Toilet chair
An improved toilet chair that allows for a ready supply of toilet tissue and other hygiene supplies while retaining the portable nature of the toilet chair. This allows elderly and disabled patients to exercise some freedom in certain hygiene activities.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of portable toilet chairs for the care of the elderly and disabled.
2. Background Information
When caring for an elderly or disabled person, a common goal is to allow for as much independence of the patient as possible. Areas in which this is particularly important are eating, dressing, and personal hygiene. The importance of this goal can be seen in the products available today that aid the patient in these areas, i.e. specially shaped utensils, helpful aids for opening bottles and jars, specially adapted door and faucet handles, devices that allow one-handed buttoning, aids for pulling up socks and stockings, and toilet seats that are elevated to allow ease of use, to name just a few. With the advent of the “graying of America” and the subsequent increase in our elderly population, the problems in this area will only increase.
In the area of personal hygiene, a great help to the home care giver is the toilet chair. This portable chair prevents the patient from making long, arduous trips to the bathroom and allows, in some cases, the patient freedom and privacy in controlling bathroom functions. One problem that is frequently seen in the use of these portable toilet chairs is the lack of accessibility to a ready supply of toilet tissue and supplies. In a regular bathroom, the toilet tissue is conventionally hung on the wall nearby the toilet. Unfortunately, the very advantage of the toilet chair—its portability—is the characteristic that creates the problem at hand: accessibility to toilet tissue and supplies. This is a problem that prevents the elderly or disabled patient from gaining a bit of freedom in his personal hygiene activities and is also an annoyance to a care giver when aiding the patient in the use of such a toilet chair.
The present invention solves this problem by ensuring a ready and convenient supply of toilet tissue and other toilet supplies for the toilet chair user. This allows an elderly or disabled patient to use such a toilet chair without the aid of a care giver, or allows the care giver to help the elderly or disabled patient to use such a toilet chair without requiring the care giver to abandon the patient while searching for toilet tissue or supplies. The solution to this problem taught in the present invention creates a safer and potentially more independent environment for the elderly or disabled patient.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONIn view of the foregoing, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved toilet chair.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an improved toilet chair that aides in the independence of an elderly or disabled person by making readily accessible to a toilet chair user, a supply of toilet tissue and other hygiene supplies.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an improved toilet chair that allows a care giver to more conveniently and safely aid an elderly or disabled patient in using a toilet chair by making readily accessible a supply of toilet tissue and other hygiene supplies.
In satisfaction of these and other related objectives, Applicant's present invention provides a toilet tissue dispenser attached to a toilet seat. Various embodiments of the present invention are possible with the addition of other toilet supplies being made available.
Applicant's approach to the problem described above is certainly simple, but it is equally unobvious. Applicant's improved toilet chair facilitates, for the first time, the safe and convenient usage of the portable toilet seat by a care giver, and facilitates, for the first time, the independent and private usage of the portable toilet seat by an elderly or disabled patient.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Referring to
Notwithstanding the foregoing, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be described. Improved toilet chair 10 includes, at a minimum, a portable toilet chair 14 and a toilet tissue attachment means 12. In the preferred embodiment shown in
With reference to
As seen in the preferred embodiment shown in
As seen in the preferred embodiment shown in
Another embodiment of access cover 16, shown best in
In any embodiment of the present invention, toilet tissue attachment means 12 includes a toilet tissue support assembly 50 for supporting a conventional toilet tissue roll (not shown in the drawings).
Although the invention has been described with reference to specific embodiments, this description is not meant to be construed in a limited sense. Various modifications of the disclosed embodiments, as well as alternative embodiments of the inventions will become apparent to persons skilled in the art upon reference to the description of the invention. It is, therefore, contemplated that the appended claims will cover such modifications that fall within the scope of the invention.
Claims
1. An improved toilet chair comprising:
- a portable toilet chair; and
- a toilet tissue attachment means reversibly affixed to said toilet chair and having a toilet tissue roll support assembly, where said toilet tissue roll assembly is comprised of an accessory holding chamber, a first lateral support bracket, and a second lateral support bracket, where said accessory holding chamber is positioned above said first and second support brackets, where said first and second support bracket extend from said accessory holding chamber in substantially parallel fashion, and where a toilet tissue roll may fit between said first and said second bracket.
2. The improved toilet chair of claim 1 wherein said an accessory holding chamber has an opening into which is reversibly occluded by a reversibly closeable access cover, said access cover having an aperture.
3. The improved toilet chair of claim 2 wherein said toilet tissue attachment means further comprises a reversibly sliding panel for reversibly exposing said aperture in said access cover.
4. The improved toilet chair of claim 2 wherein said aperture is substantially linear.
Type: Application
Filed: Dec 22, 2003
Publication Date: Jun 23, 2005
Inventor: Anita Buggs (Killeen, TX)
Application Number: 10/744,589