External urinal for portable toilets
One embodiment of a basin mounted to an external wall of a base portable toilet. A drain pipe is attached to the basin and passes through a hole in the base portable toilet then attaches to a hole in the waste tank. Other embodiments are described and shown.
This application claims priority benefit to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/070,481, the entirety of which is incorporated by reference herein.
BACKGROUND1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to toilets and sanitary facilities in general, and to non plumbed, toilet assemblies in particular.
2. Background
Portable toilet assemblies are commonly used at outdoor recreational events, parks, concerts, sporting events, and wherever toilets are needed in locations without proper plumbing. Other portable toilet designs have both a standard toilet and several have an additional urinal inside the housing of the portable toilet assembly. This allows both males and females to relieve themselves in a sanitary environment. Often however the number of people in need of these facilities greatly exceeds the number of facilities available at a given time causing people to wait uncomfortably in long lines or even relieve themselves in non sanitary environments.
Several types of portable urinals were designed to provide facilities for urination only. These designs create a single facility for urination but require the extra expense and set up time of an extra portable toilet assembly
What is needed is an embodiment that can increase the number of people whom can use a single portable toilet assembly at the same time with minimal extra expense.
SUMMARYThe external urinal embodiment of this invention comprises of a urine receiving basin mounting to the external wall of a base portable toilet and draining into the base portable toilet's waste tank.
In the drawings, closely related figures have the same number but different alphabetic suffixes.
20 Base portable toilet
22 Base portable toilet waste tank
24 Hole in base portable toilet external wall
26 Hole in base portable toilet waste tank
28 Basin
30 Drain pipe
34 Cap
36 Protection Screen
38 Cover
40 Mounting devices
42 Privacy screen
44 External waste tank
46 Privacy screen hinge
DETAILED DESCRIPTION—FIG A—FIRST EMBODIMENTOne embodiment of the external urinal is illustrated in
An optional protection screen 36 can be placed over the hole in the basin 28. An optional cap 34 can be placed over the hole in the basin 28 when not in use. An optional cover 38 can also be placed over the basin 28. An optional privacy screen 42 can also be attached to the base portable toilet 20 in several different size, shapes and positions.
OPERATION—FIG. 1A-BThe manner of attaching the external urinal may vary slightly depending on the size, shape, and construction of the base portable toilet 20 and the setup of the external urinal. A hole in the external wall 24 the same size as the outer dimension of the drain pipe 30 is drilled in the base portable. Another hole the same size is drilled in the base portable toilet waste tank 26. The external urinal is then attached to the external wall of the base portable toilet 20 with the mounting devices 40. The drain pipe 30 attaches to the basin 28 outlet and passes through the hole in the base portable toilet external wall 24. The other end of the drain pipe 30 is attached to the base portable toilet waste tank 22 at the hole in the portable toilet waste tank 26.
Optional privacy screens 42, protection screens 36, and cover 38 can also be utilized.
The manner of the using the external urinal is the same as using a standard urinal. The user will walk up to the external basin 28 and urinate into the basin. The urine will pass through the basin outlet into the drain pipe 30 and then deposit in the base portable toilet waste tank 22.
FIG. 2—ADDITIONAL EMBODIMENTSA privacy screen 42 could also attach to an arced or straight pole that connects between the two top corners of the base portable toilet 20. The privacy screen 42 can either be made of a flexible material that slides along the pole similar to a shower curtain or a more rigid material could also be used in an accordion style. The privacy screen 42 could also be made of strips of material allowing users to walk through the screen and have it close behind them.
A privacy screen 42 could also attach to a pole attached to the upper corner or elsewhere on the base portable toilet 20 wall. The privacy screen then hangs down from this pole. This can be used in multiple locations to provide the desired level of privacy. The poles could be hinged so they can collapse for easier transportation.
FIG. 5A ADDITIONAL EMBODIMENTSAn optional cover 38 can be installed over the top portion of the basin 28. This cover 38 is to help prevent rain or other forms of precipitation from entering the external urinal. This cover could have a flat top or even molded to hold a drink cup.
Another shape for the basin 28 is designed to have flexible or hinged edges that can fold, allowing the basin to flatten against the wall of the base portable toilet 20. This would be beneficial for transportation, allowing the external urinal to stay attached to the base portable toilets 20 when they are placed on a truck or trailer with minimal space between each toilet.
FIG. 6A ADDITIONAL EMBODIMENTSFrom the descriptions above, a number of advantages of some embodiments of the external urinal become evident:
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- (a) By doubling, tripling, or quadrupling the number of users whom can use a single base portable toilet at one time the wait time to use a portable toilet will be greatly reduced. Users will have more time to enjoy and spend money at the location or event they are interested in without spending time in unpleasant lines.
- (b) The external urinal will be easily installed and easily detached from the external walls of base units for quick setup, tear down, and transportation. This will enable a single portable toilet to be used by multiple people with just slightly more time than it takes to set up an individual portable toilet. For new construction of base units it will also be possible to mold a concave (or convex) external urinal in the outside wall(s) of base units eliminating any extra set up.
