WO1997035075A1

WO1997035075A1 - Odor-removing system for a toilet

Info

Publication number: WO1997035075A1
Application number: PCT/IL1997/000096
Authority: WO
Inventors: Eli Reismann
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1996-03-17
Filing date: 1997-03-16
Publication date: 1997-09-25
Anticipated expiration: 1998-09-17
Also published as: IL117517A0; AU1937497A

Abstract

A system for removing odors from a toilet bowl (I) during its use consists mainly of a blower (2) having its inlet connected to the bowl (I) and its outlet connected to piping (5). The blower (2) is driven by a rotary water motor (15) which is actuated by water entering the initially empty flushing cistern (II). Water from the domestic supply is admitted to the water motor (15) by a valve (3) opened by depression of the toilet seat (7) which is supported on the bowl (I) by a flexible ring (40). The flexible ring (40) serves to seal the gap between bowl (I) and seat (7) and permits downward motion of the seat (7) for opening the valve (3).

Description

ODOR-REMOVING SYSTEM FOR A TOILET.

The invention relates to a syst m and apparatus serving to remove odors from a water closet while this is in actual use. It relates moreover to an odor exhaust system operated by the flow of the water used for flushing the toilet bowl .

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION.

The problem of remooving the odors from a bathroom has never been fully solved. In most homes the only way is by opening the window or windows, a solution which works in summer time, but is practically impossible during the cold season, especially if the room is heated. Public toilets or those in theaters, assembly halls and restaurants are generally ventilated by a fan mounted in an opening in the wall or the ceiling with very slow effect, i.e. it takes quite a time until odors vanish more or less completely. In hotels where the bathroom has usually no window to the outside, ventilation is through a small grille in the wall communicating with a duct common to several hathroms. Polluted air is exhausted either by a blower mounted next to the grille and operated by the light switch or by a permanently energized central exhaust blower cn tlie hotel roof. Every hotel guest knows how long it takes until the bathroom can be used again. Still another way of prevent- ^ιπ8 the odor from molesting the next user is by spraying the bathroom with a fragrant liquid, a rather questionable practice. 5075

With the aim to obviating this unpleasantness, many systems have been designed for exhausting the odor direct from the toilet bowl or through the seat, some of which are being quoted in the following:- Canadian Patent No. 2,047,569 discloses a toilet seat which is hollowed out in the form of an air duct connected to an exhaust blower. The seat is provided with holes on its underside extending into the duct serving to exhaust the odor out of the toilet bowl. In addition there are described means for energizing the blower when the toilet is used.

A similar exhaust device is described in U.S. Patent No. 4,251,888;- herein the seat includes holes in its under¬ side leading to ducts formed in the seat material, the ducts being connected to an electric vacuum pump by means of flexible hoses. Energizing of the vacuum pump is in a similar manner as that described in the Canadian Patent.

Still another exhaust device is disclosed in U.S. Patent No. 4,402,091, which ihcludes a hollow ring firmly positioned on the upper bowl surface underneath the seat and provided with apertures extending towards the bowl. The ring is connected to a an electric vacuum pump which is energized by switch means connected to the toilet seat.

A similar device is described in U.S. Patent No. 5,016,294 which includes a flexible perforated hose positioned in a frame underneath the toilet seat and is connected to a source of vacuum. The main drawback of all these exhaust devices is the fact that they require an electric switch to be operated by motion of the seat or that they are connected to a permanently energized source of vacuum, thereby wasting 5 energy.

It is the main object of the present invention to avoid the use of any electric appliance in a toilet or bathroom.

It is another object to operate the exhaust device at the moment a person occupies the toilet seat with the aim to 10 preventing any odor from escaping into the room by conveying them direct into the sewage piping.

It is still another object to save energy by using the flushing water for operating an exhaust blower.

Still another object of the invention is to provide an _] _ exhaust system in the form of a kit permiting its installation to an existing toilet without any changes to its original design.

And it is a final object to provide an exhaust system at low cost, so as to enable every household to buy and 0 instal it.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present exhaust system includes the following items:- 1. a skirt on the circumference of the toilet seat sealing the bowl against communication with the outside, leaving a 5 narrow exhaust opening for connection to a vacuum source. an o.hsuat blower, either axi i or ceπtrifugaL, ha ing : Is iuct ion side conuec _-l t , th exhaust opening ar:d its delivery side to a due connecting it to the sewage piping -ir to the outside of the building, 5 ^"ι . a hydraulic motor configured to be rotated by water intended for the flushin cistern and to dr.ve the blower l.y mechanical or magnetic ransmission means, 4. pipe means extending i^'rotti 1 lie domestic v/ater supply an inlet opening of ilie hydraulic motor and means for

IQ 'T.nv yir. water from t'.e ιv,'dr_ul ic motor into the flushing ^• stern,

:^; . a positioned in the I'ipe means conveying water to the hydraulic motor which is normally closed and is configured to be opened by pressure onto the toilet sea

15 caused by the weight of 1 hu. person seated thereon or, alternatively, by pressure cn a pedal transmitted to the valve by cable means.

