WO2017017342A1

WO2017017342A1 - Flushing cistern comprising a flushing mechanism

Info

Publication number: WO2017017342A1
Application number: PCT/FR2016/051852
Authority: WO
Inventors: Daniel Le Coent; Nicolas Chesneau
Original assignee: Wirquin Plastiques
Priority date: 2015-07-30
Filing date: 2016-07-19
Publication date: 2017-02-02
Also published as: FR3039570A1; FR3039570B1

Abstract

The invention relates to a flushing cistern (1) having a back wall (20) and a front wall (21) spaced apart from one another, comprising: a flushing mechanism (3); and a water discharge pipe (22), blocked or opened by the flushing mechanism (3), said discharge pipe (22) extending from the front wall (21) transversely to same.

Description

WATER HUNTING TANK INCLUDING WATER HUNTING MECHANISM

The field of the invention is that of the design and manufacture of WC equipment. More specifically, the invention relates to toilet tanks, intended to be associated with a toilet bowl.

Classically, toilets (or toilets) include:

- a bowl usually ceramic, suspended or placed on the ground;

- A tank, itself generally ceramic or plastic, or composite, the tank overlooking the bowl and being intended to release water in the bowl to renew the water thereof.

The bowl has a horizontal or vertical discharge duct. The tank contains a flush mechanism, allowing a release of water with a flush effect in the bowl, through orifices communicating with one another, one in the bottom of the tank and the other. other in the upper part of the bowl.

0 Most often, the tank and the bowl are separate elements joined together so as to coincide the orifices to allow the passage of water, the holding in position of the tank on the bowl being provided by a screw nut system (with usually a screw and a nut on both sides of the hole provided for the passage of water).

As regards the so-called suspended toilets, these comprise a bowl mounted in suspension on a frame secured to a wall element, the bowl being conventionally overhung by a tank, and a partitioning element being attached between the bowl and the bowl. built so as to hide the tank. Some frames are positioned in front of the wall, for this the reservoir (apparent) is made at least its possible thickness. Since the room containing the toilet is generally of relatively small size, it is sought during the design and installation of suspended toilets, to reduce as much as possible the space between the frame and the partitioning element to limit the loss of volume in the toilet room.

However, to obtain a satisfactory flush effect in the bowl, it is necessary to have a water discharge from the tank into the bowl involving a sufficient flow, which imposes a minimum diameter for the passage of water from the tank to the bowl.

With the current tank designs, this diameter of water passage from the tank to the bowl, as well as the flushing mechanism itself having a size dependent on the diameter of the passage to be closed / released, impose a "thickness" of reservoir (This thickness corresponding to the spacing between the front wall and the back wall of the tank) which tends to dictate the positioning of the partition relative to the frame to accommodate the tank. In other words, the thickness of the tank imposes a minimum space for the installation of the tank between the frame and the partitioning element.

However, for some residential architectures, or more generally buildings, it may be desirable to reduce this clutter, whether it is also suspended toilets or not.

The invention particularly aims to overcome these disadvantages of the prior art.

More specifically, the invention aims to provide a flush tank whose design can significantly reduce the thickness of the tank.

The invention also aims to provide such a flush tank, including a flush mechanism contributing to reduce the thickness of the tank.

The invention also aims to provide such a flush tank for mounting the flush mechanism within the tank, easily and quickly, even in confined environments.

These objectives, as well as others which will appear later are achieved thanks to the invention which relates to a flush tank having a dorsal wall and a front wall spaced apart from one another, comprising:

a flushing mechanism;

a water drain pipe, closed or released by the flush mechanism,

characterized in that the evacuation duct extends from the front wall transversely thereto, and in that the evacuation duct opens into the reservoir through an outlet orifice passing through the front wall, and in that the flush mechanism comprises a flap movable between a closed position of the outlet port and a release position in which it extends integrally above the outlet port, the flush mechanism comprising a valve drive system in a curvilinear translation between the shutter position and the release position or vice versa, and the drive system comprising at least one high lever coupled to a control pull tab for hunting, the high lever forming a V-shaped part comprising two ends connected in one point, one of the ends being pivotally connected to the hunting drawbar, the other end being connected in a manner pivoting to the valve and the tip being pivotally coupled to a sliding member along the front wall.

