Concentric tank flapper system
The invention provides an improvement to existing toilet tank flappers, designed to conserve water. The system includes a nested compound actuator handle attached by independent arms to a compound rubber flapper system. The minor handle component actuates a smaller concentric flapper that, though initial set-up, allows for minimal water flow with the intent of only utilizing enough water to facilitate and complete bowl water exchange. The major handle component actuates the entire flapper mechanism allowing, though initial set-up, a measured amount of tank volume to facilitate the removal of waste from the bowl. The system, by design, allows the user to initiate either operation without in a single motion and without the need to provide any additional input to complete the flush cycle.
The present invention relates to a concentric tank flapper system for toilet tank.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONThe issue of water usage in toilets has been long addressed by reducing the volume of water available in the tank. New toilets are available to consumers with low-volume 1.6 gallons (6.5 litres) per flush tanks. Retrofits to older, higher volume tanks generally involve displacing water with the addition of non-buoyant object or water metering devices. Both options have been criticized for there lack of effectiveness.
The Concentric Toilet Flapper System (CTFS) provides an innovative means of solving the problem of low-volume flushing by providing staged flushing that suits the flow requirements of solid or liquid waste evacuation. The CTFS allows the user to determine if a partial or complete flush is required to evacuate the bowl then provide just enough flow to eliminate the waste. The end result is more efficient flushing and a substantial conservation of water.
The CTFS provides the best option for retrofit in both modern and late model toilets. In late model toilets the CTFS takes advantage of the inherent static head in the tanks to generate high water flow to reduce the duration of the flush in both flush modes. In more modern toilets the CTFS further reduces the use of water by providing an optional ultra-low-volume flush when a simple change in bowl volume is all that is required. Similar devices, which purport to provide the same dual flush flexibility, require the user to hold the flush handle through the entire flush cycle to facilitate the evacuation of solids whereas the CTFS provided a compound handle to activate the desired flush mode and requires no additional intervention.
Although a number of patents have been issued for similar devices that address the same functionality, all fail to either provide a method of selective flushing that does not require intuitive input by the operator, such as in U.S. Pat. No. 3,964,109 (Street 1976); U.S. Pat. No. 4,160,294 (Crumby 1979). Others fail to provide fully independent flappers thereby introducing a hinge point susceptible to wear and breakage, such as in U.S. Pat. No. 4,937,894 (Hill 1990) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,673,441 (Wang 1997). Others provide only a single handle actuator attached to a flapper system that relies on air bleed to determine flush volume, thereby preventing adjustability, such as in U.S. Pat. No. 5,181,282 (Comparetti 1993).
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONWhat is required is an innovative means of solving the problem of low-volume flushing by providing staged flushing that suits the flow requirements of solid or liquid waste evacuation.
According to the present invention there is provided a concentric tank flapper system includes a nested compound actuator handle attached by independent arms to a compound rubber flapper system. The minor handle component actuates a smaller concentric flapper that, though initial set-up, allows for minimal water flow with the intent of only utilizing enough water to facilitate and complete bowl water exchange. The major handle component actuates the entire flapper mechanism allowing, though initial set-up, a measured amount of tank volume to facilitate the removal of waste from the bowl. The system, by design, allows the user to initiate either operation without in a single motion and without the need to provide any additional input to complete the flush cycle
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSThese and other features of the invention will become more apparent from the following description in which reference is made to the appended drawings, the drawings are for the purpose of illustration only and are not intended to in any way limit the scope of the invention to the particular embodiment or embodiments shown, wherein:
The preferred embodiment, a concentric tank flapper system generally identified by reference numeral 10, will now be described with reference to
Referring to
Concentric tank flapper system includes a minor lever 1 is connected to a low volume extension arm 4, a major lever 2 is connected to a high volume extension arm 3. Each of low volume extension arm 4 and high volume extension arm 3 are provided with a conventional bead chain 8 having two floats 9. Chain 8 from low volume extension arm 4 extends to pivot arm 5 which operates a low volume flapper 6. With high volume extension arm 3, chain 8 connects directly to a high volume flapper 7. Referring to
A low-volume flush would facilitate the exchange of only the toilet bowl. To accomplish this the minor (nested) lever 1 is depressed fully. The minor lever 1 is connected directly to the low-volume extension arm 4 by means of minor shaft assembly through the center of the major shaft assembly. The length and clearance of the shaft assembly penetration provides the support and alignment mechanism for the low-volume extension arm 4. The low-volume extension arm 4, which extends to a point over the centre of the low volume flapper 6 and high volume flapper 7 but slightly posterior to the centerline of the tank, moves upwards. The end of the low-volume extension arm 4 is connected to the low-volume flapper 6 by means of a bead chain 8 attached to the centre of the low-volume flapper 6 and secured by bent wire clips. The upper bent wire clip is designed to allow adjustment of the effective chain length.
