Odor Eliminating Apparatus for Toilets With Integral Sound Effect Generator

Abstract

An odor eliminating apparatus for eliminating odorous compounds from a toilet bowl includes a housing with an extension disposed inside the bowl above the headspace of the water. A fan establishes an air flow through the housing to exhaust gases from the bowl. A filter eliminates the odorous compounds and optionally refreshes the air. The apparatus may be portable so that it can be installed onto and removed from the bowl as desired. Speakers in the housing are used to play audio clips when a person is detected.

Description

RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation in part to application Ser. No. 13/863,723 filed Apr. 16, 2013 which in turn claims priority to U.S. Provisional application Ser. No. 61/635,002 filed Apr. 18, 2012 and incorporated herein in its entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

a. Field of Invention

The present application relates generally to an odor-eliminating apparatus. More specifically, the invention involves an exhaust system that attaches to a standard toilet bowl to eliminate or filter odors therefrom. The odor-eliminating apparatus includes a housing constructed so that it can be readily attached to and removed from a standard toilet bowl, and also includes an exhaust system having an air filter and an exhaust fan and is arranged to exhaust gases from the bowl. Advantageously, the device further includes an integral sound generator that selectively generates various sound effects.

b. Background of the Invention

The odor eliminating industry is full of fragrant sprays, candles, and diffusers, all primarily relying on some scent for masking bad odors. Newer products have also been introduced that attempt to go beyond masking odors and effectively eliminating them by using compounds that bind to odor receptors and are then easily separated. However, these products are used only after the odor has already settled in specific areas and therefore are quite ineffective, especially in places like toilets.

Other products for odor elimination include exhaust fans that are utilized to push air out of a room through a wall or ceiling opening. However, exhaust fans do not eliminate odor at the source. Instead, the odors dissipate throughout a room or other open space first before reaching the exhaust fan and persons within the room or space are already exposed to these odors. Thus, at best, exhaust fans are successful in merely reducing the concentration of odor producing particles in a room and are incapable of eliminating such particles at their source, i.e., before one or more persons in a room are exposed to them. Furthermore, exhaust fans require permanent installation including expensive and labor intensive duct work, mounting hardware for mounting the fan to the duct work and hardwired power lines.

In addition, devices that play music and/or other sound effects are often provided in bathrooms for generating a soothing, friendly, peaceful atmosphere therein. Of course, such devices require both power and a source for the music or sound effect and switching means for selectively switching or activating such devices.

Thus, there is a need for an odor-eliminating apparatus for toilets and the like that eliminates odor at the source, without chemical sprays, allowing for a true odor-free environment in a bathroom or other enclosure. There is also a need for such an apparatus that is further able to provide music or other sound effects that is automatically triggered as desired, for example when a person approaches the toilet.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An apparatus for removing odorous gases from a toilet bowl includes a housing that saddles the bowl and can be easily removed from it. The housing includes an extension forming an air intake with an inlet port disposed in the headspace within the bowl. A fan within the housing evacuates odorous gases from the headspace to the outside through the housing. The fan is triggered by a proximity switch and stays on after each use. Lights on the housing indicate when the apparatus is operational (preferably by illuminating the bowl), or when its battery is depleted. Optionally, some lights may generate WV light for disinfecting the bowl as they illuminate the interior of the bowl.

In accordance with this invention, a sound source is also provided that plays at selective times various audio clips, including music, sound effects, spoken words, etc.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above-described and other advantages and features of the present disclosure will be appreciated and understood by those skilled in the art from the following detailed description and drawings of which

FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of a toilet with a portable odor eliminating apparatus constructed in accordance with this invention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational cross-sectional view of the odor eliminating apparatus of FIG. 1 taken along line 2-2 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 shows a side cross-sectional view of the odor eliminating apparatus taken along line 3-3 in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 shows an elevational view of the odor eliminating apparatus taken along the line 4-4 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 shows an exploded view of the odor eliminating apparatus;

FIG. 5A shows a bottom view of the cassette 96 used in the apparatus of FIGS. 1-5;

FIG. 6 shows a perspective view of the toilet of FIG. 1 with the seat lowered over the odor eliminating apparatus;

FIG. 7 shows a side sectional view of the odor eliminating apparatus in use taken along the line 7-7 of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 shows an end cross sectional view of the odor eliminating apparatus indicating gas flow at the inlet thereof taken along the line 8-8 of FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 shows a block diagram of the electrical elements of the odor eliminating apparatus;

FIG. 10 shows an elevational view of a toilet bowl and a potential user approaching the toilet bowl;

