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(11) | EP 1 138 240 A1 |
| (12) | EUROPEAN PATENT APPLICATION |
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| (54) | Device for a hygienic use of toilet bowls located in public premises |
| (57) A device is described which allows to use the "ring-shaped" seat board (1) of a toilet
bowl (10), in particular in the lavatories of local premises, in any case sprayed
with disinfectant agent and ready to be lowered without any manual touch. Such a device
provides in fact that the board (1) has normally a raised position, such a position
being reached through the same pedal control (3) of the flushing system. Upon reaching
the raised position a spray of disinfectant-hygienizing liquid is preferably produced
in order to wet the board (1) for bringing which to the lower position it is sufficient
to lower a second pedal control (4) which assumes automatically the raised position
upon lowering of the first one (3). |
[0001] The present invention relates to a device which allows for a hygienic use, without any need of touching it by hand, of the ring-shaped board that normally covers the upper edge of a toilet bowl, in particular for lavatories of public premises.
[0002] It is known the sense of discomfort felt by a person that has to make use of a toilet bowl in public premises such as bars, servicing areas, restaurants, but also in communities such as schools, hospitals, barracks, work places, etc. People in fact is always reluctant to touch by hand the lavatory lid board if it is found raised or instead if it has to be raised while, on the other hand, the protection paper rings, sometimes available in suitable dispensers aside of the toilet bowl, often cannot be easily used and in any case their placement and removal after use inevitably involves the manual contact with the seat board itself.
[0003] It is true that recently, in some highway servicing areas, electronically controlled devices have been introduced which automatically supply the seat cover of paper and cause its removal with the flushing water flow of the lavatory. However, apart fiom the particularly high cost of these devices and the complexity of their working which often results in defective operations when considering their heavy-duty use in public places, there is however the need of manually operating push-button controls or at least controls of the touch type.
[0004] Therefore it is an object of the present invention to ensure the most hygienic utilization of a toilet bowl without any need of manual intervention by the user.
[0005] Another object of the present invention is that of having available in any case the lavatory board lid or ring-shaped seat that can be hygienized and lowered upon foot control while, if not to be used, it will be found already normally raised with no need of touching the same.
[0006] Finally it is a further object of the present invention that of providing the user with a device of easy and reliable utilization, of non excessively high cost and immediately apparent way of operation to the user who will have only to lower in any case the one of two pedals that is at an upper position, thus making an action to which he is already accustomed for operating the flushing water flow usually controlled through a pedal.
[0007] This and other objects, advantages and features of the device according to the invention will be clear from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment thereof, given by non-limiting example with reference to the annexed drawings in which:
Figure 1 shows a schematic side view, partially in cross-section, of the device according to the present invention when applied to a toilet bowl with seat board lowered;
Figure 2 shows a view similar to the preceding one with raised seat board, subject to a disinfectant spray;
Figure 3 shows a top plan view of the same device in the position represented in figure 1; and
Figure 4 shows an enlarged detail of figure 2.
[0008] With reference to the drawings the device according to the present invention comprises a board 1 for covering the upper edge of a toilet bowl 10, of known type except for the fact of being pivoted, rather than directly on the rear side of the bowl, preferably by means of a member la integral with and foaming an angle with respect thereto, with a horizontal rotation axis X-X rotatably mounted in a vertical housing 2 which is located at the back side of the toilet bowl 10 without however occupying excessive room. Within said housing 2 there are provided lever or link systems 5 and 6, capable of vertical movements in consequence of the rotation of said axis X. In particular, for a clockwise rotation, according to the representation in the drawings, corresponding to an upward movement of the seat board 1, the link system with numeral reference 5 will be subject to a downward movement, while the other indicated with 6 will perform a corresponding upward movement. Said link systems 5 and 6 are provided with respective pedal controls 3 and 4 which are integral with the lower ends thereof and consequently will assume an alternatively raised or lowered position according to the position of the seat board 1. With reference to the drawings, with lowered seat board I the pedal 3 will result raised and the one indicated with 4 will be lowered, while with reference to figure 2, wherein the board seat 1 is in its upper position, the pedal 3 will have been lowered while the pedal 4 assumes its raised position.
[0009] Furthermore two wheels or sectors 7 are fixedly keyed on the rotation axis X-X, being possibly connected to said link systems 5, 6 and are both formed with a cam-shaped profile, or with an increasing ray along a given peripheral arc of said wheel or sector. This cam portion 8 is designed to come into contact, along a given arc of rotation of axis X-X corresponding to the last phase of upward movement of the seat board 1, with a respective second lever system 9 being pivoted on a fixed point 11 and consisting for example of two lever arms 17, 18 being mutually linked in 19. Each of said lever systems is able to modify its position under the thrust action exerted by cam 8 when increasing its eccentricity and is designed to control the washing water flow or flushing system by means of a connecting rod 16 linked thereto, e.g. pivoted in a position comprised between one of its ends 12 and the pivoting point 19 between the two aforementioned lever arms 17 and 18. The end 20 of lever 16, opposite to the pivoting end can for example control the release of a gate valve of known type for a water tank mounted on the wall at the back side of the toilet bowl or the so-called "coarse pitch" cock for feeding a water flow directly from a water main.
