Bumper for W.C. seats

Abstract

 This invention relates to a bumper for W.C. seats provided with a monolithic body made of rigid plastic materials, characterised in that the head (1) is coated with a soft plastic material (2), such as thermoplastic rubber.

Description

[0001] This patent application relates to a bumper for installation under W.C. seats. As it is known, W.C. seats are made up of a seat and a cover, hinged in the back part of the W.C. and capable of being overturned from up down and vice versa.

[0002] PVC or PP bumpers are currently provided on the lower side of the cover, as well on the lower side of the seat. The bumpers can be shaped like a dome or a strip, and in both cases they feature a support fixing pin (two pins in case of elongated bumpers) to be forced into the holes provided under the seat or the cover.

[0003] As it is known, the bumpers have a double function. On one side, they are designed to soften accidental impacts between the seat and the W.C., as well as between the cover and the seat. On the other side, the bumpers located under the seat also have an anti-slip function, in the sense that they should create some friction against the upper edge of the W.C., to prevent the seat from moving - even if slightly - rightwards or leftwards, due to possible movements of the body of the user sitting on it.

[0004] As a matter of fact, similar movements of the seat cause the anomalous stress of the hinges that act as fulcrum with the W.C., with negative effects on the hinges, ranging from the loosening of the fixing screws to their permanent deformation, including the final breakage.

[0005] First of all, it must be noted that the current PVC or PP bumpers are not capable of achieving the intended technical-functional results, as mentioned above. As a matter of fact, their structural rigidity and, most of all, their absolute non-deformability do not allow to effectively achieve the desired shock-absorbing action in case of impacts with a rigid surface below. Another drawback of the PVC or PP bumpers must be mentioned, that is the loud noise they produce in case of impact.

[0006] Their physical-structural characteristics prevent them from achieving the anti-slip function with respect to the seat located on the upper edge of the W.C. In particular, their non-deformability does not allow the modification of their physical structure and the effective friction action against the W.C. ceramic, also in the presence of a considerable weight on the seat.

[0007] In this perspective, it is obvious that the efficacy of similar bumpers would be excellent if they could be made with a deformable soft material, such as rubber or similar materials.

[0008] However, the possibility of using deformable materials to produce the entire bumper structure has been abandoned so far because of the insurmountable problems related to assembling.

[0009] As a matter of fact, it is obvious that if also the support fixing pins of the bumpers featured an intrinsically deformable structure - and therefore not perfectly rigid - it would be difficult to force them into the housing holes located under the seat or on the cover.

[0010] The specific purpose of the present invention is to obtain a bumper for W.C. seats capable of overcoming all the disadvantages of the previous technique.

[0011] The idea on which the present invention is based is to create a bumper with a rigid monolithic bearing structure made of PVC, PP, PE or ABS that consists in a head equipped with one or more support fixing pins on the back part, it being provided that the rigid head - which can have a dome or strip shape - of the monolithic structure is coated with a soft layer of thermoplastic rubber.

[0012] In the case of dome-like bumpers, the rigid head incorporates only one support-fixing pin in the back part, while in the case of strip-like bumpers the elongated rigid head incorporates a pair of support fixing pins in the back part.

[0013] From this general description it is easy to understand that the bumper according to the present invention is provided with an extremely rigid pin (two pins in the case of elongated bumpers), which is forced into its housing hole, according to the same technique used with the currently available bumpers entirely made of PVC or PP.

[0014] Nevertheless, the pin is provided with a soft coating (with dome or strip shape) which can be deformed and causes some friction against the W.C. ceramic, under the weight of the user sitting on the seat.

[0015] In the case of impacts with a rigid surface, the thermoplastic rubber coating - either with dome or strip shape - has a shock-absorbing action function, which is capable to considerably reduce the noise caused by the impacts.

[0016] For major clarity the description of the invention continues with reference to the enclosed drawing, which is intended for purposes of illustration and not in a limiting sense, whereby:

• figure 1 is an axonometric view of the dome-like version of the bumper according to the present invention;
• figure 2 is a cross-section with a vertical plane of the bumper shown in figure 1;
• figure 3 is an axonometric view of the strip-like version of the bumper according to the present invention;
• figure 4 is a cross-section with a vertical plane of the bumper shown in figure 3.

[0017] With reference to figures 1 and 2, the bumper according to the present invention features a rigid monolithic structure made of PVC, PP, PE or ABS that consists in a dome (1) and a support fixing pin (1a). The rigid dome (1) is coated with a similar soft dome (2) made of thermoplastic rubber capable of acting as bumper.

[0018] With reference to figures 3 and 4, the technology according to the present invention can also be used to create elongated bumpers. This type of bumper features a rigid monolithic structure that consists in a strip (3) and a pair of support fixing pins (3a). The strip (3) is coated with a similar soft strip (4) made of thermoplastic rubber.

[0019] It is hardly necessary to note that the bumpers according to the present invention can be produced with different constructive modes, always within the concept of the present invention.

[0020] In a first version the strip (4) or the dome (2) of thermoplastic rubber are glued on the corresponding rigid strip (3) and dome (1).

[0021] In a second version, the bearing structures (1 and 3) of the bumper according to the present invention are made of moulded PVC, PP, PE or ABS and then inserted into moulding matrixes to obtain the dome (2) or strip (4) in thermoplastic rubber, as well as to permanently and irreversibly join the soft coating elements with the rigid bearing structures (1 and 3) that were previously manufactured.

Claims

1. Bumper for W.C. seats with a rigid monolithic structure made of moulded plastic materials, which consists in a head (1 or 3) equipped with one or more support fixing pins (1a and 3a) in the back part; it being provided that the rigid head (1 or 3) is externally coated with a soft layer (2 or 4) of thermoplastic rubber.

2. Bumper for W.C. seats, according to claim 1, characterised in that the rigid monolithic structure consists in a dome (1) equipped with one pin (1a) in the back part; it being provided that the rigid dome (1) is externally coated with a similar soft dome (2) of thermoplastic rubber.

3. Bumper for W.C. seats, according to claim 1, characterised in that the rigid monolithic structure consists in a strip (3) equipped with a pair of pins (3a) in the back part; it being provided that the rigid strip (3) is externally coated with a similar soft strip (4) of thermoplastic rubber.

Drawing