FIG. 11 shows a flow chart of the normal operation of the odor eliminating apparatus of FIGS. 1-10 toilet bowl; and

FIG. 12 shows a flow chart for downloading and playing a sound clip from a user.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring first to FIG. 1, a typical toilet 10 includes a bowl 12, a seat 14 that is pivotable between an upright position shown in this figure and a lowered position shown in FIG. 6, and a water tank 16. The bowl 12 includes a lip 18 including a horizontal lip surface 20 that is generally ring shaped and is formed between an outer wall 22 and an inner wall 24. The inner and outer walls 24, 22 are generally vertical. The toilet bowl 12 is normally partially filled with water having an upper water surface 26, with a headspace 28 formed within the toilet bowl 12 and above the water surface 26. During or immediately after use of the toilet 10, this headspace is filled with odorous gases and, therefore, in accordance with this invention, an odor eliminating apparatus 30 is provided for eliminating these odorous gases. As clearly seen already in FIG. 1, the apparatus 30 is mounted over, or saddles the lip 18. It is obvious to one skilled in the art that the illustrated toilet 10 is typical of those devices, and that the present apparatus may be used with almost any toilet or any similar bowl-shaped device of similar function.

Referring now to FIGS. 2-5, apparatus 30 includes a housing 32 shaped and sized to form a gas intake 34 that sits on top of the lip 18 and a generally spherical external portion 60 disposed laterally outside the toilet bowl 12. The gas intake 34 is generally L-shaped around the lip 18 and it includes a horizontal length or portion 36 having a top surface 37, a bottom surface 39 and a downward vertical extension 38 extending into the headspace 28 toward the water surface 26. When the apparatus 30 is installed in the toilet bowl 12, horizontal portion 36 is positioned so that it extends above and rests upon the horizontal lip surface 20. The vertical extension 38 includes an outer wall 46, an inner wall 47 and is disposed along, and desirably comes in contact with inner wall 24 as seen in FIG. 2 and FIG. 7. Vertical extension 38 ends with an enlarged rib 40 disposed below the lower edge of wall 24 and extends radially outwardly from the headspace 28 to hook under the lip 18. Desirably, with said configuration, the horizontal portion 36 and the vertical portion 38 clip snugly over the lip 18.

Optionally, the gas intake 34 or at least its extension 38 maybe slightly flexible so that as the apparatus 30 is inserted over the lip 18, the rib 40 rides along wall 24 and then, when the apparatus 30 is fully seated on the toilet bowl, the rib 40 snaps outwardly so that the lip 18 is trapped between the extension 38 and wall 64, the latter being described in more detail below. This structure insures that the apparatus 30 is firmly seated on the toilet bowl 12 and does not fall off inadvertently.

Extension 38 further includes an outer protrusion 54 on wall 46. A plurality of LEDs 48 are arranged in a row on protrusion 54 as shown. The extension 38 and horizontal portion 36 define a generally L-shaped gas passageway 50. The passageway 50 is formed with an inlet port 52 opening into headspace 28 and generally disposed at an angle of 45 degrees as shown. Preferably the inlet port 52 is several inches (e.g., 1-3″) below the horizontal surface 20 to exhaust the headspace in the toilet bowl quickly and efficiently.

Preferably the outer wall 46 is formed with rib 54 having a triangular cross section. The LEDs 48 are disposed on this rib 54 facing generally downward at an angle of about 45° so that they do not shine into a person's eyes. In one embodiment, LEDs 48 provide mostly illumination. In another embodiment, they produce UV or other radiation selected to sanitize the toilet bowl and its contents and headspace. Such LED's are well-known in the art

The external portion 60 of the apparatus 30 is positioned so that it is covered by a segment 62 of top surface 37. Segment 62 supports a proximity sensor 68 and an indication light 70, that may be an LED. The function and operation of the sensor 68 and light 70, are discussed below.

Portion 60 further includes a vertical inner wall 64 that can abut the vertical outer surface 22 of the toilet bowl 18, and an outer wall 66 that is generally hemispherical in shape.

