Raised Toilet Seat Assembly
Disclosed is a raised toilet seat assembly with improved coupling features. The raised toilet seat assembly includes an adapter plate configured to couple to a toilet, a shoe configured to couple to the adapter plate, and a raised toilet seat configured to couple to the shoe thereby forming a fully assembled raised toilet seat assembly. In some embodiments, the adapter plate comprises a plurality of passages configured to fit about fasteners when positioned over holes at a rear portion of the toilet, and a slot configured to receive a first portion of the shoe when coupled thereto.
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to raised toilet seats, and in particular, to a raised toilet seat assembly with improved coupling features to the underlying standard toilet seat.
2. Description of Related Art
Certain people may experience difficulty in bending, sitting and/or standing for various reasons. Often elderly people start to experience symptoms of arthritis or general muscle atrophy as they age. Youthful people may have injuries, or side effects from surgery (e.g., hip surgery) that make it difficult to sit and stand. For example, it may be difficult for such persons to sit on, and/or stand up from, a toilet seat that is low to the ground.
Specialty products have been designed to assist people that have difficulty sitting or standing. Such specialty products include rails mounted to the floor or the wall, and raised toilet seats, among other things. Raised toilet seats work by increasing the height of the toilet seat above the ground, and providing an inclined contour to the top of the raised toilet seat, making it easier for people to sit without extreme bending, and likewise making it easier for them to return to a standing position.
Current designs for raised toilet seats offer means for coupling the raised toilet seat to a conventional toilet. These coupling means can make use of existing attachment methods for attaching the raised toilet seat to the rim of the toilet, but such means tend to be overly complex, making assembly/disassembly of the raised toilet seat a difficult and tedious endeavor. Other less-secure means for coupling tend to offer a raised toilet seat that is unstable when coupled to the toilet, which can increase the risk of injury to a person using the raised toilet seat.
Furthermore, current methods of manufacturing raised toilet seats include blow molding and rotational molding techniques, which can have certain drawbacks, such as requiring much more material than is needed for the manufacture of the parts themselves, difficulty achieving high levels of production, and difficulty maintaining desired tolerances across products.
SUMMARYThis Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter.
Accordingly, disclosed herein is a raised toilet seat assembly with improved coupling features. The raised toilet seat assembly comprises an adapter plate configured to couple to an existing toilet, a shoe configured to couple to the adapter plate, and a raised toilet seat configured to couple to the shoe thereby forming a fully assembled raised toilet seat assembly.
In some embodiments, the adapter plate comprises a main body portion and end sections extending beyond the main body portion to define associated passages in the adapter plate for coupling to a toilet. When the adapter plate is oriented flat on a rear portion of the toilet between the toilet bowl and the water tank, the passages of the adapter plate may be positioned over holes on the rear portion of the toilet and may fit about fasteners such that the fasteners pass through the passages and into the holes in the rear portion of the toilet. In some embodiments, the adapter plate further comprises a slot configured to receive a first portion of the shoe when the adapter plate is coupled to the toilet and oriented such that the slot is facing downward. The shoe may further comprise a second portion configured to couple with a rear portion of the raised toilet seat.
In some embodiments, the coupling between the adapter plate and shoe, as well as between the shoe and the raised toilet seat, may include an interference fit relation without the need for additional fastening components.
Through the improved coupling features of the raised toilet seat assembly disclosed herein, the adapter plate, the shoe and the raised toilet seat may be assembled with ease. Furthermore, the improved coupling features of the raised toilet seat allow each component of the assembly to be easily separated, or detached, from the other component parts of the assembly, allowing for quick interchangeability which may be useful for preparing the toilet for guests who do not require a raised toilet seat. Notably, the raised toilet seat assembly of the present invention does not require additional fastening elements beyond the adapter plate, the shoe and the raised toilet seat in order to fully assemble the raised toilet seat assembly onto an existing toilet. The embodiments disclosed herein provide improved convenience to a user as a consequence.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of the invention, which refers to the accompanying drawings.
The detailed description is described with reference to the accompanying figures. In the figures, the left-most digit(s) of a reference number identifies the figure in which the reference number first appears. The same reference numbers in different figures indicate similar or identical items.
