Urine shield

Abstract

The urine shield is a shell defining an arch-shaped opening. A plurality of attachment members extend from the base of the shell. The attachment members attach to the rim of the toilet bowl to support the shield in an upright position. The shell has an arcuate roof and a generally arcuate wall which extends laterally and rearwardly from the roof. In order to facilitate insertion and removal on a toilet, a handle may be provided at the roof of the shell. The urine shield may be affixed to the toilet bowl to prevent urine from spraying on the toilet seat and cover, the associated hinges attached to the toilet seat and cover, and on the walls and floors adjacent the toilet.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a shield to prevent urine from spraying outside the toilet bowl, and more particularly, to a urine shield which can be removably attached to the rim of a toilet bowl to direct the urine stream of a male user into the toilet bowl.

2. Description of the Related Art

Maintaining the hygienic condition of conventional toilets having a toilet bowl, seat, and cover can be difficult. When a male uses a conventional toilet to urinate, the seat and cover are typically raised to provide direct access to the toilet bowl. Unfortunately, in many instances such use can lead to soiling of the toilet bowl rim and perhaps the areas adjacent the toilet. Male children, for example, often have difficulty in properly using conventional toilets as urinals. Thus, the conventional toilets in most homes are subject to non-hygienic and unpleasant conditions.

Several toilet bowl splash guards have been proposed to address the soiling problem which can occur when a conventional toilet is used as a urinal. However, none have the various features of the present invention.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,357,055, issued Mar. 19, 2002 to Gambla et al., discloses a toilet overspray shield for males having upstanding walls that are semi-elliptical in horizontal section and extend upward linearly about the circumference of the ellipse and which removably engage with the lower portion of the inner rim of a toilet bowl when the toilet seat is raised. The rear of the shield is provided with fastener to attach the shield to a raised toilet seat.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,385,785, issued May 14, 2002 to C. S. Linden, discloses a urine shield which can be placed into the toilet bowl to shield the back and sides of the bowl from urine. The urine shield includes a U-shaped hook which attaches to the raised toilet seat.

Other splash guards are described or shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,564,135, issued Oct. 15, 1996 to Jones et al. (collapsible toilet bowl splash guard for permanent attachment to the lower surface of a toilet seat) ; U.S. Des. Pat. No. 369,856, issued May 14, 1996 to Lucido et al. (combined urine guard and toilet trainer with target); and U.S. Des. Pat. No. 394,497, issued May 19, 1998 to E. L. Johnson (toilet lid splash guard).

None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed. Thus, a urine shield solving the aforementioned problems is desired.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The urine shield includes a shell defining an arch-shaped opening. A plurality of attachment members extend from the base of the shell. The attachment members attach to the rim of the toilet bowl to support the shield in an upright position. The shell includes an arcuate roof and a generally arcuate wall which extends laterally and rearwardly from the roof. To facilitate insertion and removal on a toilet, a handle may be provided at the roof of the shell. The urine shield may be affixed to the toilet bowl to prevent urine from spraying on the toilet seat and cover, the associated hinges attached to the toilet seat and cover, and on the walls and floors adjacent the toilet.

These and other features of the present invention will become readily apparent upon further review of the following specification and drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an environmental, perspective view of a urine shield according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view of a urine shield according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a side view of a urine shield according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a rear view of a urine shield according to the present invention.

Similar reference characters denote corresponding features consistently throughout the attached drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The present invention relates to a urine shield, generally designated as 10 in the drawings. As shown in FIG. 1, the urine shield 10 may be affixed to the rim of the bowl when the toilet seat is raised. The shield 10 prevents urine from splashing outside the toilet bowl.

The urine shield 10 is a shell 12 defining an arch-shaped opening 15. The shell 12 includes an arcuate roof 14 and a generally arcuate wall 16 which extends laterally and rearwardly from the roof. The shape of the shell 12 may be described as substantially semi-paraboloid or may be viewed as having the shape of one quarter of an egg shell.

As can be seen more clearly in FIG. 2, the shield 10 further includes attachment members 18 which can snap on to the rim of the toilet bowl to support the shield 10 in an upright position. Preferably, the shield includes an inverted U-shaped clip 20 extending laterally adjacent the base of each side of the arch-shaped opening 15. An inverted L-shaped bracket 22 has a flange that extends rearward from the bottom rear of the shell 12 for resting upon the rear rim of the toilet bowl. As can be seen, when the shield 10 is affixed to the toilet bowl, a lower edge of the shield 10 extends into the toilet bowl.

In order to facilitate attachment to and removal from a toilet, a handle 24 may be provided at the roof 14 of the shell 12. The handle 24 can either be a handle hole defined in the roof 14 of the shell 12, as is shown, or a handle bar (not shown) which extends from the roof 14.

The urine shield may be made from any suitable flexible material and can be of unitary construction or made from separate pieces. Preferably, however, the urine shield 10 is made from a single piece of molded plastic.

It is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, but encompasses any and all embodiments within the scope of the following claims.

Claims

1-3. (canceled)

4. The urine shield according to claim 5, wherein said urine shield is made from plastic.

5. A urine shield comprising:

a shell having an arcuate roof and a generally arcuate wall extending laterally and rearwardly from said arcuate roof, said arcuate roof and said arcuate wall defining an arch-shaped opening, said arcuate wall and arch-shaped opening arching downwardly from said arcuate roof to a base of said arcuate wall;

a handle to facilitate grasping the shield, said handle formed by an aperture located in the center of said arcuate roof and adjacent to said arch-shaped opening;

a plurality of attachment members disposed adjacent to said base of said arcuate wall for attaching said urine shield onto a rim of a toilet bowl, said attachment members comprising;

(a) a pair of inverted U-shaped clips for snapping onto the rim of the toilet bowl, said clips extending outwardly and downwardly from said arcuate wall on opposite sides of said arch-shaped opening, said inverted U-shaped clips located adjacent to said base and adjacent to said arch-shaped opening, and

(b) a single, flat horizontally extending flange for resting on the rim of the toilet bowl, said flange extending outwardly from said arcuate wall and located adjacent to said base at the center of said arcuate wall.