Thus, by virtue of the invention, it is possible to propose flush cisterns having a space substantially reduced in thickness, that is to say with a spacing between the front wall and the limited back wall.

Indeed, it is possible to maintain a diameter of the water discharge duct from the tank to the bowl with a dimension such that the flow of the flush is sufficient to provide an effective effect in terms of cleaning of the bowl and / or the evacuation of materials therefrom, without the spacing between the front wall and the back wall of the tank is impacted through the arrangement of the evacuation duct transversely to one of the front or back walls.

The invention therefore proposes a configuration fundamentally different from the conventional designs for assembling tanks and cuvettes, according to which the water discharge orifice of the reservoir extends in the bottom thereof, along an axis (once the tank mounted) essentially vertical towards the bowl.

A tank according to the invention therefore makes it possible to limit considerably the loss of space caused by the presence of the tank above suspended toilets, a partitioning element generally generally covering the tank in order to mask it.

Thanks to the outlet orifice passing through the front wall and the movable valve, as will become clearer later, the movement kinematics of the release valve is essentially in a mainly vertical component. Deflection transversely to the front and back walls is thus considerably limited, which contributes to the limitation of the thickness of the tank.

Due to the shape taken by the drive system, as will be explained in more detail later, we obtain a drive system that is both simple and effective, to transform a rectilinear movement of the control rod into a displacement according to a curvilinear translation of the valve.

According to a preferred solution of this embodiment, the drive system comprises a low lever whose one end is pivotally connected to the valve, and another end is pivotally connected to the sliding member.

In this way, it improves the guiding curvilinear translation of the valve through the combined action of the high lever and the low lever on the valve.

According to an advantageous solution, the drive system comprises a deformable parallelogram comprising four pivot links, including a high pivot connection and a low pivot connection with the valve, and a pivot high connection and a base pivot connection with a sliding member along the front wall, the high pivot connection with the valve being connected to a flush control.

According to another characteristic of the invention, the evacuation duct opens into the reservoir through an outlet orifice passing through the front wall via a communication corridor whose side walls form a support frame for the flush mechanism.

Thus, as will become clearer later, it is possible to envisage a method of mounting the flushing mechanism inside the tank according to a very distinctive approach of conventional design assemblies according to which a base placed in place inside an orifice present at the bottom of the tank.

According to yet another characteristic, the flushing mechanism comprises means for stopping the water filling of the tank placed in correspondence of a maximum level of water in the tank, the communication corridor extending in height up to at an upper end situated beyond the maximum level, the upper end being open so as to constitute an overflow.

Once again, such a configuration makes it possible to integrate the overflow function into a reservoir having a relatively small gap between the front wall and the back wall.

In this case, the communication corridor forms a first fixed slider extending along the height of one of the front or back walls, the flushing mechanism taking the form of a cartridge having a second slide adapted to slide on the first slide between a position of introduction from the top of the tank and an installation position.

Thus, with a tank according to the invention, the mounting of the flush mechanism inside the tank becomes particularly easy and fast.

Indeed, as it will appear more clearly later, simply put in place the second slide present on the cartridge of the flush mechanism on the first fixed slider within the tank, from the top of the tank (i.e. once the tank lid is removed, providing physical access and a visual approach particularly convenient for the installer), then slide the cartridge to the bottom of the tank in the installation position. The cartridge constituting the flushing mechanism is thus put in place and then held in place without any know-how or special experience.

In addition, the cartridge advantageously carries means for stopping the flush, in the form of a high float and a low float.

In this way, it is possible to integrate in a tank according to the invention the conventional functions of "small hunt" and "large hunt".

Other characteristics and advantages of the invention will appear more clearly on reading the following description of a preferred embodiment of the invention, given by way of a simple illustrative and nonlimiting example, and the appended drawings among which:

Figure 1 is an overview of toilets incorporating a reservoir according to the invention;

Figure 2 is an external view of a tank according to the invention Figure 3 is a view of the interior of a tank according to the invention, with its flush mechanism; Figure 4 is a sectional view of a reservoir according to the invention;

Figures 5 to 8 are sectional views of a tank according to the invention illustrating different phases of operation of its flush mechanism;

Figures 9 to 1 1 are views of different phases of installation of flush mechanisms inside a tank according to the invention;

Figure 12 is a view of the tank interior with the flush mechanism in the water discharge position. As illustrated in Figure 1, a tank 1 flush of the invention is intended to be associated with a toilet bowl 2, and in particular but not exclusively to a toilet bowl suspended.