The walls 64, 66 cooperate to define a cavity 80. This cavity 80 is partitioned by internal walls into several chambers aligned vertically on top of each other. Starting from the top, the first chamber is the upper chamber 82. This cavity forms a plenum receiving odorous gases through gas passageway 50. Under the upper chamber 82 is a fan chamber 84 receiving a fan 86 of conventional construction. Laterally adjacent to chambers 82, 84 is a battery chamber 88 receiving one or more batteries 90. In one embodiment of the invention, wall 64 is provided with a removable segment 65 that covers the battery chamber. Wall 64 is attached to wall 66 by screws 67. Once the walls 64, 66, a user can access to the battery chamber 88 by removing segment 65, for example, to replace the battery (ies) 90

Under the fan chamber 84 there is a filter chamber 92. This filter chamber 92 has a generally rectangular opening 94. A cassette 96 (see FIG. 5) can be inserted through the opening 94 into chamber 92. The cassette 96 desirably holds two filters 98, 100. Filter 98 is a preferably a carbon filter designed to absorb and neutralize odorous components. Filter 100 is impregnated with a deodorizing compound for deodorizing or refreshing the gases passing therethrough. Filter 100 could be scented with a fragrance as well, provided in the form of a gel. In one alternate embodiment, instead of a holding a gel, a solid block made of a plastic material is used, said plastic material being impregnated with a fragrance. It has been found that such a material is able to provide a fragrance for a longer time period than gels. The cassette 96 may be made available separately to the users so that the users can change them at will, for example, every two weeks, by inserting them into or withdrawing them from the apparatus 30.

FIG. 5A shows a bottom view of the cassette 96. It includes a a cassette body 160 with a bottom surface 162 formed with perforations 164. These perforations allow the gases to flow through after being scrubbed by the filters. A portion 166 is curved to match the curvature of the body 60 and a depression is formed adjacent to the portion 166 to allow a person to grasp the cassette 96 and pull it out. A similar depression 170 is formed in the body 60 to allow a person to insert a finger below the cassette 96 and pull the cassette out of chamber 92,

Under the filter chamber 92 there is a curved exhaust chamber 102. This exhaust chamber is formed with a plurality of round holes 104 in the outer wall 68. Generally the holes 104 are oriented in a downward direction as shown. One or more ribs 106 are provided on the outer wall 68 to create an esthetically pleasing design.

Preferably, as seen in FIG. 5, the apparatus 30 cam be made of three pieces 110, 112, 114, that can be made of a plastic material by molding or other similar operation, and then joined by screws, or other known means, as is generally known in the component-assembly art. Piece 110 forms a shell for the cavity 80. Piece 112 forms a top surface 37 and outer wall 46 of the gas intake 34. Piece 114 is generally U-shaped and it includes the inner wall 64 oriented vertically that closes off the cavity 80, bottom wall 39 of portion 36 and inner wall 47 of extension 38. When the parts 110, 112, 114 are assembled, the walls 39, 37 and 46, 47 define the passageway 50.

FIG. 9 shows a control circuit 120 for the apparatus 30. The circuit is powered by the battery 90 and includes conventional components, such as voltage regulators and the like which have been omitted for the sake of clarity. The control circuit 120 is provided on a printed circuit board (not shown) mounted under the proximity sensor 68 or any other convenient location.

Circuit 120 includes a controller 122 implemented by any conventional microprocessor. The controller receives an input from the proximity sensor 68. Preferably the proximity sensor is passive infrared sensor, such as a Panasonic EKMB-1201112.

The controller 122 selectively activates the fan 86 via an electronic switch 126. The fan 86 is rated at 13 CFM and at 3.5 VDC, it turns at about 4700 RPM.

As previously mentioned above, the LEDs 48 may be regular light sources generating light for illumination. Alternatively, some or all of them may be UV LEDs provided for disinfecting the headspace 28. In one embodiment, the LEDs are operated in the same manner whether they are regular light sources or provide a disinfecting function. In another embodiment, illuminating LEDs 48A and the UV LEDs 48B are operated different, as described in more detail below. In FIG. 4, any of the LEDs 48 can be either illuminating LEDs 48A or UV LEDs 48B. In any event, all of them are selectively activated and deactivated by controller 122, as is the indicator LED 70.

The circuit 120 further includes sound clip library 130. One or more sounds clips from this library are selectively provided to a DAC 132, which converts them to analog sounds. The analog sounds are provided to a driver 134 which then sends them to speakers 134, 136 for replay. The sound clips are either played in a predetermined series or randomly, as determined by the manufacturer. Alternatively they may be selected by a user. For example, the device 30 can be provided with a small display 140 preferably disposed on the housing of device 30 together with a selector switch 142. The user can review the titles of the sound clips in memory 130 on display 140 and select one or more clips for replay on the speakers 136, 138 using selector 142.

The sound clips in library 130 could be musical selections, spoken content and/or sound effects.

The speakers 136, 138 are also provided on the housing of the device 30. For example they can be mounted on wall 66 as shown in FIG. 5.

