Baths – closets – sinks – and spittoons – Seat and lid – Hinges
Reexamination Certificate
2002-05-06
2003-12-09
Maust, Timothy L. (Department: 3751)
Baths, closets, sinks, and spittoons
Seat and lid
Hinges
C004S240000, C004S234000, C016S221000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06658672
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is related to a hinge of toilet bowl seat and toilet bowl cover, including a sleeve fitted around a column of the subplate. It is very convenient to install the hinge and the hinge is not easy to loosen.
FIGS. 4 and 5
show a conventional hinge of toilet bowl cover. The hinge includes a circular subplate
71
locked on top face of the toilet bowl
72
by a fixing bolt (not shown). An upright column
73
is disposed on the subplate
71
. A bolt
74
is upward passed through the subplate from lower side thereof and screwed into the column to fix the column on the subplate
71
. A pivot shaft
75
is transversely passed through the top section of the column
73
. Two hinge plates
76
are respectively pivoted on two ends of the pivot shaft
75
. One of the hinge plates is connected with the toilet bowl cover
77
, while the other is connected with the toilet bowl seat
78
. By means of the hinge plates
76
, the pivot shaft
75
and the column
73
, the toilet bowl seat and the toilet bowl cover can be pivoted up or down.
The bolt
74
is upward passed through the subplate
71
from the bottom face thereof. Therefore, after the subplate
71
is mounted on the toilet bowl
72
, the bolt head
741
is hidden on inner side of the subplate
71
. When replacing the toilet bowl seat or toilet bowl cover and it is necessary to slightly turn the column
73
to aim the hinge plate
76
at the thread hole
781
of the toilet bowl seat (or toilet bowl cover), a user needs to entirely crouch on the floor to untighten the fixing bolt (not shown) to detach the entire hinge assembly. Thereafter, the bolt
74
can be untightened to adjust the column
73
. This is quite inconvenient to the user.
The pivot shaft
75
is transversely passed through the top section of the column
73
so that it is impossible to directly downward pass the bolt
74
through the subplate
71
.
FIGS. 6 and 7
show another type of conventional hinge. Two sides of the column
81
are respectively provided with two pivot sections
82
. Two sides of an end of each hinge plate
83
are provided with two connecting sections
831
corresponding to the pivot sections
82
for connecting therewith. The bolt
84
is downward passed through the column from the top section thereof and then screwed in a thread hole
851
of the subplate
85
.
Such structure overcomes the problem of inconvenience in adjustment and detachment. However, the column
81
is directly locked on the subplate
85
only by one single bolt
84
. When pivoting the toilet bowl seat and toilet bowl cover, the column
81
and the bolt
84
also suffer external force and tend to loosen due to shocking force. Once the bolt is loosened, the column and the hinge plates connected therewith will also loosen. As a result, the toilet bowl seat and toilet bowl cover can be hardly reliably connected on the toilet bowl.
Furthermore, the subplate
85
has a limited thickness so that the pitch number of the thread hole
851
of the subplate
85
is limited. Therefore, the bolt
84
is locked on the subplate
85
only by the limited thread
841
at the end of the bolt
84
. Therefore, the bolt
84
cannot be firmly tightened. Moreover, the thread
841
is easy to break due to the shock caused by pivoting the toilet bowl seat or toilet bowl cover. As a result, the bolt is easy to loosen.
In addition, the column
81
and the two hinge plates
83
are first assembled and then entirely mounted on the subplate
85
. Therefore, the total weight of the column and the hinge plates makes the assembly thereof considerably heavy. As a result, it is harder for a user to aim the column at the thread hole of the subplate and tighten the bolt therein. Especially, such kind of hinge is generally metal-made. When placing the column
81
onto the subplate
85
, the bottom of the column tends to slip from the subplate. Accordingly, it is quite difficult for the user to on one hand stably aim the column
81
at the thread hole
851
and on the other hand fit the bolt into the column. Therefore, it is quite inconvenient for the user to complete the assembly.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide a hinge of toilet bowl seat and toilet bowl cover. The subplate is integrally formed with an upright column. A sleeve is fitted around the column and then a bolt is screwed into the column to fix the sleeve on the subplate. The subplate is fixed on the toilet bowl by a fixing bolt. In case the bolt is loosened, only the sleeve will be slightly loosened, while the stability of the subplate is not affected. Moreover, the sleeve is fitted around the column and supported thereby so that the sleeve is not easy to detach from the subplate. Accordingly, the hinge is firmly connected with the toilet bowl without easy loosening.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide the above hinge of toilet bowl seat and toilet bowl cover. When assembled, once the through hole of the sleeve is aimed at the top end of the column, the sleeve can be downward fitted onto the column. Therefore, even though the bolt is not yet tightened, the sleeve is substantially stably mounted on the subplate. As a result, it is very convenient to tighten the bolt.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide the above hinge of toilet bowl seat and toilet bowl cover. After the sleeve is downward fitted around the column of the subplate, the bolt is locked at the top sections of the column and the sleeve and exposed to upper side of the toilet bowl. Therefore, when untightening the bolt to adjust the hinge, a user only needs to bow without crouching on the floor.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3570021 (1971-03-01), Watson
patent: 4079471 (1978-03-01), Corda
patent: 5918321 (1999-07-01), Olle
patent: 6071034 (2000-06-01), Cavagna
patent: 6453478 (2002-09-01), Semmler
patent: 2001/0013143 (2001-08-01), Cavagna
patent: 2598310 (1987-11-01), None
patent: 2817136 (2002-05-01), None
patent: 2364743 (2002-02-01), None
Flynn Amanda
Maust Timothy L.
Rosenberg , Klein & Lee
LandOfFree
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