In a conventional manner, the tank incorporates a flushing mechanism 3 and comprises a water discharge duct closed or released by the flush mechanism, so as to release the water contained in the tank and evacuate it into the bowl.

Such a flushing mechanism, specific to the tank according to the invention, appears in FIG. 3 and is described in more detail below.

As illustrated by FIGS. 2 and 4, a reservoir according to the invention can assume a substantially parallelepipedal shape, and in any event has a back wall 20 and a front wall 21, connected by a peripheral wall 200, the walls dorsal and frontal being spaced from each other by an E-spacing.

According to the principle of the invention, the evacuation duct 22 extends from the front wall 21, transversely thereto and more specifically, according to the present embodiment, in a direction orthogonal to the plane of the wall. end.

As shown in FIG. 4, the evacuation duct 22 opens into the reservoir through an outlet orifice 220, a seal being mounted on a valve 30 in such a manner as to cover this orifice, this with a view to seal the tank against the exhaust duct when the flush mechanism is in the closed position.

As will be described in more detail below, in the closed position of the flushing mechanism, the valve 30 (with its seal) is brought into abutment against the surrounding of the outlet orifice 220, compressing the seal sufficiently to ensure watertightness.

In addition, the exhaust duct 22 communicates with the outlet orifice 220 via a passage 221, separating the inlet of the water discharge duct (through the front wall 21) and the outlet orifice 220 opening into the reservoir. As illustrated in Figure 9, this corridor 221 extends in height to form a chimney, the side walls form a support frame for the flush mechanism.

As indicated in FIG. 3, this corridor 221 extends to a height H greater than the level N of water filling in the tank (this maximum level being controlled by means of stopping the filling in water of the tank placed in correspondence with the maximum level N of water in the tank, these means being described in more detail below).

In addition, the upper end 221 1 of the corridor 221 is open so as to constitute an overflow. Thus, in the event of failure of the means for stopping the filling of water in the tank, when the water reaches the height H in the tank, it can flow in the corridor 221 through the upper end 221 1 open, and flow to the base of the corridor 221 in direct communication with the exhaust pipe 22. In other words, the water of the tank flows freely into the bowl via the overflow .

In addition, as indicated above, the passage 221 forms a support for the flushing mechanism, this through its side walls 2210 interconnected by a connecting wall 2212, the side walls, the connecting wall and the part of the front wall placed in correspondence delimiting the volume of the corridor 221. In this way, the walls of the corridor 221 constitute a first fixed slider extending over the height of the front wall, while the flushing mechanism 3 takes the form of a cartridge having a second slider 31 (FIG. 9 ) adapted to slide on the first slide.

The installation of the flushing mechanism can thus be carried out as follows:

- The flush mechanism is presented above the tank and introduced into it from above (Figure 9);

- The flush mechanism is positioned in the tank by matching the lower part of the second slider of the flush mechanism with the upper part of the first fixed slider inside the tank, so as to be able to slide towards the base of the tank the second slider on the first slider (Figure 10);

- The downward sliding of the flush mechanism inside the tank is continued to a lower end position at the base of the tank, position in which the valve 30 of the flush mechanism is positioned in correspondence of the outlet orifice 220, by closing the latter.

It should be noted that the bottom of the reservoir consists of a base wall 23 from which the front and rear walls of the reservoir extend, and that this wall 23 has positioning means 230 for the cartridge (formed by the mechanism of flush) on both sides of the corridor 221 in the lower part. These positioning means 230 here take the form of two tabs each positioned in the vicinity of one of the side walls 221 1 of the corridor 221, so that each of the side walls 310 comes to register and be maintained in the space between one of the locating lugs and the corresponding side wall of the lane.

Furthermore, as already mentioned, the flush mechanism comprises a valve 30 for closing the water discharge duct, this valve 30 being movable between a closed position of the outlet orifice (FIG. ) and a release position (Figure 8) in which it extends integrally above the outlet, thereby releasing the entire passage for the flow of water to the exhaust duct. water.