Referring to
In some embodiments, the shoe 108 engages the adapter plate 104 by slidably coupling with the adapter plate 104 via an interference fit relation. The shoe 108 also engages with the raised toilet seat 110 by slidably coupling with the raised toilet seat 110 via an interference fit relation. That is, portions of the shoe 108 may each be slidably coupled to the adapter plate 104 and the raised toilet seat 110, respectively, in a manner of an interference fit relation whereby the coupled components are securely coupled by the force of friction without the need for additional fastening elements. This coupling allows for assembling/disassembling the raised toilet seat assembly 100 with greater ease, allowing for each component part of the assembly to be easily separated or detached from the other component parts of the assembly, and therefore enabling quick interchangeability which may be useful for preparing the toilet for guests who do not require the raised toilet seat assembly 100. Although the illustrated examples herein show coupling between the component parts of the raised toilet seat assembly 100 via an interference fit relation, it is to be appreciated that other means of coupling the shoe 108 to the adapter plate 104 and/or to the raised toilet seat 110 will be apparent to a person having ordinary skill in the art. Importantly, the raised toilet seat assembly 100 of the present invention does not require additional fastening elements beyond the component parts (i.e., the adapter plate 104, the shoe 108 and the raised toilet seat 110) in order to fully assemble the raised toilet seat assembly 100 and attach it to the toilet 102.
It is to be appreciated that the specific dimensions, proportions, shapes and configurations of each of the adapter plate 104, the shoe 108 and the raised toilet seat 110 are not specific to the present invention. For example, the raised toilet seat 110 may be shaped or contoured in various ways to provide a suitably inclined top surface, and the raised toilet seat 110 may be of various sizes, or heights, for a particular toilet configurations such that the adapter plate 104 and the shoe 108 may be of a suitable size to accommodate the coupling of the raised toilet seat 110 to the shoe 108 and to accommodate the coupling of the adapter plate 104 to the toilet 102.
In some embodiments one or more of the adapter plate 104, the shoe 108 and the raised toilet seat 110 may be made of plastic, such as molded plastic, or any other suitable material known in the art. Specifically, acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), or a suitable polymer, such as polyethylene, and the like, may be used in the manufacturing of the component parts of the raised toilet seat assembly 100. Suitable materials may be rigid or semi-rigid, waterproof, and/or resistant to chemicals, heat and stress. Additionally, the adapter plate 104, the shoe 108 and the raised toilet seat 110 are preferably separate units that are operably interconnected.
In some embodiments, one or more of the adapter plate 104, the shoe 108 and the raised toilet seat 110 may be manufactured using an injection molding technique, the process for which should be apparent to a person having ordinary skill in the art. By using an injection molding method to manufacture the adapter plate 104, the shoe 108 and/or the raised toilet seat 110, minimal material is used for the manufacture of the component parts, thereby preventing excess waste of material. Furthermore, injection molding techniques allow for easily forming the open cavity, or recess, on the underside, rear portion of the raised toilet seat 112, as will be explained in more detail, below.
Referring now to
The open configuration, shown in
In some embodiments, the adapter plate 104 further comprises two end sections 206a and 206b extending outward from the main body portion 202 and defining associated passages 208a and 208b, the passages 208a/b each configured to receive a screw, or similar fastener, typically found on a conventional toilet, such as the toilet 102 of
Referring now to
It is to be appreciated that the specific size and shape of the adapter plate 104 is not specific to the present invention, and it may therefore have any suitable shape. For example, the adapter plate 104 may have a shape other than a predominantly rectangular shape, as shown in
Referring now to
The shoe 108 further comprises a main body member 406, or a second portion, which is configured to slide into the rear portion of the raised toilet seat 112 (shown in
Referring now to
Referring now to
Referring now to
Referring now to
Although the present invention has been described in relation to particular embodiments thereof, many other variations and modifications and other uses will become apparent to those skilled in the art. Therefore, the present invention should be limited not by the specific disclosure herein, but only by the appended claims.