[0010] According to another, important aspect of the present invention, the active end 12 of each lever system 9, under the thrust of the respective cam 8, during the mentioned last phase of upward movement of seat board 1, comes into contact with a corresponding control lever 13 of a dispensing nozzle 14 which is capable of spraying onto a respective side of the board a detergent and/or disinfectant liquid housed in a container 15 on the back side of lever system. It should be noted that each of the two groups of container 15 with spraying nozzle 14 can consist in a bottle of disinfectant liquid, available in the trade, with the lever 13 acting directly onto the spray valve of the bottle, or it can consist of a container, the content of which can be re-filled each time before its complete exhaustion.
[0011] Finally it should be noted that the working of pedals 3 and 4 through the rotation axis X-X can be obtained in any known way capable to convert a rotation movement into a translation movement and that said link systems 5 and 6, possibly driven directly by the cam wheels 7, 8, may include pinion and rack or toothed chain, directly mounted in connection with pedals 3, 4.
[0012] Based on the preceding description, the operation of the device according to the present invention results to be extremely simple. In fact, if a user finds the seat board 1 raised, as it must be if the user before has acted correctly, and he should lower the same for using the toilet bowl, he has nothing to do but pushing onto the pedal 4 in a raised position (see figure 2) to bring the seat board to the position of figure 1 with contemporaneous raising of pedal 3. At this stage the rotation of cam 8 is such as to be performed counterclockwise and thereby so as to avoid that the lever system 9 causes a liquid spray onto the seat board 1. Subsequently the user will manage to lower pedal 3 for the bowl flushing thus obtaining at the same time that the seat board 1 is moved upward and sprayed by disinfectant, ready for the subsequent use.
[0013] If instead a particularly impolite user, paying no attention to a hygienic behaviour "had overlooked" moving the pedal control for raising the seat board after use, which should be always in the raised position, thus neither providing to flushing the toilet, the subsequent user will provide thereto by simply moving a fist time the pedal 3 which he will find raised and then, if it is the case, again the pedal 4 for bringing back the seat board 1 to the lower position, always without any manual intervention.
1. A device for the hygienic use, without manually intervention, of the boards covering
toilet bowls, particularly suited in local places, comprising pivoting means (1a)
of the seat board (1) about a horizontal rotation axis (X-X), characterized in that said rotation axis is connected, through driving means (5, 6) to respective control
pedals (3, 4) adapted to be alternatively in upraised and lowered positions in correspondence
with the two different positions of the seat board (1) with respect to the toilet
bowl (10), there being provided a pair of link system means (7, 8, 9) also connected
with the said rotation axis (X-X) and capable to move, through an associated driving
means (16), a valve (20) controlling the toilet flushing system in correspondence
with the upward movement of the seat board (1).
2. A device according to claim 1, characterized in that said link system means (7, 8, 9) are also linked to respective driving levers (13)
for controlling corresponding spraying nozzles (14) directed towards the two sides
of the seat board and located at the outlet mouth of respective containers (15) of
a disinfectant-hygienizing liquid.
3. A device according to claim 2, characterized in that said rotation axis (X-X) has mounted thereon two wheels or sectors (7) with a cam
(8) along an arc of their periphery, each of which is capable of rotating, in correspondence
with the rotation for the upward movement of the board (1) driven by lowering one
of the two pedals (3, 4), a corresponding lever system (9) being pivoted in (11) the
working end (12) of which, opposite to said pivoting point (11) operates said spraying
lever (13).
4. A device according to claim 3, characterized in that said lever system (9) comprises two lever arms (17, 18) linked to each other in (19),
the first of which is pivoted at a fixed point (11) and the second has said working
end (12), said link (19), normally positioned near to the periphery of said wheel
(7), being subject to the thrust action of said cam (8).
5. A device according to claim 4, characterized in that said driving means (16) is pivotedly mounted at an intermediate point of said lever
arm (18) between the working end (12) and the link (19) to operate the valve (20)
controlling the toilet bowl (10) flushing in correspondence with the upward movement
of the seat board (1) by lowering the respective pedal control (3) and at the same
time of operating the spraying nozzles (14).
6. A device according to claim 1, characterized by having in any case one of the two control pedals (3, 4) at a raised position, thus
to render immediately clear which pedal has to be moved to modify the position of
the seat board (1) from the lower to the upper position or viceversa, thus determining
at the same time of the upward movement and possible spraying with disinfectant-hygienizing
liquid, the control of the flushing system.