Baths – closets – sinks – and spittoons – Opener or closer for a closet seat or lid
Reexamination Certificate
2000-10-10
2001-06-05
Eloshway, Charles R. (Department: 3751)
Baths, closets, sinks, and spittoons
Opener or closer for a closet seat or lid
C004S241000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06240574
ABSTRACT:
FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT
Not Applicable
REFERENCE TO A MICROFICHE APPENDIX
Not Applicable
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The bathroom users experience three major problems with the toilet seats. The first problem is the seat can get wet. I found and studied quite a bit of the utility patents on toilet seat lifters. The U.S. patent numbers are: U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,030,146, 4,103,371, 4,150,446, 4,426,743, 4,470,161, 4,534,073, 4,578,830, 4,649,576, 4,975,988, 5,103,506, 5,237,708, 5,448,782, 5,488,743, 6,081,936. Those lifters supposedly solve problem of lifting and lowering the toilet seat without touching by the person using the bathroom, with the purpose of preventing a toilet seat from being wet by urine. The problem is important, however you do not see those lifters in the stores. The lifters are too complicated, have too many parts and have expensive components. They would cost too much to produce and create an “industrial” look in the bathroom. They also are not easy to install, maintain or clean. On the other hand, the bathroom users, especially children, will not always step on those pedals, trigger sensor pads and push those buttons.
The second problem with the conventional toilet seat is: the seat can be in two positions, either up or down. In some families males are responsible for leaving a toilet seat in the down position after using the bathroom. If he forgets to put the seat down, it might cause night accidents, as females, without turning the light on, sit on the toilet bowl instead of toilet seat. If a toilet seat has the ability to automatically come to the only position after the person uses the bathroom, that problem of accidents, as described, would be eliminated. I found the U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,910,810, 5,138,724 and 5,435,017, which offer the solution to the problem. These lifters, after a delay, automatically raise the seat from the horizontal position after the seat was released. The U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,020,165, 5,437,063, 5,754,985 offer to raise the seat using the toilet flushing. Again, those lifters have many weak points.
The third problem with the conventional toilet seat is: the areas around the hinges for the toilet seat cannot easily or thoroughly be cleaned where it attaches to the toilet bowl. The existing projects on the toilet seat lifters do not offer the solution, they make cleanliness problem more complicated.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Method and arrangement for automatically raising a toilet seat. The toilet seat lifter contains virtually two very simple and technological parts. This solves the problems as described in the BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION section. A spring is attached to the rear of a seat above the pivot point and to the bottom of a water tank. The water tank has a pivot point located above the spring, in front of the water center of gravity, so the spring can be compressed more or less depending on the amount of water in the tank. In order to deliver the water from the water tank to the toilet and to allow the tank to be pivoted, the water tank is connected to the toilet with a flexible hose. The second part of the toilet seat lifter is the weight mounted on the spring. The weight allows the spring to be flipped from the up position (the toilet seat is down) to the down position as the amount of water in the tank decreases during toilet flushing and to hold the toilet seat in the up position.
The toilet seat lifter provides the possibility to use a recess in a toilet bowl to hold the seat instead of hinges. That allows a toilet seat and a toilet lid to be easily removed for cleaning.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5437063 (1995-08-01), Cotham
patent: 5754985 (1998-05-01), Dias
patent: 5781938 (1998-07-01), Anderson
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