Patent Application
20200141104
Not Applicable
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Not Applicable
Not Applicable
The disclosure and prior art relates to toilet vacuum devices and more particularly pertains to a new toilet vacuum device for suctionally removing odors from a toilet.
An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a toilet that has a bowl, a pedestal, a tank and a sewer trap. The bowl includes a plurality of weep holes that is each in fluid communication with the tank. A flapper valve is positioned in the tank and the flapper valve is positionable between an open position and a closed position for flushing the toilet. The flapper valve has an air conduit is integrated therein. A hose is coupled between the pedestal and the tank. A blower is coupled to the toilet and the blower is fluidly coupled between the hose and the air conduit in the flapper valve. The blower urges air inwardly through the bowl, through the air conduit in the flapper valve and outwardly through the hose when the blower is turned on. Thus, the blower suctionally removes odors from the bowl.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure.
The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein:
With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to
As best illustrated in
A flapper valve 32 is provided and the flapper valve 32 is positioned in the tank 18. The flapper valve 32 replaces existing flapper valves in existing toilets, or the flapper valve 32 may be installed during manufacturing of the toilet 12. The flapper valve 32 is positionable between an open position and a closed position for selectively opening and closing the outlet of the tank 18 for flushing the toilet 12. Additionally, the flapper valve 32 has an air conduit 34 is integrated therein.
The flapper valve 32 comprises a tube 36 that has a bottom end 38, a top end 40 and an outer wall 42 extending therebetween, and the tube 36 is vertically oriented in the tank 18. A venturi 44 is positioned within the tube 36 and the venturi 44 has a bottom side 46. A cage 48 is provided that has an upper end 50 and a lower end 52. The lower end 52 is closed and the cage 48 is elongated between the upper 50 and lower 52 ends such that the cage 48 forms a tubular shape. The upper end 50 is coupled to the bottom side 46 of the venturi 44 having the cage 48 being vertically oriented in the tube 36.
A ball 54 is slidably positioned within the cage 48. The ball 54 is comprised of a buoyant material to float in water when the water enters the tube 36. Additionally, the ball 54 engages the bottom end 38 of the venturi 44 when the ball 54 is floated upwardly in the cage 48 having the ball 54 forming a fluid impermeable seal with the venture. In this way the ball 54 inhibits water from passing outwardly through the top end 40 of the tube 36 in the event of an overflow condition in the tank 18.
A fitting 56 is fluidly coupled to and extends laterally away from the outer wall 42 of the tube 36 such that the fitting 56 is in fluid communication with an interior of the tube 36. Thus, the fitting 56 and the tube 36 define the air conduit 34 in the flapper valve 32. The fitting 56 has a bottom end 58 and a top end 60, and each of the top 60 and bottom 58 ends is open and is in fluid communication with the interior of the tube 36. The bottom end 58 of the fitting 56 engages the outlet 22 of the tank 18 such that the tube 36 is in fluid communication with the plurality of weep holes 20 in the bowl 14.
A flush valve 62 is pivotally coupled to the tube 36. The flush valve 62 is positionable in a closed position to engage the top end 60 of the fitting 56 and closing the top end 60 of the fitting 56. In this way the tank 18 can retain water therein for flushing the toilet 12. The flush valve 62 is positionable in an open position to disengage the top end 60 of the fitting 56 for releasing the water into the bowl 14 for flushing the toilet 12. The flush valve 62 may be a flapper valve common to flushing toilets.
A hose 64 is coupled between the pedestal 16 and the tank 18. Moreover, the hose 64 is fluidly coupled between the inlet hole 28 in the pedestal 16 and the outlet hole 30 in the tank 18. A screen 66 is positioned within the hose 64 and the screen 66 is aligned with the outlet hole 30. The screen 66 is comprised of a fluid permeable material for filtering particles out of the air passing through the hose 64.
A blower 68 is coupled to the toilet 12 and the blower 68 is positioned in the tank 18. The blower 68 is fluidly coupled between the hose 64 and the air conduit 34 in the flapper valve 32. The blower 68 urges air inwardly through the bowl 14, through the air conduit 34 in the flapper valve 32 and outwardly through the hose 64 when the blower 68 is turned on. In this way the blower 68 suctionally removes odors from the bowl 14 when the toilet 12 is being used.
The blower 68 comprises an exhaust conduit 70 that has a primary end 72 and a secondary end 74. The secondary end 74 is fluidly coupled to the outlet hole 30 in the tank 18. The blower 68 includes a housing 76 has an intake 78 and an exhaust 80, and the housing 76 is mounted to an inside surface of the tank 18. The intake 78 is fluidly coupled to the top end 40 of the tube 36 of the flapper valve 32 and the exhaust 80 is fluidly coupled to the primary end 72 of the exhaust conduit 70.
A motor 82 is positioned within the housing 76 and the motor 82 is electrically coupled to a power source. The power source may be a power cord and a complementary electrical outlet or at least one battery being positioned in the housing 76. A fan 84 is rotatably coupled to the motor 82 such that the motor 82 rotates the fan 84 when the motor 82 is turned on. The fan 84 urges air inwardly through the intake 78 of the housing 76 and outwardly through the exhaust 80 of the housing 76 when the motor 82 is turned on. Thus, the fan 84 draws the odors outwardly from the bowl 14 and urges the odors outwardly through the sewer trap 26.
A pressure switch 86 is coupled to a bottom side 87 of a seat 88 of the toilet 12 and the pressure switch 86 is in electrical communication with the motor 82. The pressure switch 86 is turned on when the seat 88 is compressed against the toilet 12 thereby detecting the weight of a user when the user sits on the seat 88. The switch is turned off when the seat 88 is not compressed against the toilet 12. The motor 82 is turned on when the switch is turned on, the motor 82 is turned off when the switch is turned off and the pressure switch 86 is electrically coupled to a power source. The motor 82 may include a radio frequency receiver and the pressure switch 86 may include a radio frequency transmitter. In this way the pressure switch 86 may be in wireless electrical communication with the motor 82. Alternatively, a conductor may extend between the pressure switch 86 and the motor 82 and the pressure switch 86 may include at least one battery that is positioned within the pressure switch 86.
In use, the pressure switch 86 is turned on when the user sits on the toilet 12 seat 88. Thus, the motor 82 is turned on thereby rotating the fan 84, thereby urging air inwardly through each of the weep holes 20 in the bowl 14 and outwardly through the sewer trap 26 in the pedestal 16. In this way the fan 84 inhibits odors in the bowl 14 from escaping the bowl 14 thereby reducing the likelihood that other individuals will smell the odors. The switch is turned off when the user is no longer sitting on the toilet 12 seat 88, thereby turning the motor 82 off. The toilet 12 can be flushed in the existing, conventional manner of plumbed toilets.
With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure.
Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.
