Patent Application
20060143810
1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to toilet hygiene, and more particularly to a sanitary device for urinal/toilet flush system that provides sanitary agent during flushing for sanitizing a urinal or toilet.
2. Description of Related Arts
Referring to
A major hygiene problem for public restrooms is that some users are less willing to flush after using the toilet. Therefore, the manual toilet flush system has undergone substantial development during the last few decades. For example, at an attempt to improve toilet hygiene and user's convenience, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,169,118 and 5,244,179 both disclose a battery-operated solenoid operated automatic flush valve. When the infrared sensor detects the presence of a user of the urinal or toilet, the flush valve is automatically driven to open by a latching solenoid to actuate the flushing operation.
Although such automatic flush system generally resolves the abovementioned toilet hygiene problem, some other problems remain unsolved. In fact, although the flushing operation is automatically actuated every time after each user has used the toilet, the hygiene condition of the toilet still may not be maintained in a satisfactory condition. Obviously, in order to overcome infectious diseases that are caused by germs and bacteria or can be transmitted through body fluids or feces, some sort of sanitary agent is preferably used to mix with the flushing water. Conventional measure is to put a piece of dissolvable sanitary agent in a water tank of the toilet so that a certain amount of the sanitary agent is dissolved and mixed with the water stored for flushing. A major problem with this is that the user has to replace the sanitary agent frequently. For some public restrooms, the toilets have no flushing water tank or the flushing water tank may be hidden in a finely decorated storage compartment that is difficult to reach by the users.
A main object of the present invention is to provide a sanitary device for a urinal or toilet flush system, which is adapted to automatically and controllably feed sanitary agent to mix with flush water during each flushing operation for sanitizing a urinal or toilet.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a sanitary device which is adapted to incorporate with a urinal or toilet flush system, wherein the sanitary device is constructed to allow convenient refilling of the sanitary agent.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a sanitary device which premixes the sanitary agent with a predetermined amount of flush water in a container body, in which the flush water mixing with the sanitary agent is arranged to be driven by gravity to flow out from the container body to reach the toilet. In other words, no extra energy consumption is involved according to the present invention.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a sanitary device which does not include complicated mechanical structure and design so as to minimize the manufacturing cost and the ultimate selling price of the present invention.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a toilet flush system for a toilet or a urinal, which comprises a sanitary device to automatically and controllably feed sanitary agent to mix with flush water during each flushing operation to ensure maximum hygiene condition.
Accordingly, in order to accomplish the above objects, the present invention provides a flush system, comprising:
a valve body having a water inlet, a water outlet, and a water chamber communicating between the water inlet and the water outlet;
a valve seat supported in the valve body to move between a normal idle position and a flushing position, wherein at the idle position, the valve seat is sealed at the water chamber for retaining a water pressure within the water chamber so as to block flush water flowing from the water inlet to the water outlet, and at the flushing position, the valve seat is moved to relieve the water pressure for allowing the flush water flowing towards the toilet through the water outlet so as to complete a flushing operation;
an actuation device supported by the valve body to operatively move the valve seat at the flushing position; and
a sanitary device comprising a container body, which is mounted on the valve body, having an upper container body for receiving a sanitary agent therein and a lower sanitary opening communicating the container body with the water outlet of the valve body, wherein at the flushing position, a portion of the flush water is guided to flow into the container body through the sanitary opening for mixing with the sanitary agent so as to form a cleansing solution, and after the valve seat is returned back to the idle position, the cleansing solution within the container body is released by gravity for flowing towards the water outlet through the sanitary opening so as to sanitize the toilet after the flushing operation is completed.
These and other objectives, features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description, the accompanying drawings, and the appended claims.
Referring to
The flush system comprises a valve body 10, a valve seat 20, an actuation device 30, and the sanitary device 40.
The valve body 10 has a water inlet 11, a water outlet 12, and a water chamber 13 communicating between the water inlet 11 and the water outlet 12.
The valve seat 20, having a flush channel 22, is supported in the valve body 10 to move between a normal idle position and a flushing position, wherein at the idle position, the valve seat 20 is sealed at the water chamber 13 for retaining a water pressure within the water chamber 13 so as to block flush water flowing from the water inlet 11 to the water outlet 12. When the valve seat 20 is at the flushing position, the valve seat 20 is moved to relieve the water pressure for allowing the flush water flowing towards the toilet bowel through the water outlet 12 so as to complete a flushing operation.
