US3579647A - Toilet tank cover - Google Patents

Abstract

A ONE PIECE TOILET TANK COVER WHEREIN THE TOP COVER IS INTEGRAL WITH THE SIDE WALL COVER ONLY ALONG THE FRONT EDGE THEREOF SO THAT THE TANK TOP MAY BE REMOVED EASILY WITHOUT DISTURBING THE SIDE WALL COVER, WHICH, AT THE SAME TIME, MAINTAINS A TRIM TAILORED APPEARANCE.

Description

y 5, 1911 w. 1.. muse 3,579,647

TOILET TANK COVER Filed Feb. 11, 1969 9 wi l y #3641264 United States Patent Ofiice 3,579,647 Patented May 25, 1971 3,579,647 TOILET TANK COVER William L. Nielson, Janesville, Wis., assignor to Monterey Mills, Inc, Janesville, Wis. Filed Feb. 11, 1969, Ser. No. 798,386 Int. Cl. B65b 11/00; B65d 65/02; A47k 17/00 US. C]. 41 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A one piece toilet tank cover wherein the top cover is integral with the side wall cover only along the front edge thereof so that the tank top may be removed easily without disturbing the side wall cover, which, at the same time, maintains a trim tailored appearance.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The most commonly seen toilet tank cover is in two pieces; that is, the side walls of the cistern are covered by a simple rectangular sheet of material with opposite edges strapped together across the back of the cistern and the lid of the tank is covered by a round-cornered rectangular piece of material having elastic around its periphery in at least the areas of the corners to hold the free edge of the cover under the rim of the lid. Such covers, while inexpensive and simple, are substantially less sightly than they might be in that the lid covers look bunchy at their corners and a separation often develops between the top and the side wall cover, exposing a strip of the ceramic cistern immediately below the lid. The separation can be avoided by lapping the top edge of the side wall cover over the top of the cistern, but this results in the exposure of that edge to splashing water within the cistern which rots the fabric in short order and creates an unsanitary and possibly odorous situation.

There has been substantial effort devoted to the development of one piece toilet tank covers, but all of these as far as is known, make lid removal and access to the interior of the tank a matter of rather substantial difficulty.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a toilet tank cover which is in one piece, which enjoys a smooth tailored fitted appearance as attached to a toilet tank in the visible parts thereof, which provides for ready removal of the toilet tank lid Without detachment or indeed any adjustment of the cover, which is self-positioning, and which enjoys a cost advantage of substantial proportion over the wellknown two piece cover.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a toilet flush tank as covered by a cover embodying the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan of the blank from which the cover is formed;

FIG. 3 is a section taken along the line 3-3 of FIG. 1 looking in the direction of the arrows and illustrating the relation of the lid cover and the side cover;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the upper left corner of FIG. 2 illustrating the first step in the method of corner formation;

FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 4 showing the second step in corner formation;

FIG. 6 is a view similar to FIG. 4 showing the third step thereof;

FIG. 7 is an elargement of the seam as illustrated in FIG. 6 to show the orientation of the fabric in the seam; and

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a front near corner of the cover completed and in the process of application to a toilet tank.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The present invention is directed primarily to a toilet tank cover using a dissimilarly sided fabric, or a fabric which will have a decorative side and a ultiltarian side. More specifically, it is directed to a cover employing a synthetic pile fabric consisting of a backing with the pile formed on one side thereof. Such pile fabrics find excellent employment in toilet tank covers by virtue of their high insulation value, substantially isolating the cold toilet tank from ambient humid air and preventing condensation and dripping.

The flush tank 9 to which the cover is to be applied consists characteristically of a rectilinear water container 11, hereafter referred to as the cistern, and lid 13 with a lip 15 about the under periphery thereof which covers the cistern.

Referrings to FIGS. 1 and 2, the blank 10 of which the toilet tank cover of this invention is made consists of a relatively long rectangular portion 12, the ends 14 of which constitute the covers for the ends or sides of the cistern and the central portion 16 constitutes the cover for the front of the cistern. Integral with the rectangle 12 is a rectangular extension or tongue 18 centrally situated on one of its long sides on the long side of the rectangle 12. The tongue has rounded free corners 20'. The tongue 18 constitutes the cover for the lid 13' of the tank. The blank 10 is cut with two connecting cuts at each end. The first of these 24 is a short continuation of that long side 26 of the rectangle 12 straight into the tongue to detach the ends 28 of the tongue 18. The second of the cuts 30 extends from the inner ends of the cuts 24 at right angles into the body of the rectangle 12.

FIGS. 4, 5 and 6 show progressive stages of assembling the corner. In all of these figures, the backing 31 is shown, the pile 32 being on the reverse side of the illustrated panel fragment. As shown in FIG. 4, the now detached end flap 28 of the tongue 18 is folded through a right angle along the line 34 with the pile 32 on the inside of the fold. Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 5, the tongue 18 is folded along the line 36 which defines the separation between the tongue and the rectangle 12, again through a right angle with the pile on the inside of the fold. This brings the edge 38 of the flap 28, which was defined by the cut 24, into the cut 30 and puts three fabric edges together of approximately equal length; the edge 38 of flap 28 and the two edges defined by the slit 30. The three edges are stitched together at at 40 over their aligned length.