Th <_-haii_>t system is operated as follows:- as soon as a person occupies th_. toilet seat, the valve mean., open and

20 caus. v/ater to flow from ,the domestic supply into the hydrauli; motor to operate i lie blow<_r. The blower exhaust., the air and t ^'.e odors from Ilie bowl into the sewage piping O ^" the toilet while v/ater flows from the motor into the empty flushing cistern. As soon as the person rises from

___. i he sea. water stops flowing into the cisver.. and can oc iet out t flush the bowl in the usual manner. Fushing is also performed automatically as εoon as the water level in the flushing cistern has reached an overflow.

The hydraulic motor is either a turbine featuring a 0 Pel ion"- wheel or a d spl cement motor. The Turbine is mounted inside r.e flushine cistern and drives i.;.e blower by means of a flexible cable extending through the bottom of the cistern to the blower close to the bo l.

A second kind of blower unit comprises a hydraulic motor and a blower driven by a common shaft or by magnetic transmission and is positioned close to the outlet opening from the bowl. In this case a pipe has to lead from the water supply to the hydraulic motor and from the motor into the cistern.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Figure 1 is a front view of a toilet installation including an odor-removing device with a turbine mounted inside the flushing cistern,

Figure 2 is a side view of the installation of Figure 1,

Figure 3 illustrates, at an enlarged scale, the turbine- blower unit of the installation of Figures 1 and 2,

Figure 4, A, B, and C illusatrtae two different embodiments of the bowl sealing means,

Figure 5 illustrates the/ device for operating the valve by movement of the toilet seat, Figure 5A shows a modification of the bolt holding the seat in pivoted alignment,

Figure 6 is a front view of a toilet installation showing a hydraulic motor-blower unit mounted at the rear of the bowl , Figure 7 is a side view of the installation of Figure 6,

Figure 7A is a detail showing a non-return flap,

Figure 8 is a section of a hydraulic motor with solid vanes, and

Figure 9 is a section of a hydiaulic motor with flexible vanes. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Figures 1 and 2 illustrate the general outlay of an exhaust system mounted in a standard installation od a water closet comprising a toilet bowl I, a flushing cistern II, a flushing pipe III and a sewage pipe IV. The device is put in action by pressure on the toilet seat 7 caused by the weight of the person seating himself or herself, or by a cable 30 actuated by foot pressure on a pedal 31. The device mainly includes a blower unit consisting of a turbine Irigidly fastened to the cistern cover 10 and a blower 2 driven by the turbine via a flexible cable 11. The turbine is supplied water under pressure through a flexible pipe 12 and through a pipe 13 which is connected to the domestic water supply close to the bottom of the room and contains a valve 3 which is normally closed leaving the cistern empty. The blower has its inlet connected to the space in the toilet bowl and its outlet to an outlet pipe 5 which terminates in the sewage pipe IV.

/ Figure 3 shows the blower unit in detail:- A horizontal turbine wheel 14 of the Pelton type rotates within a housing 15 and is driven by water ejected through a nozzle 16 and impinging on its vanes. The water supply pipe 12 is flexible and allows opening of the cistern cover for access to the turbine. The centrifugal fan 2 is driven by a connecting cable 11 which extends through a pipe 17 permitting the cable to pass through the cistern bottom in sealed fashion. The blower impeller 18 is of the centrifugal type and the housing 22 is firmly mounted on a duct 19 connecting it to the odor outlet from the bowl. As shown in Figures 4A, 4B and 4C the toilet seat 7 is supported on the bowl by a ring 40 of a resilient compressible material such as fowm rubber or fiamed plastics, sealing the space between bowl and seat and preventing odors from escaping into the room. The blower inlet is either connected to a free space left open in the ring at the rear of the seat or - even better - to the flushing pipe III whicch is not filled with water until afterwards.

The mechanism serving to open the valve 3 upon downward pressure on the seat 7 is illustrated in Figures 5 and 5A. Contrary to the conventional connection of seat to bowl the bolts 41 supporting the rear end of the seat are sliding in their bores in the bowl material I so as to allow a slight vertical motion and compression of the flexible ring 40. This motion acts on a cranked lever 48 which is pivotally attached to the bowl on an axle 43, by means of a pressure cup 44 in contact with , the underside of the seat. Angular motion of the angular lever opens valve 3, which is a cock,/ by pulling the valve lever 45 in upward direction. The valve closes automatically as soon as pressure on the seat is relieved, - i.e. when the person rises - by lever 45 being pulled down by a spring 46. Figure 5A illustrates a second bolt 41A which is urged ^ιn upward direction by a helical spring 47 designed to assist the flexible ring to raise the seat after use. In addition to being operated by pressure on the seat, the blower can be actuated by foot-operated cable 30 which pulls the cup 44 in downward direction. Another kind of a hydraulically operated blower is shown in Figures 6, 7 and 7A. Herein the turbine is replaced by a hydraulic motor of the kind ilustrated in either Figure 8 or 9 which drives the blower impeller in a known manner, either buy being mounted on a common shaft or by magnetic transmission. As in the afore described embodime.it the blower is connected to the outlet opening in the bowl and exhausts the odors direct into the sewage system IV by means of piping 5. Valve 3 configured to operate the hydraulic motor is opened as described with reference to Figure 5. Water from the domestic supply is delivered to the valve 3 and hydraulic fan motor 50 by pipe 11 and is returned to the cistern by pipe 12. In order to prevent odors from returning a non-return flap can be installed in the exhaust piping as shown in Figure 7A.