In one embodiment of the invention, the circuit 120 is further provided with an external transceiver 144 through which the device 30 may be provided with audio clips that are either stored in library 130 or played in real time. The external transceiver 144 may be compatible with various wireless protocols such as Bluetooth, NFC, etc.

The apparatus 30 is constructed and arranged to be mounted under the seat 14. In this position, the apparatus 30 is secured laterally on the lip 18 of toilet bowl 12 as shown in FIG. 6.

The operation of the device 30 is now described in conjunction with the drawing of FIG. 10 and the flow charts of FIGS. 11 and 12.

Initially, the device 30 is dormant and the indicator light 70, LEDs 48A 48B and the fan 86 are all off (step 200 in FIG. 11).

When a person comes close to the toilet 10, as shown in FIG. 10, his or her presence is sensed by the proximity sensor 68 and an appropriate signal is sent to the controller 122. More specifically, the sensor 68 is arranged and directed to sense a person seating on the seat 14 (as shown in FIG. 7) as well as a person standing in front of the toilette, as shown in FIG. 10.

The controller 122 checks the output of the sensor 68 at regular intervals (steps 202, 204). When the sensor 68 indicates that a person has been sensed (step 204), the controller 122 turns switch 126 on thereby activating the fan 86 (step 206). In addition, the controller 122 also activates LEDs 48A, to illuminate the bowl and indicate that the apparatus 30 started exhausting the headspace in the toilet (step 208). Optionally, instead of, or in addition to LEDs 48A, the controller 122 can activate UV LEDs 48B thereby causing the latter to disinfect the head space 28 (step 210).

The fan 86 causes odorous gases from the head space 28 in the toilet bowl 12 to be evacuated through inlet port 52. From this port, the gases flow through channel 50 into the upper chamber 82. From the chamber 82 the gases flow past the fan 86, through the filters 98, 100. Filter 98 removes noxious odors and filter 100 deodorizes the gases. From the filters, the gases flow into chamber 102 and are pushed out into the atmosphere through holes 104, as illustrated in FIGS. 7 and 8. In this manner, the fan 86 establishes an air flow from the inlet port 52 to the air exhaust defined by the holes 104.

As the fan 70 is turned on, the controller 122 also checks if there are any audio (including any sound or music) clips that have been designated to be played (step 212).

If such an audio clip is designated, in step 214, the clip is retrieved from library 130 and played through speakers 134, 136 (step 214).

Meanwhile, the device 30 continues to operate its fan and continue to monitor sensor 68 until the person is no longer detected (steps 216, 218).

Then, LEDs 48A are turned off (step 220) and the speakers are deactivated (step 222). However, preferably, even after the sensor 68 no longer detects a person in the vicinity of apparatus 30, the controller 122 maintains fan 86 on for about 15-120 seconds (step 224) (this is a variable duration that may be set by the manufacturer). In one preferred embodiment, the fan stays on 30 seconds after a user leaves. In one embodiment, the UV LEDs 48B are turned off at the same time as the fan 86 (step 226). After the preset duration, the controller 122 goes back to the dormant state (step 200) until a person is detected again.

The controller 122 also monitors the state of the battery 90. If the controller determines that the battery 90 is getting depleted, the controller 122 activates light 70 to indicate to the user that a replacement battery is needed. The light 70 stays on (or blinks continuously) until the battery is replaced. In one embodiment, the battery 90 is checked after every time the toilet is used. In one embodiment, the light 70 (or a different light) is turned on to indicate that the filters may need to be changed.

Many persons nowadays carry portable devices such as mobile telephones, personal music players, etc., that include audio clips and these persons may want to hear their own clips rather than what is in the library 130. Therefore in one embodiment, the controller 122 operates as shown in FIG. 12. In step 250 a person is detected adjacent to toilet 12 who has an external device such as a personal audio player device 150. (Step 250 corresponds to steps 202, 204 in FIG. 11). In step 252 an attempt is made to communicate with device 150 through transceiver 144. For example, this attempt may be made using a Bluetooth or NFC protocol. In step 254 a check is performed to determine if communications have been established with device 150. If no communication is established, this phase of operation is terminated (step 256).

If communication is established, a check is performed to determine if there are any audio clips available or have been designated to be replayed by device 30 (step 258). Again, if no such audio clip is found, the process is terminated in step 256. If an audio clip is found in step 258 then it is retrieved in step 260 either in a batch or stream form and the audio clip is played (step 262). Otherwise, the controller 122 follows the process described above and shown in FIG. 11.

