Seat pivoting system

Abstract

A floor-mounted apparatus for raising and lowering a toilet seat is disclosed which includes a seat bar adapted to be attached to the underside of a toilet seat, a pivot pedestal adapted to be fixed to the floor, a foot pedal operating lever attached in pivotal relation to the pivot pedestal and having a foot pedal end and an operating end, a lift bar lever pivotally connected between the operating end of the foot pedal operating lever and the seat bar, and resilient tension biasing element connected between the foot pedal and the pivot pedestal to dampen gravity return of the seat to a lowered position when the foot pedal is released.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

I. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to devices for use as toilet accessories and, more particularly, to mechanisms for raising or pivoting toilet seats. The system of the present invention includes a floor-mounted manually operated lever mechanism which requires no connection to the toilet itself and which is of a simple reliable construction with few parts and an automatic, damped, gravity-operated lowering feature.

II. Related Art

Over the years many devices have been contrived to raise and lower toilet seats which avoid the need for direct hand contact between the user and the seat. The need for such devices is, of course, quite well known. Many prior systems have been rather complicated mechanical devices with many levers and other moving parts and they often have required attachment to the toilet itself in addition to the seat. One such prior device is found at U.S. Pat. No. 5,978,974 which discloses a seat raising and gravity-lowering device that includes a fulcrum-mounted foot pedal connected to a first end of an operating rod, which has a second end pivotally attached to a seat to be raised. The operating rod includes a plunger element fixed to the rod between the first and second ends. The plunger element is adapted to reciprocate within a cylinder element which is pivotally fixed to a toilet bowl beneath the seat. The cylinder element has opposed ends each of which is provided with an adjustable air port. In this manner, the operating rod and plunger element move along the cylinder during raising and lowering of the seat, the speed being controlled by the leakage of trapped air through the adjustable air ports of the cylinder. While that system performs adequately, it also has several drawbacks. It requires connection to a toilet bowl in addition to the seat which may be very difficult to accomplish particularly to retrofit an existing facility inasmuch as it takes special equipment to drill through fired, glazed porcelain. In addition, the air ports of the cylinder may clog or the plunger element stick in the cylinder and prevent normal operation of the system.

Accordingly, there remains a need to provide a seat raising and lowering system of simple inexpensive reliable construction that features damped lowering by gravity but which is entirely independent of the toilet fixture itself and requires attachment only to the seat to be raised and lowered thereby is easily retrofitted to existing facilities by avoiding the necessity to fix any part of the device to the toilet bowl.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

By means of the present invention there is provided a manually actuated toilet seat pivoting system for hinged toilet seats of relatively simplified construction which automatically returns an attached seat to its lowered disposition when a depressed pedal is released by the operator. The pivoting system of the invention features a floor-mounted manually operated lever device connected only to the seat itself which is readily removable and replaceable and not connected to the toilet bowl itself so that retrofitting existing facilities is simplified. The system is designed to operate with a hinged, pivoting seat or similar device.

The seat pivoting system of the invention is exemplified by the detailed embodiment and is one that requires relatively few conventional parts and so is of simple construction. The system includes a seat bar member adapted to be attached to the underside of a toilet seat adjacent the hinge which may extend across the seat if desired. The seat bar has a second end extending or protruding slightly beyond the seat which is bent at about a 90 degree angle to receive a connecting lift bar member. The floor mounted portion of the system includes a pivot pedestal designed to be fixed to the floor, as by screws or adhesive, in predetermined spaced relation to (generally alongside of) a toilet facility, and a foot pedal operating lever member attached in elevated pivotal relation to the pivot pedestal using the pivot pedestal as a fulcrum. The operating lever features a foot pedal at one end and a pivot lift bar operator at the other. A lift bar member is pivotally connected between the lift bar operating end of the operating lever and the angled free end of the seat bar such that when the foot pedal is depressed the operating lever, lift bar and seat bar cooperate to pivot the seat into a substantially vertical position. The system is constructed such that when the foot pedal is released the system operates by gravity to return the seat to a lowered position. To dampen this effect and avoid slamming of the seat against the bowl, a resilient biasing element is connected between the foot pedal and the pivot pedestal to resist the return of the foot pedal to its normal, raised and undepressed position. In the detailed embodiment the biasing element is a tension spring which supplies sufficient tension force to dampen or slow the return of the seat to the lowered position but insufficient force to prevent gravity operated return.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the drawing figures wherein like numerals depict like parts throughout the same:

FIG. 1a is a side elevational view of a toilet showing the seat lifting mechanism of the present invention with the seat in the lowered or normal position;

FIG. 1b is a perspective view of the configuration of FIG. 1a;

FIG. 2a is a side elevational view similar to the view in FIG. 1a showing the mechanism in the actuated state and the seat in the raised position; and

FIG. 2b is a view similar to that of FIG. 1b showing the seat in the raised position.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

While the following description is directed to a particular embodiment of the present invention, the embodiment is offered only as an example of the inventive concept and is not intended to limit the scope of that concept. It is contemplated that other embodiments will occur to those skilled in the art that come within the boundaries and confines of the present inventive concepts.