In both embdiments shown and described the blower draws odors from the bowl either through an opening in the rear of the flexible ring 40 or out of a branch extending from the flushing pipe III. The latter is made possible since flushing is carried out after the person has got up from the seat and pipe III is still empty of water.

Instead of conveying the odors from the blower into the sewing system it may be possible to exhaust them into the atmosphere, however the need for long ducts will make this solution unsuitable in many buildings, especially in high- rise buildings. 75

It will be understood that the afore described embodiments represent only two examples of the many possibble methods of exhausting odors from α toilet bowl, before they can enter the room proper, as long as they employ the principle of using flushing water for driving an exhaust blower and as long as this water is supplied to the hydraulic motor system by downward motion of the toilet seat .

Claims

C L A I M S :-

1. An exhaust system for a water closet containing a toilet bowl and a flushing cistern positioned above said bowl and connected to said bowl by a flushing pipe, said system being adapted to remove odors from said bowl while the toilet is in actual use, the system comprising,

resilient compressible means sealing the space between the toilet seat and said toilet bowl, permitting said seat to be pressed down into the direction of said bowl,

a blower adapted to be driven by a hydraulic motor, said blower being adapted to exhaust air containing odors out of the space in said bowl underneath said seat and to convey said air and odors into the open or into piping conveying sewage from said bowl into a sewage system,

piping means adapted to supply water under pressure from the domestic water supply to said hydraulic motor, and means adapted to deliver water from said hydraulic motor into said flushing cistern,

valve means inserted into said piping means upstream of said water motor, adapted to be opened by downward movement of said toilet seat and to be closed by return movement of said toilet seat into its normal position.

2. The exhaust system of Claim 1, wherein said blower is mounted to the rear or said bowl and has its suction side connected to an opening provided in the space enclosed by said bowl and said seat and has its delivery side connected to the atmosphere by piping.

3. The exhaust system of Claim 1, wherein said blower is mounted to the rear od said bowl and has its suction side connected to an opening provided in the space enclosed by said bowl and said seat and has its delivery side connected to the domestic sewage system by piping.

4. The exhaust system of Claim 1, wherein said hydraulic motor is in the form of a turbine positioned inside said flushing cistern underneath the cover of said flushing cistern, said turbine being adapted to be driven by water supplied from a domestic supply through flexible piping, and wherein water used by said turbine is spilled into said flushing cistern.

5. The exhaust system of Claim 4, wherein said turbine is drivingly connected to said blower by a flexible cable rotatingly posi t ioned in a pipe which extends through the bottom of said cistern in sealed fashion from said turbine to said blower.

6. The sxhaust system of Claim 1, wherein said hydraulic motor is a displacement motor mounted adjacent said blower and is drivingly connected thereto by a common shaft.

7. The exhaust system of Claim 1, wherein said hydraulic motor is a displacement motor mounted adjacent said blower and is drivingly connected thereto by magnetic transmission means.

8. The exhaust system of Claim 1, wherein said sealing means between said bowl and said toilet seat is in the form of a ring of a resilient material such as foam rubber or foamed plastic attached to the underside of said toilet seat and extending all around the upper rim of said toilet bowl.

9. The exhaust system of Claim 8, wherein the suction side of said blower is connected to a branch of said flushing pipe close to said bowl.

10. The exhsuat system of Claim 1, wherein said sealing means between said bowl and said toilet seat is in the form of a ring of a resilient material such as foam rubber or a foamed plastics attached to the underside of said seat all around the upper rim of said bowl except for a gap in the rear of said bowl configured to be connected to the suction side of said blower.

11. The exhaust system of Claim 1, wherein said valve means in said pipe supplying water to said hydraulic motor is a cock featuring a lever for the respective closing and opening of said cock by angular motion about a right angle.

12. The exhaust system of Claim 11, further comprising an angular pivoted lever having its one end positioned underneath said toilet seat and its other end connected to the lever of said cock in a manner effecting opening of said cock by downward motion of said seat.

13. The exhaust system of Claim 12, further comprising a spring attached to said lever of said cock configured to pull said cock into closed petition by upward motion of said seal.

14. The exhaust system of Claim 1, further comprising a cable connected to a foot pedal in front of said bowl configured to effect downward motion of said seat by pressure on said pedal.

15. The exhaust system as claimed in any of Claims 1 through 14, and substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.