As shown in FIGS. 5 to 8, the movable valve is moved from the closed position to the release position, and vice versa, while remaining constantly parallel to itself, following a curvilinear translation trajectory imposed by a system Training 4.

This drive system 4 comprises: a hunting drawbar 41, extending to the upper part of the tank and being coupled to an external actuating means intended to be handled by a user;

a deformable parallelogram capable of generating displacements of curvilinear translation of the valve, and described in more detail below;

- A bracket 410 connecting the hunting zipper 41 to the deformable parallelogram.

In practice, the bracket 410 is connected to the valve 30 by a pair of high levers 40 on either side of the valve, the drive assembly comprising a pair of low levers, each vertically above a lever .

This deformable parallelogram comprises four pivot links, namely:

a high pivot connection 401 and a low pivot connection 420 with the valve;

- A high pivot connection 402 and a low pivot connection 421 with a sliding member 43, slidable along the front wall.

The movement of the hunting drawbar is transmitted, as will be explained in more detail later, to the upper link 401 with the valve to generate the deformation of the deformable parallelogram and, consequently, the curvilinear translation movement of the valve 30. .

According to FIGS. 5 to 8, the drive system comprises:

- A high lever 40, coupled to pulling lever 41 of the flush via the bracket 410, the high lever forming a V-shaped part comprising two ends connected in a point, one end 400 being pivotally connected to the pull tab 41 through the bracket 410, the other end being connected via a pivot connection 401 to the valve 30, the tip being coupled by a pivot connection 402 to the sliding member 43 along the front wall; a low lever 42, one end of which is connected by a pivot connection

420 to the flapper, and the other end is connected by a pivot connection

421 to the sliding member 43.

It should be noted that with such a drive system a deformable parallelogram is obtained comprising the four pivot links mentioned above and whose sides consist of:

a branch of the high lever 40, connecting the pivot link 402 and the pivot link 401;

the sliding member 43;

- the valve 30;

a branch of the low lever 42 connecting the pivot connection 421 and the pivot connection 420.

In this way, we obtain the following kinematics:

- Starting in the closed position such as that illustrated in Figure 5, when the control pulling lever 41 is pulled upwards, it causes through the bracket 410 an upward pull on the end 400 high lever 40;

- The high lever 40 pivots around the pivot connection 402, which involves a circular movement of the lower end of the lever around the pivot link 401 between the high lever 40 and the valve 30, imposing the valve 30 a corresponding displacement;

the displacement imposed in the upper part of the valve tends to raise it, thus exerting a pull, in the lower part of the valve, on the pivot connection 420 which couples the valve to the low lever 42 which, simultaneously with the high lever 40, will pivot about the pivot connection 421 with the sliding member 43, the combined pivoting of the high levers 40 and low 42 imposing a curvilinear translation movement to the valve 30 (Figure 6);

continuing the upward movement of the pull tab 41, the rotation of the up and down levers 42 is then combined with an upward movement of the sliding member 43 along the front wall (FIG. to bring the flapper into a release position (Figure 8) in which it extends integrally above the exhaust duct 22. The return of the valve 30 from the release position to the closed position operates according to the inverse movements of the kinematics which has just been described.

Moreover, as illustrated by FIGS. 3 and 9 to 12, the cartridge forming the flushing mechanism carries means for stopping the flush, in the form of a high float 5 and a low float 50, respectively corresponding to a "small hunt" and a "large hunt".

The principle of flush flush mechanisms is known in itself, the float or floats having the function of causing the stoppage of the flushing of the tank when the water level drops at the float by rotating it. from a high flotation position to a low position.

According to the present embodiment, each float is carried by an angled arm 51, one end of which carries the float as such and the other end is connected to a finger 52, the arm being pivotally mounted on the slide of the cartridge. around a pivot axis 53.

The floats 5 and 51 are buckets having a top compartment 500 and a bottom compartment 501 separated by a partition 502 (shown in broken lines), so that:

- The upper compartment 500 is intended to accommodate a sufficient volume of water to cause a tilting down of the bucket in the absence of water at the bucket (the bucket then being subjected to weightlessness);

- The bottom compartment 501 is adapted to contain a volume of air to ensure the bucket flotation in the presence of water at this level.