FIG. 1a illustrates, in side elevation, a toilet device 10 showing a porcelain water supply tank 12 attached to a porcelain bowl 14 having a rim or lift 16 and a base 18. Seat 20 with lid 22 is attached by removable hinge devices 24, which are attached to the bowl or base and by being bolted thereon through conventional holes. The advantage of this system allows the lid and seat to be pivoted upward either the lid separately or both the lid and the seat, and once in a well-known manner. This hinged seat construction is well known and similar arrangements exist for both seats with or without lids. The seat pivoting system of the invention is applicable to all types of hinged seats.

The seat pivoting system of the invention includes a seat bar member 30 of relatively flat metal stock and having a generally linear portion 32 designed to attach to the underside 34 of the seat 20, the linear portion extending to a free end 36 of the seat 20 and a bent or angled section at 38 at the other end is designed to be rotatably fixed to the end of a generally linear relatively flat lift lever or bar member 40 at 42 as by a Pem Bolt Stem and screw system, which uses pressed fit threaded receptacles and corresponding machine screws in a well-known manner. The other or generally lower end of the lift bar lever 40 is pivotally connected to a foot pedal operating lever member 44 at 46 in a manner similar to the connection with the seat bar member 30 at 42 and near the end opposite that of the foot pedal 48. The foot pedal or operating bar or lever member 44, in turn, is carried in pivotal relation by being mounted nested in a formed fulcrum device or pivot pedestal device 50 at a pivot mount 52. While the foot pedal operating lever is generally mounted to the pivot pedestal at a location closer to the pedal, weight applied to the foot pedal will provide more than an adequate amount of force to operate the system. This also aids in the gravity return by causing the system to naturally seek to return to the original position when the foot pedal is released. To dampen the return of the system to its natural resting position with the seat returned to the down position, a return damping tension device or resilient tension balancing element is provided which may be a tension spring 54 attached between the underside of the foot pedal 48 at 56 and to the front of pivot pedestal 50 at 58. This spring tends to resist the return of the foot pedal to the up position after depression and thereby dampens or slows the return of the seat to the lowered position.

As can readily be realized, construction and operation of the system is quite simple and depression of the foot pedal raises the lift bar and with it the seat to a raised position where it remains as long as the pedal is depressed. Upon release of the foot pedal, the system tends to return to the original position, however, this action is resisted by the elongation of the tension spring 54 thereby allowing the seat to return to the lowered position relatively slowly.

The preferred materials of construction for the parts of the system include various stainless steels or other metal materials which resist corrosion and also it is contemplated that other materials of construction that have sufficient strength and integrity and which resist the growth of microbes and do not readily corrode would also be satisfactory. These include, for example, high impact plastic materials that are relatively sturdy and rigid.

This invention has been described herein in considerable detail in order to comply with the patent statutes and to provide those skilled in the art with the information needed to apply the novel principles and to construct and use such specialized components as are required. However, it is to be understood that the invention can be carried out by specifically different equipment and devices, and that various modifications, both as to the equipment and operating procedures, can be accomplished without departing from the scope of the invention itself.

Claims

1. A floor-mounted apparatus for raising and lowering a toilet seat comprising:

(a) a seat bar having a fixed end adapted to be attached to the underside of a toilet seat and having a free end;

(b) a pivot pedestal adapted to be fixed to the floor in predetermined spaced relation to a toilet facility;

(c) a foot pedal operating lever attached in pivotal relation to said pivot pedestal using said pivot pedestal as a fulcrum, said operating lever having a foot pedal at one end and an operating end;

(d) a unitary lift bar lever pivotally connected between said operating end of said foot pedal operating lever and said free end of said seat bar; and

(e) resilient tension biasing element connected between said foot pedal and said pivot pedestal to dampen gravity return of said seat to a lowered position when said foot pedal is released.

2. An apparatus as in claim 1 wherein said pivot pedestal is adapted to be floor-mounted using an adhesive.

3. An apparatus as in claim 1 wherein said seat bar, pivot pedestal, foot pedal, operating lever and lift bar are made of stainless steel.

4. An apparatus as in claim 1 wherein said seat bar pivot pedestal, foot pedal, operation lever and lift bar are made of high impact plastic.

5. An apparatus as in claim 1 wherein said seat bar is adapted to be attached to said seat using an adhesive.

6. An apparatus as in claim 1 wherein said biasing element is a tension spring.

7. An apparatus as in claim 3 wherein said biasing element is a tension spring.