Referring to
The low-volume flapper 6 is held in place by the static head of the water in the toilet tank. Once the low-volume flapper 6 has been separated from the high-volume flapper 7 it is provided with buoyancy by means of small styrofoam floats 9 attached to the bead chain 8 secured by flat plastic clips. The dwell time can be adjusted by moving the float up or down the chain.
Once the low-volume flush cycle has been initiated (i.e. the minor flush level has been fully depressed) there is no additional user input required. A high volume flush would facilitate the exchange of sufficient water to fully evacuate the toilet bowl and providing sufficient excess motive water as require to completely clear the trap and pipes. The amount of water and duration is dependent on the tank volume and bowl design and can be adjusted at the time of initial set-up. To accomplish this the major lever 2 is depressed fully. The major lever 2 is connected directly to the high-volume extension arm 3 and is secured to the tank by means of a treaded backing nut. The low-volume shaft assembly is keyed to move in unison and activates seamlessly with a high-volume flush. The high-volume extension arm 3, which extends to a point over the centre of the flapper assembly but slightly anterior to the centerline of the tank, moves upwards. The end of the high-volume extension arm 3 is connected to the high-volume flapper 7 by means of a bead chain 8 attached to the outer edge of the high-volume flapper 7 and secured by bent wire clips. The upper bent wire clip is also designed to allow adjustment of the effective chain length. The high-volume flapper 7 is a single piece rubber molding attached to the water supply pipe in the traditional OEM styles. The upward motion of the high volume extension arm 3 raises the high volume flapper 7 as any conventional flapper. The dwell time can be adjusted by moving the float 9 up or down the chain 8.
SECOND EMBODIMENT A second embodiment, a concentric tank flapper system generally identified by reference numeral 100, will now be described with reference to
The use and operation of second embodiment 100 will now be described with reference to
Referring to
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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 one and only one of the elements.
It will be apparent to one skilled in the art that modifications may be made to the illustrated embodiment without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as hereinafter defined in the Claims.
Claims
1. A toilet tank flush mechanism, comprising:
- a concentric set of flappers including a main flapper for high volume flushes and a small flapper concentrically disposed in the main flapper for low volume flushes, the main flapper having a pivotal mounting end and a chain attachment end;
- a pivot arm adapted to carry the small flapper, the pivot arm having a pivotal mounting end and a chain attachment end, the pivotal mounting end of the pivot arm being pivotally mounted to the pivotal mounting end of the main flapper;
- two lever handles connected to independent extension arms, including a high volume extension arm adapted to actuate the main flapper and a low volume extension arm adapted to actuate the smaller flapper; and
- chains connecting the high volume extension handle with the chain attachment end of the main flapper and connecting the low volume extension handle with the chain attachment end of the pivot arm that carries the small flapper.
2. The toilet tank flush mechanism as defined in claim 1, wherein floats are provided that are positionable at selected positions along the chains, such that the volume of water used can be adjusted by adjusting the position of the floats on the chains.
3. The toilet tank flush mechanism as defined in claim 1, wherein the lever handles are nested.
Type: Application
Filed: May 24, 2005
Publication Date: Oct 6, 2005
Inventor: Julius Horvath (Spruce Grove)
Application Number: 11/136,949