WO1999043898A1

WO1999043898A1 - Sorting wc-accession

Info

Publication number: WO1999043898A1
Application number: PCT/FI1999/000144
Authority: WO
Inventors: Henrik Gustav ÖSTMAN
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1998-02-26
Filing date: 1999-02-24
Publication date: 1999-09-02
Anticipated expiration: 2000-08-26
Also published as: FI980438A0; AU3254799A; FI103687B1; FI103687B

Abstract

A crescent-shaped interior component of a toilet separating urine from faeces that can be easily installed as an accessory in a conventional toilet. The device utilizes part of the flush water intended for normal flushing and conducts the urine-water solution emerging from the device to be absorbed into the soil or to separate collection.

Description

Sorting C-accession

The overwhelming majority of nutrients to be found in human excrements are concentrated in urine. In normal circumstances urine is in fact an aqueous solution devoid of bacteria consisting mainly of the fertilizers urea and superphosphate, while faeces mostly consists only of cellulose fibres, bacteria, and water. The extraction of the nitrogen compound urea from normal wastewater at the sewage purification plant is extremely difficult and expensive since it is diluted in considerable amounts of washing water, flush water etc. And since most of the urea remains left also in so-called high-grade purified sewage, then urine promotes so-called eutro- phication intensively and may be an important reason for periodic algal growth along the coasts and shores. Therefore it is preferable that urine already at the source be separated from faeces and either conducted to absorption into the soil or collected in special tanks. Absorption of urine into the soil is a much simpler procedure than filtering the entire amount of a household's sewage since we are dealing with very small amounts of a nutrient solution in principle free of bacteria. In any case regarding detached one- or two-family houses absorption into the soil is in normal circumstances possible without risk of contaminating the groundwater. Furthermore, additional fertilization of the garden may then prove unnecessary.

The invention presented here consists of a device that can be installed in the WC-bowl of an existing, conventional toilet. Special sorting toilets can be found on the market ; they are, however, expensive. Furthermore, it is desirable to be able to utilize existing facilities as much as possible. So-called urinals that can be installed in WC-bowls are constructed in a similar way, but they are intended for economizing water consumption. They differ from the invention under discussion in that they have a special economizing water connection, and first and foremost in that the urinal's discharge pipe is connected to the main discharge pipe for all sewage water. The invention consists of a crescent-shaped funnel- or cup-formed urine receiver placed in the front part of the WC-bowl. In this way sorting will be anatomically adapted and can easily take place while a person is sitting on the toilet since urine is excreted forward-downward, while faeces is excreted directly downward. During male urination in an upright standing position the urine spray can easily be directed to hit the said device. This can be further facilitated by giving the device partially or totally a colour distinct from that of the toilet. However, it is no great misfortune in case sorting during urination is not performed one hundred percent completely since the entire toilet is flushed and cleansed during one flush. Thus the sorting WC-accessory is not primarily intended for economizing water consumption.

The invention is characterized by the following description with drawings appended. Fig.1 shows a lateral cross-section of a toilet with the said device installed. Fig.2 shows the toilet ob- liquely from above. To facilitate the use of toilet paper the device's rear edge 1 can be made lower than the front edge 2. The device can be manufactured of various materials like e.g. porcelain, enamelled plate or enamelled steel, stainless steel, plastics, plexiglass or glass.

The device can be flushed and cleansed by placing the device's front edge 2 both vertically and laterally at a sufficient distance from the flush edge 4 of the toilet's flush slot 3. Then the de- vice will be cleansed by one toilet flush since a small fraction of the toilet's flush water will cleanse the inner side of the device. Since the device is thus located the device's 5 front edge 2 only collects a smaller part of the toilet's flush water while the most substantial part of the flush water will cleanse the toilet as well as the device's front exterior side 5. The distance of the device from the WC-bowl is determined by flanges 6 attached to the device or by other similar spacing pieces. These together with the urine discharge pipe 7 coming from the device attach and retain the device in its place. The device's urine discharge pipe runs along the WC-bowl and flow elbow of the toilet's water trap. The urine discharge pipe 7 opens at the connecting piece 8 joining the toilet's flow elbow with the building's sewage discharge pipe. At the opening site of the urine discharge pipe 7 the urine as well as the flush water col- ected by the device can for instance be conducted into a storage tank, or, as mentioned above, conducted to be absorbed by the soil.

By adjusting the device's distance vertically to the toilet's flush slot 3 utilizing varying modi- fications of the device's urine discharge pipe 7 the device can be adapted to several different toilet models with the inner measurements of the WC-bowl differing to some extent. However, in case the WC-bowl 's inner measurements differ greatly it may be necessary to design the entire device's crescent-shaped funnel or bowl with differing measurements. The length of the device's urine discharge pipe 7 may vaiy or it may be bent in different ways in order to adjust the device's location in the toilet bowl.

To prevent blockage in the thin urine discharge pipe 7 or in the device's water trap 9 the device can be equipped with a lattice sieve 10 on the bottom of the urine bowl. The device's urine discharge pipe 7 and the water trap 9, which can be constructed as one piece, can be made e.g. of stainless steel and must have sufficiently smooth surfaces to prevent paper residue etc. from getting stuck in them when passing through the toilet's water trap.

Claims

1. Device for sorting human excrements to urine and respectively to faeces, for installation in the WC-bowl of an existing, conventionally constructed toilet, which by consisting of a urine-collecting bowl or funnel represents a WC-accessory characterized in that the said urine-collecting bowl or funnel supported by flanges (6) or other similar spacing pieces is located at such a distance from the flush edge of the toilet's WC-bowl that it utilizes for its flushing and cleansing a smaller part of the amount of water running from the said flush edge during toilet flushing, and in that the device therefore does not require a special water connection of its own.

2. A device according to claim 1, characterized in that the water-diluted urine solution emerging from the device during a toilet flush through the device's separate urine discharge pipe (7) is conducted into a special discharge pipe for further collection or absorption into the soil.

3. A device according to claims 1 and 2, characterized in that the separate urine discharge pipe (7) of the device runs along the inside of the toilet's water trap elbow, and that the device's separate urine discharge pipe hereby supports the device in the toilet's WC-bowl.

4. A device according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the device's water trap is located in the WC-bowl below the crescent-shaped receiver funnel or bowl.

5. A device according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the device has been designed in accordance with human anatomic qualifications to sort with sufficient efficiency in a known manner human excrements separating urine from faeces.

6. A device according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the de- vice's urine receiver bowl is manufactured of porcelain, enamelled plate or enamelled steel, stainless steel, plexiglass, plastics or glass.

7. A device according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the device's colour differs from the toilet's colour which can facilitate the sorting of excrements during performance of normal toilet activities.