Patent Application
20130139307
1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to toilets in general, and in particular to a usable shapeable toilet base spacer.
2. Description of Related Art
A toilet may be subjected to excessive lateral forces during mounting and dismounting of ambulatory challenged users. These lateral forces can be strong enough to move the toilet from its secured position, and the movement may be large enough to cause a safety issue for a user. The movement may also be large enough to break the toilet's seal with its mounting closet flange, and allows the releasing of undesirable sewage gases from a toilet's sewer line into a bathroom.
In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a toilet base spacer is made of foamed material having a minimum of four ounces per square inch load bearing capacity. The initial size of the toilet base spacer tend to be larger than a base of a commode, and the toilet base spacer can be trimmed to fit exactly under any commode.
All features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent in the following detailed written description.
The invention itself, as well as a preferred mode of use, further objects, and advantages thereof, will best be understood by reference to the following detailed description of an illustrative embodiment when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:
Referring now to the drawings and in particular to
With reference now to
Toilet base spacer 20 can be made of a closed or open cell foam plastic material having an approximately four ounces per square inch load-bearing capacity. Toilet base spacer 20 can be made of, for example, polystyrene foam, but it can also be made of other types of plastic foams.
There are many variations in the shape or “footprint” of toilet bottoms made by different manufacturers. Toilet base spacer 20 can be trimmed to the exact shape of a toilet bottom. The user shapeable capability of toilet base spacer 20 allows for a “one size fits all” solution to manufacturing this product because of its ability to be customized to a wide variety of toilet bottoms. Toilet base spacer 20 can prevent lateral movements of a toilet and serves to further anchor the toilet to its original mounting position. Also, floors upon which toilets can be mounted may have elevation variations or deformations over the length and breadth of a toilet's base causing the toilet to “rock” when mounted. Toilet base spacer 20 provides a simple way of compensating for these variations and deformations to prevent a toilet from “rocking.”
Referring now to
Toilet base spacer 20 also allows the “keying” of the underside mounting surfaces into the material. This “keying” along with the additional surface friction between the material of toilet base spacer 20 and the floor creates additional resistance for preventing a toilet from moving by lateral forces. Toilet base spacer 20 may be affixed or glued to floor 22 allowing for a more secure mounting situation to eliminate toilet movement due to excessive lateral forces. The gap between the rim of toilet base 39 and floor 22 may be filled with caulk, grout, silicone, or other material for a finished look, as shown in 38. Alternatively, a strip 37 can be placed along the rim of toilet base 39 to cover toilet base spacer 20.
As has been described, the present invention provides a user shapable toilet base spacer plastic that would have the capacity to bear a distributed load in order to conform to point loads of a toilet. The user shapable toilet base spacer may be custom fit during installation by having excess material removed via a knife such that the user shapable toilet base spacer can accommodate any toilet bottom.
While the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to a preferred embodiment, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in material, form and detail may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