Claims
1. A raised toilet seat assembly comprising:
- an adapter plate configured to couple to a toilet seat attachment point;
- a shoe comprising a first portion and a second portion, the first portion of the shoe configured to couple to the adapter plate; and
- a raised toilet seat having a forward portion and a rear portion, the raised toilet seat configured to couple to the second portion of the shoe at the rear portion of the raised toilet seat.
2. The raised toilet seat assembly of claim 1, wherein the adapter plate comprises a slot configured to receive the first portion of the shoe, and wherein the raised toilet seat further comprises a cavity configured to receive the second portion of the shoe.
3. The raised toilet seat assembly of claim 2, wherein the adapter plate further comprises a plurality of passages, each passage configured to fit about a fastener.
4. The raised toilet seat assembly of claim 3, wherein the adapter plate further comprises a plurality of end sections extending outwardly from the adapter plate, each end section adjacent at least one passage of the plurality of passages.
5. The raised toilet seat assembly of claim 2, wherein the second portion of the shoe comprises an arcuate side with a radius of curvature corresponding to a radius of curvature of a side of the cavity.
6. The raised toilet seat assembly of claim 2, wherein the first portion of the shoe is configured to slidably couple within the slot of the adapter plate, and wherein the second portion of the shoe is configured to slidably couple within the cavity of the raised toilet seat.
7. The raised toilet seat assembly of claim 6, wherein the coupling between the shoe and either of the adapter plate or the raised toilet seat is through an interference fit relation.
8. The raised toilet seat assembly of claim 6, wherein the first portion of the shoe comprises a flange having a tapered end.
9. The raised toilet seat assembly of claim 2, wherein the slot is an openly configured slot.
10. The raised toilet seat assembly of claim 9, wherein a width of the slot is smaller than a width of the first portion of the shoe.
11. The raised toilet seat assembly of claim 1, wherein at least one of the adapter plate, the shoe or the raised toilet seat is manufactured using an injection molding technique.
12. A raised toilet seat assembly comprising:
- a raised toilet seat configured to rest on a toilet bowl of a toilet, the raised toilet seat comprising an upper surface having an inclined contour and a rear portion including a recess on an underside of the rear portion;
- an adapter plate configured to couple to the toilet at a seat attachment point of the toilet; and
- a shoe comprising a first portion and a second portion, the first portion of the shoe configured to couple to the adapter plate via a sliding engagement between the first portion and the adapter plate, the second portion of the shoe configured to couple to the raised toilet seat via a sliding engagement between the second portion of the shoe and the recess on the underside of the rear portion.
13. The raised toilet seat assembly of claim 12, wherein the first portion of the shoe comprises a flange with a tapered end.
14. The raised toilet seat assembly of claim 12, wherein the second portion of the shoe comprises a curved side with a radius of curvature appropriate for mating with a curved side of the recess.
15. The raised toilet seat assembly of claim 12, wherein the adapter plate, the shoe and the raised toilet seat are made of plastic.
16. The raised toilet seat assembly of claim 12, wherein at least one of the adapter plate, the shoe or the raised toilet seat is manufactured using an injection molding technique.
17. The raised toilet seat assembly of claim 12, wherein the adapter plate comprises a slot configured to receive the first portion of the shoe via the sliding engagement.
18. The raised toilet seat assembly of claim 17, wherein the coupling between the shoe and either of the adapter plate or the raised toilet seat is through an interference fit relation.
19. The raised toilet seat assembly of claim 17, wherein the adapter plate further comprises a plurality of passages, each passage configured to receive a fastener.
20. A raised toilet seat assembly comprising:
- means for providing a raised seating surface configured to rest on a toilet bowl of a toilet;
- an adapter means for coupling to a toilet seat attachment point; and
- means for coupling the adapter means to the means for providing the raised seating surface.
Type: Application
Filed: Oct 12, 2012
Publication Date: Apr 17, 2014
Applicant: APEX MEDICAL CORPORATION (Sioux Falls, SD)
Inventors: Duane Richard Wagner (Belle Fourche, SD), Shane Henry Walz (Sioux Falls, SD), David Donovan Fravel (Sioux Falls, SD)
Application Number: 13/651,147