Xiandong Liu and Ji-Xiang Wang, both physicists and researchers at Yangzhou University in China discovered in July 2020 that “flushing a toilet creates a plume of coronavirus-laden particles, which are flung into the air by the watery vortex inside a toilet bowl”.
Both are co-authors of the August 2020 Journal, “The Physics of Fluids”. In their article, the co-authors explain, “The flushing process can lift the virus out of the toilet and cause cross-infection among people”. Later in the same article, they explained it in yet another way, “Flushing creates in the air above the toilet pan a vortex which encourages massive upward transport of virus particles”. They end the article with, “Closing the lid on the toilet before flushing would prevent the transmission of the particles”.
National Geographic says, “One of the most effective ways to keep potentially infected aerosols of any kind from flying into the air is to simply close the toilet's lid before flushing”. MIT Medical School and many other experts agree that closing the lid before flushing is the best solution, and MIT adds that if it is a public toilet with no lid, then “flush and rush” as fast as you can.
The close-the-lid-before-flushing must be foolproof by being the only way the toilet can be flushed. The occupant cannot be relied on to close the lid before flushing.
In today's toilet when the external flush-handle is rotated downward, the internal flush-arm will be rotated upward pulling a chain connected to a rubber stopper and causing the toilet to flush. In this disclosure, a small but powerful magnet is attached to the end of the flush-arm in close proximity to the interior surface of the ceramic water tank's front wall. A second similar magnet is attached to the toilet's lid. When the toilet's lid is rotated up, the two magnets are closely aligned, preventing the flush-arm from being rotated upwardly and preventing the toilet from being flushed. When the lid is closed and the two magnets are separated, then and only then, can the toilet be flushed since the flush-arm would then be free to be rotated upwardly.
Flushing today's toilet requires downwardly rotating an external flush-handle, which in turn causes an internally located side-to-side flush-arm to rotate upwardly. The flush-arm lifts an adjustable length chain that in turn lifts a rubber stopper, allowing the water in the water tank to be rapidly released into the toilet's bowl, causing the bowl's contents to be forced down the sewer pipe.
When the standard 1.6-gallon contents of the bowl rush down the sewer pipe, a similar volume of air is sucked into the toilet's bowl to replace the prior volume of water. The air enters the bowl through the openings between the lid, seat and bowl. This is actually helpful by causing some of the COVID-19 contaminated air to also be carried down the sewer pipe.
When the water tank is almost empty, the rubber stopper resets itself allowing new water to start slowly refilling the water tank until a float shuts off the incoming water when the water has reached an adjustable pre-determined level. Now, the toilet has completed its full flush cycle and is standing-by for another identical cycle.
In this disclosure, most of the mechanism described above will remain basically unchanged, however the toilet's flush-arm and lid are revised as follows. Two similar magnets will ensure that the toilet will not flush when the lid is up. One magnet is attached near the end of the flush-arm the other magnet is attached to the toilet's lid. When the lid is up and the magnets are aligned in close proximity to one another, the toilet will not flush. When the lid is down and the magnets are misaligned, the toilet will flush.
When the lid is up, the close alignment of the flush-arm's magnet with the lid's magnet will not allow the flush-arm to rotate upwardly, as it must in order for the toilet to flush. Closing the lid separates the magnets and allows the flush-arm to freely rotate upwardly when the flush-handle is manually rotated downwardly allowing the toilet to flush. When the lid is closed, the toilet will not automatically flush; a person will still have to manually rotate the flush handle downwardly to flush the toilet.
The magnets can be, for example, of the powerful Neodymium type, about the size of a 5¢ coin, or possibly the size of a 25¢ coin if the water tank's ceramic wall thickness is above normal, and/or if the lid and front wall of the water tank are not substantially parallel to one another when the lid is up. In manufacturing a new toilet, the magnets can be insert-injection molded into the flush-arm and into the toilet's lid behind a very thin plastic wall on the side of the flush-arm that faces the water tank's front surface and behind the lid's surface that faces the water tank when the lid is up. This helps to minimize the distance between the facing surfaces of the two magnets so their attraction one to another will be stronger. It will also provide a more acceptable visual solution. In a retrofit installation, the magnets may also be exposed such that they could be individually attached and replaced if necessary. The retrofit parts may be packaged and sold as a DIY kit.
Referring first to
Referring now to
When the flush-arm 110 is at rest or is in its “parked” position, the first-magnet 111 will align with the second-magnet 112 when the lid 108 is rotated to its upright position.
In addition to being sold as a new and safer toilet, the present disclosure may also be sold as a kit that a homeowner or a plumber can install in an existing toilet. The kit would contain first-magnet 111, second-magnet 112 and optionally a replacement flush-arm 110, along with optional methods of securing first and second-magnets 111 and 112 to lid 108 and flush-arm 110. One such option would be to include a small tube of epoxy in the kit along with instructions on how to position second-magnet 112 on lid 108 to assure that the magnets align when the lid 108 is in the up position. Alternately, the kit's optional replacement flush-arm 110 may be provided with first-magnet 111 already installed. Then an installer has only to determine proper place of alignment of second-magnet 112 with first-magnet 111 when lid 108 is in its full upright position. Second-magnet 112 could be mounted on the underside of the lid 108 for aesthetic reasons, although it could be mounted on the topside of lid 108 if desired, or for possibly improved operation.
In the foregoing, the magnets 111 and 112 are described as individual magnets. It is understood, however, that the magnets could be magnetic portions integrally formed with appropriate elements of the toilet. For example, the free end of the flush-arm could consist of an integrally formed magnetic portion rather than a separately formed magnet. And as noted above, a magnetic portion can be insert-injection molded into the lid. Further, the magnets or magnetic portions need not be “button” magnets as illustrated, but may be any shape and size, as long as they are of sufficient strength to achieve the objects of this disclosure.
It is also possible to use only one magnet rather than two magnets. More particularly, one magnet could be used on one component, either the lid or the flush-arm, while using a magnet-attracting material, such as iron, cobalt or nickel, or the other component. In other words, a magnet of suitable strength could be secured to or within the lid, and the end of the flush-arm having or being integrally formed therewith a ferrous material of suitable size that will attract the magnet portion in the lid to achieve the objects described above. Or vice versa, a magnetic portion could be secured to the end of the flush-arm, and the lid could have a ferrous or other magnet-attracting material attached thereto.
This application is a continuation of prior pending U.S. application Ser. No. 17/029,950, filed Sep. 23, 2020, the entirety of which is expressly incorporated herein by reference.
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Entry |
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WO-2017073859-A1 Translation (Year: 2020). |
U.S. Appl. No. 17/029,950, filed Sep. 23, 2020 (unpublished). |
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 17029950 | Sep 2020 | US |
Child | 17215060 | US |