired. For example, liquid soap or other such cleaning fluid, or even a deodorising fluid could be used as well as, or instead of, water.

Either or both pipes 20, 22 can conveniently be provided with one or more apertures or outlets spaced at intervals along their lengths in order to provide for thorough mixing of two 1 GILS36I.GB 6 or more fluids before it is ejected from the orifice 18.

Where a tank or cistern is to be used as a fluid supply means and the cistern is not able to be elevated sufficiently to permit the gravityfeeding of the fluid to the jet means, a low fluid pressure within the tubing may result in a less powerfuljet of fluid. Thus, small fluid pumps t may be fitted between the cisterns and thejet means to provide a more powerful jet of fluid.

The valves of the present invention may be conventional manually adjustable valves or may be adjustable by electronic control means similar to those used to operate electric showers and the like.

Any pipes or tubing of the present invention, in particular those indicated by reference numerals 20, 22, 24, 26, 32 and 34 may be flexible or rigid and made of metal, rubber or plastics material. Equally, the jet means 12 may also be of metal or plastics material as can the plate 40.

The pipes 20, 22 may be integrated with their respective extension tubes 24, 26 such that each is formed by a single length of pipe shaped in a suitable fasffion, or they may bejoined from two or more lengths of pipe or tubing by any suitable means.

0 The system of Figures 1 to 3 can be provided as a kit of parts and is easily assembled to an existing toilet bowl.

The system can also be provided as an integral part of a new toilet bowl or toilet seat requiring only connection to the hot and/or cold water system. The extension tubing 24, 26 can be formed as conduits within the bowl or toilet seat material, or secured as discrete tubing, The orifice 18 of thejet means 14 may be angled relative to the axis of the tubing 16 in order to direct the jet of fluid in a specific direction e.g. upwardly. Furthermore, it is envisaged 1 that the orifice 18 may be adjusted to provide different types of fluid jet such as a spray or 1 GIL536I.GB 7 a mist depending on the user's preference. This may be achieved by means of permanent or removable nozzles, each having different orifice characteristics, which may be located over the end of the tubing 16.

Although the jet means is shown in figs 4-8 as being positioned at the rear of the toilet bowl pointing forwards, it can equally be positioned at any convenient location around the toilet bowl and pointing in any convenient direction.

The above description is by way of example only and should not be construed as limiting the invention described herein, the scope of which is defined in the appended claims.

GILS36I.GB 8

Claims

Claims:

A personal hygiene system for washing the genital and/or anal region of a user, the system comprising:

jet means for directing ajet of fluid towards said region; first valve means for controlling the flow of said fluid from a first fluid supply means to said jet means; first conduit means connecting said jet means to said first valve means; and 1 first connection means for connecting said first valve means to said first fluid supply means; wherein said first conduit means is securable to a toilet.
2.

The system of claim 1 further comprising:

second valve means for controlling the flow of said fluid from a second fluid supply means to said jet means; second conduit means connecting said jet means to said second valve means; and second connection means for connecting said second valve means to said second fluid supply means; wherein said second conduit means is securable to said toilet.
3. The system of claim 1 or 2 wherein the or the one of fluid supply means is a cold water supply pipe.

i 1 G11-536I.GB 9
4. The system of claim 1 or 3 wherein the or one of the fluid supply means is a hot water supply pipe.
5. The system of claim 1 or 2 wherein said fluid is a cleaning fluid.
6. The system of claim 1 or 2 wherein said fluid is a deodorising fluid.

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7. The system of any preceding claim wherein at least one of said fluid supply means is a cistern or tank.
8. The system of any preceding claim further comprising securing means for securing said conduit means to the toilet bowl.
9. The system of claim 8 wherein the securing means are brackets adapted to be held in
10 position by existing toilet seat securing brackets.

0 10. The system of claim 8 or 9 further comprising support means for restricting the Z3 movement of said jet means.
11. The system of any preceding claim wherein said valve means are manually adjustable valve means.
12. The system of any preceding claim wherein said valve means are electronically adjustable valve means.
13. The system of any preceding claim wherein saidjet means has adjustment means for adjusting the form of the fluid jet.
14. The system of any preceding claim wherein said conduit means is a flexible pipe.
15. A kit of parts for assembly into a personal hygiene system for attachment to a toilet 1 GIL536I.GB or toilet seat, the kit comprising:

0 jet means for providing a jet of fluid to the genital and/or anal region of a user; first valve means for regulating a flow of fluid to said jet means; first conduit means for connection between said first valve means and said jet means; and first connection means for connection between said first valve means and a fluid supply.
16. A personal hygiene system constructed and arranged substantially as herein described with reference to Figures 1 to 3 or Figures 4 to 8 of the accompanying drawings.
17. A toilet having a personal hygiene system for washing the genital and/or anal region of a user, the system being as described in any of claims 1 to 16.

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18. The toilet of claim 17 wherein said conduit means is integrally formed within the toilet bowl or toilet seat.

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