As shown in Figures 9 to 12, each bucket is associated with a pull tab 41, independent of one another. Each pull tab 41 carries a retaining element 41 1 intended to cooperate with the finger 52 pivotable integrally with the arm 51 about the axis 53.

The operation is as follows: starting from a closed position of the exhaust duct by the valve such as that illustrated in FIG. 3, when the pull tab 41 is moved upwards, it drives the retaining elements 41 1 towards the top, each retaining element 41 1 being caused to slide over the height and side of the corresponding finger 52, tending to cause a pivoting down the corresponding cup. When, while continuing to move the hunting lever 41 upwards, the retaining element 41 1 protrudes above the finger 52, the bucket resumes its floating position, which results in an upward pivoting of the arm 51. . It is noted that simultaneously, the valve releases the passage to the exhaust duct 22 and the flow of water begins. In the floating position of the bucket, the finger 52 is brought under the retaining element 41 1, as illustrated by FIG. 12 with respect to the finger 52 of the bucket 50. In this position, the valve is in its position of release, and held in this position due to the position of the finger 52 which prevents the downward movement of the pull tab 41 and, therefore, the return of the valve in its closed position. Of course, during this time, the flow of water through the discharge pipe continues and the water level in the reservoir drops. At the stage where the water level drops to the point that the bucket is no longer in a flotation situation, the water reserve in the upper compartment 500 causes a tilting down of the bucket, causing the arm 51 to pivot around the bucket. 53, and bringing the finger 52 in a position such as that illustrated in Figure 1 1 which allows the retaining member 41 1 to move down. The displacement of the valve 30 from its release position to its closed position is then triggered and continues to bring the valve opposite the outlet orifice 220, the whole of the zipper moving down to 'to the shutter position under the simple effect of weightlessness. Of course, once the valve in the closed position, the water filling of the reservoir is carried out up to the predetermined maximum level. Stopping the filling is typically caused by a float valve.

Claims

A cistern (1) having a dorsal wall (20) and a front wall (21) spaced apart from each other, comprising:

a flushing mechanism (3);

an evacuation duct (22) of water, closed or released by the flushing mechanism (3),

characterized in that the exhaust duct (22) extends from the front wall (21) transversely thereto,

and in that the discharge duct (22) opens into the tank through an outlet orifice (220) passing through the front wall (21) and in that the flush mechanism (3) comprises a valve (30) movable between a closed position of the outlet port and a release position in which it extends integrally over the outlet port, the flush mechanism (3) comprising a drive system (4) of the valve in a curvilinear translation between the closed position and the release position or vice versa, and the drive system (4) comprising at least one high lever (40) coupled to a pull tab (41) flush control, the high lever forming a V-shaped part comprising two ends connected in a point, one end (400) being pivotally connected to the drawbar, the other end being connected to pivotally to the valve and the tip being pivotally coupled ante to a sliding member (43) along the front wall.

Flushing cistern according to claim 1, characterized in that the drive system comprises a low lever (42), one end of which is pivotally connected to the flap, and another end is pivotally connected to the flapper. sliding member (43). Flushing cistern according to claim 1, characterized in that the drive system comprises a deformable parallelogram comprising four pivot connections, including a high pivot connection and a low pivot connection with the valve (30) and a high pivot connection. and a low pivot connection with a sliding member (43) along the front wall, the high pivot connection with the valve being connected to a hunting control pull tab (41).

Flushing cistern according to claim 1, characterized in that the discharge duct (22) opens into the tank through an outlet orifice passing through the front wall via a passage (221). communication whose side walls form a support frame for the flush mechanism.

Flushing cistern according to claim 4, characterized in that the flushing mechanism comprises means for stopping the water filling of the tank placed in correspondence with a maximum level (N) of water in the water. reservoir, and in that the communication corridor (221) extends in height to an upper end located beyond the maximum level, the upper end being open so as to constitute an overflow.

Flushing cistern according to claim 5, characterized in that the communication corridor (221) forms a first fixed slider extending along the height of one of the front or back walls, the flush mechanism in the form of a cartridge having a second slide (31) adapted to slide on the first slide between an insertion position from the top of the reservoir and an installation position.

Flushing cistern according to claim 6, characterized in that the cartridge carries means for stopping the flush, in the form of a high float (5) and a low float ( 5).