The accompanying drawings only illustrate a portable odor-eliminating apparatus, its constituent parts, and method of use. However, other types and styles are possible, and the drawings are not intended to be limiting in that regard. Thus, although the description above and accompanying drawings contains much specificity, the details provided should not be construed as limiting the scope of the embodiment(s) but merely as providing illustrations of some of the presently preferred embodiment(s). The drawings and the description are not to be taken as restrictive on the scope of the embodiment(s) and are understood as broad and general teachings in accordance with the present invention. While the present embodiment(s) of the invention have been described using specific terms, such description is for present illustrative purposes only, and it is to be understood that modifications and variations to such embodiments, including but not limited to the substitutions of equivalent features, materials, or parts, and the reversal of various features thereof, may be practiced by those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Claims

1. An odor eliminating apparatus arranged to eliminate gases accumulated above a water level in a toilet bowl with a circumferential lip having a horizontal lip surface, said apparatus comprising:

a housing having a gas intake including a horizontal portion extending across said lip surface and an extension having an air inlet below the lip surface and arranged and constructed to collect gases in the headspace of water in the toilet bowl, said housing further including a main chamber with an air exhaust;

a fan disposed in said main chamber and arranged to establish an air flow between said air inlet and said air exhaust;

a filter in the housing disposed in said air flow;

speakers receiving selectively audio clips and playing said audio clips; and

a switch sensing the presence of a person in a vicinity and, in response, activating.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein filter includes an active filter element arranged to remove odor-producing components from said head space.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein said active filter is a carbon filter.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said filter includes a deodorizing element.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein said scent filter element includes a gel selectively releasing scented particles.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said housing is arranged and construction for selective attachment to and removal from said lip.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a control element selectively activating said fan, said control element being disposed in said housing and connected to said switch.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein said control element includes a microprocessor selectively activated by said switch.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein said microprocessor maintains said fan on for a predetermined time after each use.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said switch is a proximity sensor.

11. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising an operational light disposed on said housing and indicating that said apparatus is operational, said light being activated when said switch detects the person.

12. The apparatus of claim 8 further including a battery for providing power to the fan.

13. A toilet assembly comprising:

a toilet bowl having a bowl outer wall and a toilet bowl lip with a horizontal lip surface, a toilet seat disposed above said horizontal lip surface, said toilet bowl being arranged and constructed to hold water with headspace disposed above said water;

an apparatus attached to said toilet bowl and including a gas intake disposed inside said bowl, an air exhaust disposed outside said bowl adjacent to said bowl outer wall and a fan arranged to establish an air flow between said air intake and said air exhaust to remove odorous compounds from said head space; and

speakers associated with said apparatus and playing sound clips when said fan is activated.

14. The assembly of claim 13 wherein said apparatus includes a device housing having a horizontal portion disposed between said toilet seat and said bowl lip, an extension extending downwardly from said lip toward said water and including at least one downwardly oriented opening forming said air inlet and a main chamber with said fan.

15. The assembly of claim 13 further comprising a filter disposed in said air flow and adapted to remove said odorous compounds.

16. The assembly of claim 13 further comprising a controller operating said fan.

17. The assembly of claim 16 wherein said controller includes a proximity switch disposed on said housing laterally adjacent to said seat.

18. The assembly of claim 15 further comprising a light disposed on said housing and oriented to illuminate the bowl.

19. The assembly of claim 13 further comprising a light disposed on said housing and oriented to disinfect the bowl.

20. An odor eliminating apparatus arranged to eliminate gases accumulated above a water level in a toilet bowl with a circumferential lip having a horizontal lip surface, said apparatus comprising:

a first piece defining an open cavity, a second piece having an L-shape with a first horizontal wall and a first vertical wall; and a third piece having a second and a third vertical wall and a second horizontal wall, said three pieces when assembled forming:

a housing having a gas intake including a horizontal portion extending across said lip surface and an extension having an air inlet below the lip surface and arranged and constructed to collect gases in the headspace of water in the toilet bowl, said housing further including a main cavity with an air exhaust;

said horizontal portion being defined by said first and second horizontal walls and said extension being defined by said second and third vertical walls, and said main cavity being formed by said first piece and said first vertical wall;

a fan disposed in said main chamber and arranged to establish an air flow between said air inlet and said air exhaust; and

a filter in the housing disposed in said air flow.

21. The apparatus of claim 20 wherein said pieces further define a battery housing receiving a battery for powering said fan.

22. The apparatus of claim 21 wherein said battery housing is formed with a battery opening through which the battery is replaced.