- (c) The different ways to organize base portable toilets with external urinals can create the sense of a partitioned restroom facility providing the necessary amount of privacy without the time and cost of setting up rigid construction.
Accordingly, the reader will see that the external urinal of the various embodiments can be used to create extra capacity from a single base portable toilet helping to reduce lines for portable restrooms. Furthermore, the external urinal has the additional advantages that:
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- it can be installed and removed from the base portable toilets without requiring the manufacturer to modify the base portable toilets current design;
- it contains few parts to connect and disconnect to allow quicker set-up and take down;
- it is small and light weight to allow more effective transportation; and
- it can be washed and sanitized more easily.
Although the description above contains many specificities, these should not be construed as limiting the scope of the embodiment but as merely providing illustrations of some of the presently preferred embodiments. For example the external basin can have other shapes such as circular, oval, trapezoidal, triangular, concave, convex, collapsible, etc.; the external urinal can be connected to the base portable toilet in a variety of fashions such as rivets, key holes, bolts, adhesives, hooks, clasps, clamps, pins, velcro, latches, etc; the privacy screen(s) can have other shapes, sizes, materials, thickness, and connections; some parts may stay permanently attached to the base portable toilets other parts may be removed for transportation; the different parts may be made out of a variety of materials such as plastic, metal, vinyl, ceramic, fiberglass, or any type of composite, etc; the base portable toilets with attached external urinals can be arranged in a variety of patterns; the external urinals can be connected to any structure that has a waste tank, the external urinal can be independent when used with its own waste tank, etc.
Thus the scope of the embodiment should be determined by the appended claims and their legal equivalents, rather than by the examples given.
Claims
1. A portable toilet comprising:
- at least one wall defining an interior space, the wall having an interior side and an exterior side;
- an internal receptacle for receiving waste within the interior space; and
- an external receptacle for receiving waste on the exterior side of the at least one wall.
2. The portable toilet of claim 1, further comprising a waste storage tank.
3. The portable toilet of claim 1, wherein the at least one wall comprises a front wall having a door, a back wall opposite the front wall, and first and second side walls.
4. The portable toilet of claim 3, wherein the external receptacle is on the back wall.
5. The portable toilet of claim 3, wherein the external receptacle is on one of the side walls.
6. The portable toilet of claim 1, wherein the external receptacle is a urinal mounted to the exterior side of the at least one wall.
7. The portable toilet of claim 1, wherein the external receptacle is a recess formed in the exterior side of the at least one wall.
8. The portable toilet of claim 1, comprising at least two external receptacles on the exterior side of the at least one wall.
9. The portable toilet of claim 1, further comprising a privacy screen.
10. The portable toilet of claim 9, wherein the privacy screen is hinged.
11. The portable toilet of claim 1, wherein the external receptacle and the internal receptacle drain into a common waste storage tank.
11. The portable toilet of claim 1, wherein the external receptacle drains into an external waste storage tank and the internal receptacle drains into an internal waste storage tank.
12. The portable toilet of claim 1, in combination with at least one other portable toilet forming an array, the array defining a privacy area obscured from view, wherein the external receptacle is positioned in the privacy area.
13 A portable toilet apparatus comprising:
- an enclosure formed of a front wall, a back wall, two side walls, a door, a roof and a floor, the enclosure bounding an interior space having an internal toilet therein;
- a waste storage tank for collecting waste deposited in the interior toilet; and
- an external urinal.
14. The portable toilet apparatus of claim 13, wherein the external urinal is on the back wall.
15. The portable toilet apparatus of claim 13, wherein the external urinal is on one of the side walls.
16. The portable toilet apparatus of claim 13, wherein the external urinal is a urinal mounted on the outside of one of the walls.
17. The portable toilet apparatus of claim 13, wherein the external urinal is a recess formed in one of the walls.
18. The portable toilet apparatus of claim 13, comprising at least two external urinals.
19. The portable toilet apparatus of claim 13, further comprising a privacy screen.
20. The portable toilet apparatus of claim 19, wherein the privacy screen is hinged.
21. The portable toilet apparatus of claim 13, wherein the external urinal drains into the waste storage tank.
22. The portable toilet apparatus of claim 13, wherein the external urinal drains into an external tank.
23. The portable toilet apparatus of claim 13, in combination with at least one other portable toilet forming an array, the array defining a privacy area obscured from view, wherein the external urinal is positioned in the privacy area.
24. A retrofit kit for adding an external urinal to a portable toilet, the retrofit kit comprising a receptacle for mounting to a wall of the portable toilet, at least one connector for attaching the receptacle to the wall of the portable toilet, and a conduit for draining the receptacle into a waste storage tank.
Type: Application
Filed: Feb 10, 2009
Publication Date: Sep 24, 2009
Inventor: Adam Goldstein
Application Number: 12/378,009
International Classification: A47K 4/00 (20060101); A47K 11/12 (20060101);