Specifically, the valve seat 20 comprises a diaphragm 21 which has a bleed hole 211 formed therein and is sealedly disposed in the valve body 10 in a movable manner to define the water chamber 13 above the diaphragm 21 to communicate between the water inlet 11 and the water outlet 12. In other words, once the flush water within the water chamber 13 is released to reduce the water pressure therein, the diaphragm 21 is forced to bend upwardly so that the flush water is capable of passing from the water inlet 11 to the water outlet 12 through the flush channel 22 to complete a flushing cycle of the flush system.
The actuation device 30 is supported by the valve body 10 to operatively move the valve seat 20 between the idle position and the flushing position so as to controllably release water from the water inlet 11 through actuation of the actuation device 30.
The sanitary device 40 comprises a container body 41 mounted on the valve body 10. The container body 41 has an upper sanitary chamber 411 for refillably receiving a predetermined amount of sanitary agent 47 therein and a lower sanitary opening 412 communicating the container body 41 with the water outlet 12 of the valve body 10. At the flushing position, a portion of the flush water is guided to flow into the container body 41 through the sanitary opening 412 for mixing with the sanitary agent 47 so as to form a cleansing solution, and after the valve seat 20 is returned back to the idle position, the cleansing solution within the container body 41 is released by gravity for flowing towards the water outlet 12 through the sanitary opening 412 so as to sanitize the toilet after the flushing operation is completed.
According to the preferred embodiment, the sanitary device 40 is supported between the actuation device 30 and the valve body 10, wherein the actuation device 30 is a manual actuation unit embodying as a movable flush lever transversely extended to the container body 41 to move the valve seat 20 at the flushing position.
Referring to 2?,
Specifically, the water divider 42, which is preferably embodied as a guiding panel having a guiding surface 421 formed thereon, is transversely extended at the sanitary opening 412 towards the water outlet 12 to divide the sanitary opening 412 into an upper water collecting inlet 4121 and a lower water discharge outlet 4122, wherein a predetermined amount of the flush water flowing through the flush channel 22 is arranged to be blocked by the guiding surface 421 and directed to flow into the container body 41 through the water collecting inlet 4121 to fill up the sanitary chamber 411 through the upper water collecting inlet 4121.
As an apparent alternative, the container body 41 may have a sanitary opening 412 formed as the upper water collecting inlet 4121, and a water discharge outlet 4122 formed at a position below the water collecting inlet 4121 in such a manner that the flush water is guided to flow into the container body 41 through the water collecting inlet 4121 (the sanitary opening 412) and then flow out of the container body 41 through the water discharge outlet 4122.
When the predetermined amount of the flush water flows to fill up the sanitary chamber 411, it mixes with the sanitary agent 47 to become the cleansing solution having sanitary ability for killing micro-organisms such as germs and bacteria and/or possessing additional hygiene related features.
Referring to
The driving actuator 44, which is preferably embodied as an elongated member operatively disposed in the container body 41, has one lever end 441 communicated with the actuation device 30 and another actuation end 442 extended to drive the valve seat 20. Specifically, the valve seat 20 further comprises a sealing platform 23 arranged for sealedly supporting on the diaphragm 21 to normally close the flush channel 22, and a valve controlling shaft 24 downwardly extended from the sealing platform 23 for communicating with the actuation end 442 of the driving actuator 44 within the flush channel 22.
As shown in
When the actuation device 30 returns to the idle position, the lever end 441 of the driving actuator 44 is then pulled in an opposite direction (preferably by a resilient element 443 mounted at the water divider 42) such that the actuation end 442 ceases to push the valve controlling shaft 24 for restoring it into its original position. Then after, once the valve controlling shaft 24 returns back to its original position, the sealing platform 23 is forced to sealedly sit on the diaphragm 21 due to the water pressure so as to sealedly close the flush channel 22. The diaphragm 21 then drops down by refilling the flush water back into the water chamber 13 so as to increase the water pressure therein for sealedly closing the water outlet 12 to stop the water passing thereto. Note that, since the sealing platform 23 is normally sealed on the diaphragm 21, no water is normally allowed to flow through the flush channel 22 to the water outlet 12 until the flushing cycle is restarted, i.e. the actuation device 30 is actuated again.