Having produced the corner illustrated in FIG. 6 as described thus far, it will be appreciated that the backing occupies all external surfaces and the pile lies on the inside. To complete the corner structure, therefore, the corner is turned inside out. In this fashion the sewn seam 40 is on the inside of the corner, the side panel 14 as illustrated in FIG. 6 will be folded to the front, and the skirts of the lid cover defined by the end flaps 28 will lap over the upper edge of the side panels 14 in the fashion particularly illustrated in FIGS. 7 and 8. This same inversion of the corner, of course, puts the backing on the underside and the pile on the outside of the cover. At the same time, the sewed seam 40 lying on the inside of the corner is totally concealed from external view and avoids the crudity of an exposed seam.

The cover is completed by lining the rounded corners 2.0 of the lid cover 18 with elastic material so as to hold those corners securely under the back corners of the tank lid, and by providing snap-connected elastic straps 44 on the opposite free edges of the side panels 14 for passage behind the cistern to secure the cover generally to the tank and to hold the side and front panels of the cover in covering relation with the associated surface of the tank. Such straps are conventional in the art and are commonly used in association with the two piece cover described above.

The method described above for making the corner is not to be regarded as lirnitative on the invention. Other techniques may readily suggest themselves. The purpose of this description of manufacturing the corner therefore is directed more to the structure of the corner than to the method itself, but it is believed that the exact nature of the corner on which this invention depends to a very considerable degree is most clearly understood in terms of its process of manufacture.

Toilet tank covers of this kind are normally furnished without a hole for the flushing lever, the ultimate consumer being instructed in accompanying literature to cut a hole in the cover to accommodate the lever since lever placements differ somewhat as between various tanks.

It will be appreciated from the foregoing description that a tank cover has been provided here which offers a notable improvement in appearance over the Widely used two piece tank cover, and which, at the same time, affords easy and ready access to the tank lid and removal of the lid from the tank. The improvement in appearance resides in the fact that from the front aspect, the front and top covers present a continuous unbroken surface which will be stretched taut and fiat. The front lid cover corners are mitered which avoids the bunching characteristic of the two piece tank cover at its front corners. This same mitering provides smooth-laying side flaps for the lid cover which overlap in calculated fashion the upper edges of the cistern side coverings 14 so that there is no problem of meeting edges of fabric bunching against each other and possibly displacing downwardly the tank body cover. The smooth overlap and mitered corner thus likewise create a tailored appearance to the sides of the tank, unlike the bunchy appearance characteristic of the two piece cover. It is true that some b-unchiness will occur at the rear corners of the lid where the elastic-lined rounded corners 20 are fitted over the edge of the lid, but this bunching occurs at the least conspicuous aspect of the toilet tank, and the generally tailored appearance of the cover is not impaired by such bunchin-g as may occur in this inconspicuous area.

The ease of access to the toilet tank lid will of course be appreciated. The rear corners 20 of the lid cover need simply be snapped off the lid and the lid thereupon removed.

It will also be appreciated that the cover described here is essentially self-locating on the tank. Should the cistern wall skirt .(the rectangle 12) ride down, the mounting of the lid cover on the lid and the installation of the lid on the cistern will pull the cover tautly up into position. Should the skirt ride up, the existence of the mitered corners 40 provides a positive stop for manual downward adjustment where, again, tautness is achieved.

There are other advantages to the tank cover described here in the way of manufacturing expenses. There is somewhat less fabric used. The running length of elastic is substantially less. The linear length of edge and hence of surging to finish the edge is substantially less. All of these represent, not major, but consequential savings in material and labor.

One manufacturing alternative to the presently described one should be noted. It will be apperciated that the slits 30 provide slots in the tank skirt '12 within which the edges of the lid cover side flaps 28 defined by the slits 24 may be accommodated for reverse side sewing. The described corner may be made without the slits 30. As long as the slits 24 are formed in the blank, the flap edges defined thereby may be brought down into the position against the site of the slits 30 without, however, those slits being formed, and the flap edge sewed through the unbroken pile fabric on the line 30. This corner structure is somewhat less desirable than that described in that the sewed seam is visible from the pile side of the fabric, unike the principal described form, but such option does exist.

I claim:

1. A one piece cover for toilet flush tanks having a generally rectilinear cistern and a separate lid which comprises a generally rectangular fabric panel adapted at its center to cover the front and, at its ends, the sides of said cistern, terminating at its top edge below the rim of said cistern, means associated with the ends of said panel to secure said panel to said cistern, and a lid cover integral and continuous with said rectangle along the front and top edge thereof and free of said panel along the sides and back thereof, said cover including a continuous skirt about the free edges thereof overlapping the upper edges of said cistern side coverings.

2. The combination as set forth in claim 1 wherein said fabric is a pile fabric having a pile on one side of a backing, and the backing lies against the tank with the pile outward.

3. The combination as set forth in claim 1 including additionally an elastic binding at the rear corners of said lid cover to engage over the rear corners of said lid.

4. The combination as set forth in claim 2 wherein the front edges of said skirts are secured to said panel on lines transverse to said panel at the front corners thereof.

5. The combination as set forth in claim 4 wherein said rectangle has transverse slits therein at said lines of securement, and a seam containing the front edges of said skirts between the edges of said slits with the pile sides of said slit edges facing each other.

References Cited 'UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,652,874 9/1953 Armstrong -52 2,652,875 9/1953 Puste 15052 2,705,519 4/1955 Kaiser 15052 2,709,468 5/1955 Macrae et a1. 15052 2,788,043 4/1957 Dolnick 150-52 2,949,975 8/1960 Plummer 15052 3,085,611 4/1963 Dolnick 150'52 3,087,524 4/1963 Dolnick 150-52 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,201,167 12/1959 France ISO-52 LAVERNE D. GEIGER, Primary Examiner H. K. ARTIS, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 150-52

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