However, when the flush water is sealed by the diaphragm 21, so that flow of flush water in the water outlet 12 ceases, the flush water which has already flowed into the container body 41 and mixed with the sanitary agent 47 (the cleansing solution) is then driven by gravitational force to develop a higher pressure as compared to that of the water outlet 12 so as to flow out of the container body 41 to the water outlet 12 mainly through the water discharge outlet 4112. As a result, the cleansing solution is discharged and flows into the toilet bowel through the water outlet 12 so that the toilet bowel can be sanitized by the cleansing solution.
It is appreciated that the sanitary device 40 of the present invention utilizes inherent pressure differential between the container body 41 and the water outlet 12 for directing and guiding the flow of the flush water towards the container body. After sanitizing of the flush water, the cleansing solution is driven naturally by gravity flowing back to the valve body 10. In other words, no extra electrical pumping power is needed for operating the present invention with the flush system.
It is important to realize that the sanitary opening 412 must be formed at a lower portion of the container body 41 so that the cleansing solution retained above the sanitary opening 412, when subject to gravitational force, is capable of naturally developing into a higher pressure so as to flow out from the container body 41 mainly through the water discharge outlet 4122.
According to the preferred embodiment, the sanitary agent 47 can be a conventional water soluble sanitary agent 47 which has the ability to overcome micro-organisms such as germs and bacteria which are typically found in a toilet. Moreover, the sanitary agent 47 may also be utilized to impart artificial smell so as to reduce bad odor which is usually present in a restroom. This is especially important for public restrooms in that the sanitary agent 47 may be utilized both to ensure better restroom hygiene and a more pleasant restroom smell.
Moreover, the sanitary device further comprises a holder 45 having a plurality of diffusing meshes 451 supported within the container body 41 for holding the sanitary agent 47 therewith such that at least a portion of the sanitary agent 47 is dissolved with the flush water through the diffusing meshes 451 to form the cleansing solution within the container body 41.
Referring to
In order to facilitate the sanitary agent 47 to be replaceable, the container body 41 further comprises a detachable cover 413, having the air check valve 46 formed thereon, detachably mounted on the container body 41 for replacing or refilling the sanitary agent 47 therein when the detachable cover 413 is detached from the container body 41. In other words, a user is able to replace or refill the sanitary agent by detaching the detachable cover 413.
As a first alternative of the present invention, as shown in
Referring to
Thus, it is to be appreciated that when the sensor 51″ detects that a user has used the toilet, the actuation arm 52″ is actuated by the motor 53″ to move the valve seat 20 from the idle position to the flushing position so as to start the flushing process. Once the flushing process has started, the flush water would flow into the sanitary chamber 411 of the container body 41 to mix with the sanitary agent to become cleansing, which is then driven by gravity to flow out from the water discharge outlet 4122 to the water outlet 12 of the valve body 10.
It is worth noting that the sensor 51″ in this alternative mode can be embodied as a regular infrared sensor which is utilized to detect the presence of a human body in front of that sensor 51″. If a human body is detected, a subsequent absence of that human body would mean he/she has finished using the toilet. Then, the actuation arm 52″ is actuated to move valve seat 20 for starting flushing cycle.
Furthermore, it is also worth pointing out that the sanitary device 40 of the present invention may be adapted for fitting into either the manually operated flushing system, or the sensor operated powering device 50″. In other words, a user may be able to, according to his/her specific circumstances, incorporate the sanitary device 40 to his/her domestic or public flush system(s).
To achieve this, the user simply needs to disassemble the manually operated flushing system and utilizes a sealing cap 31″ for stopping water coming out from the removed actuation device 30. Moreover, the automatic actuation unit may further provide a sealing cap 31″ covering an opening at the sidewall of the container body 41 such that the user is able to selectively switch off the sensor operated powering device 50″, disassemble the sealing cap 31″ and install a manual actuation device 30 for manual operation of the flush system, as shown in
From the forgoing descriptions, it can be shown that the above-mentioned objects have been substantially achieved. The present invention provides an effective and efficient solution for regularly sanitizing a toilet or a urinal so as to ensure better toilet hygiene for individuals' health.
One skilled in the art will understand that the embodiment of the present invention as shown in the drawings and described above is exemplary only and not intended to be limiting.
It will thus be seen that the objects of the present invention have been fully and effectively accomplished. Its embodiments have been shown and described for the purposes of illustrating the functional and structural principles of the present invention and is subject to change without departure from such principles. Therefore, this invention includes all modifications encompassed within the spirit and scope of the following claims.
