Ventilated toilet seat assembly

A bathroom exhaust system includes a ventilated toilet seat assembly, one or more exhaust lines connected to the ventilated toilet seat through a mounting block attached to the toilet bowl behind the toilet seat and an exhaust fan located in or adjacent to the ceiling of the bathroom. The exhaust fan is vented to the outside atmosphere and is controlled by an electrical switch mounted on the wall of the bathroom. The ventilated toilet seat assembly includes a toilet seat that has a hollow interior and is provided with a plurality of vent apertures permitting communication with the interior of the toilet bowl. An exhaust line is provided at the rear of the toilet seat and cooperates with an exhaust passageway in a mounting block attached to the top of the toilet bowl just in front of the water tank and behind the toilet seat. The mounting block also includes the hinges for pivoting the toilet seat. One or more exhaust couplings extend from the end of the mounting block and a flexible exhaust hosing is attached to the exhaust couplings and extends therefrom to the exhaust fan located in an exhaust fan housing in the ceiling of the bathroom.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
This invention relates to a ventilated toilet seat assembly, and more 
particularly to ventilated toilet seat assembly in which the exhaust line 
from the toilet seat to the suction or vacuum source is opened and closed 
through the action of the toilet seat being hinged on a mounting block 
connected to the top of the toilet bowl. The ventilated toilet seat 
assembly is included as part of a bathroom exhaust system to remove 
noxious odors from the toilet bowl area and the bathroom, in general. 
Modern building codes require that rooms housing toilets be provided with 
an exhaust system vented to the atmosphere. This is especially so when the 
room is a small one not having any opening in the exterior wall, such as a 
window that can be opened to allow fresh air to enter the room. It has 
been long recognized that the strongest source of noxious odors or vapors 
occurs at the toilet seat when the same is occupied by a person. 
In the past a number of systems have been proposed for the elimination or 
reduction of the noxious vapors emanating from the toilet and the room in 
which the toilet is housed. Many of the systems involve modifications to 
the toilet seat to accommodate odor exhaust devices. Examples of such 
modified seats are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,192,539 to Martz; U.S. 
Pat. No. 3,600,724 to Stamper et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 3,999,225 to Ables; 
U.S. Pat. No. 4,175,293 to Stephens et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,125,906 to 
Weiland; U.S. Pat. No. 4,251,888 to Turner; U.S. Pat. No. 4,402,091 to 
Ellis; U.S. Pat. No. 4,556,999 to Lindley and U.S. Pat. No. 4,882,790 to 
Ricard. 
In order for an odor exhaust device to function, a bathroom must have a 
source of suction or vacuum. Most building codes require an exhaust system 
including an exhaust fan located in the ceiling or wall of the room in 
which the toilet is housed. There also must be an arrangement that permits 
the noxious odors from the toilet bowl area to be withdrawn into the 
exhaust system. Many of the previously proposed devices utilized vents and 
other apertures in the toilet seat and toilet lid communicating with 
passageways adjacent to the rear of the toilet seat and connected to one 
or more exhaust lines to the source of suction or vacuum. Other devices 
require adding extra parts to the toilet seat assembly to provide the 
venting passageways. 
It is an object of the present invention to provide a ventilated toilet 
seat that is easy to assemble onto an existing toilet bowl. It is a 
further object of the present invention to provide for a clean and 
aesthetic assembly that replaces the existing toilet seat with a minimum 
of replacement parts. 
It is a feature of the present invention to utilize vent apertures opening 
into a hollow interior provided in the toilet seat and an exhaust 
passageway in the mounting block behind the toilet seat to connect the 
ventilated toilet seat to the suction or vacuum system. It is a further 
feature of the present invention that the exhaust passageway in the 
mounting block behind the toilet seat disconnects from the vent apertures 
and the hollow interior in the toilet seat when the toilet seat is pivoted 
upwardly about the hinges attached to the mounting block. 
It is an advantage of the present invention that a ventilated toilet seat 
assembly can be assembled onto an existing toilet bowl by simply replacing 
the toilet seat with a hollow toilet seat and mounting block and thus 
provide an aesthetically pleasing and relatively inexpensive assembly to 
remove noxious odors from the toilet bowl area. 
Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become 
apparent from a consideration of the following detailed description. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
A bathroom exhaust system includes a ventilated toilet seat assembly, one 
or more exhaust lines connected to the ventilated toilet seat through a 
mounting block attached to the toilet bowl behind the toilet seat and an 
exhaust fan located in or adjacent to the ceiling of the bathroom. The 
exhaust fan is vented to the outside atmosphere and is controlled by an 
electrical switch mounted on the wall of the bathroom. 
The ventilated toilet seat assembly includes a toilet seat that has a 
hollow interior and is provided with a plurality of vent apertures 
permitting communication with the interior of the toilet bowl. An exhaust 
line is provided at the rear of the toilet seat and cooperates with an 
exhaust passageway in a mounting block attached to the top of the toilet 
bowl just in front of the water tank and behind the toilet seat. The 
mounting block also includes the hinges for pivoting the toilet seat. One 
or more exhaust couplings extend from the end of the mounting block and a 
flexible exhaust hosing is attached to the exhaust couplings and extends 
therefrom to the exhaust fan located in an exhaust fan housing in the 
ceiling of the bathroom.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
The bathroom exhaust system of the present invention is shown generally at 
10 in FIG. 1. A standard toilet bowl 12 and a standard toilet tank 13 are 
provided with a ventilated toilet seat assembly. The ventilated toilet 
seat assembly has connected thereto at least one exhaust line 14 that 
extends to the rear of the toilet bowl 12 and through a wall of the 
bathroom. The exhaust line 14 extends through the interior space behind 
the bathroom wall and up into the bathroom ceiling where it is attached to 
an exhaust fan housing 15. The exhaust fan housing 15 includes an outside 
vent line 16 that extends upwardly and terminates at an outlet venting to 
the outside atmosphere. 
The exhaust fan housing 15 is provided with a suitable exhaust fan 
arrangement (not shown) that provides suction or vacuum to the exhaust fan 
housing 15 and in turn to the ventilated toilet seat assembly. Any 
suitable exhaust fan arrangement can be used; in the preferred embodiment, 
one of the exhaust fan arrangements disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,010,600 
to Prisco or in U.S. application Ser. No. 07/633,970 to Prisco, the 
disclosures of which are incorporated herein by this reference thereto, 
can be used to exhaust noxious odors not only from the interior of the 
toilet bowl but also from the interior of the bathroom as well. The 
exhaust fan arrangement is operated by means of a switch 18 connected to 
the exhaust fan by electrical line 19. 
The details of the ventilated toilet seat assembly are shown in FIGS. 2 and 
3. A generally circular toilet seat 22 is provided with a generally 
circular ventilated seat base 24. The toilet seat 22 and the seat base 24 
join together and have a hollow interior 28. Alternatively, the toilet 
seat 22 and the seat base 24 can be formed as an integral unit. 
A plurality of vent apertures 26 are disposed around the internal perimeter 
of the toilet seat 22 and ventilated seat base 24 and open into the hollow 
interior 28 of the toilet seat 22 and ventilated seat base 24. The toilet 
seat 22 and ventilated seat base 24 are connected by means of conventional 
hinges 25 to the mounting block 30. The hinges 25 permit the toilet seat 
22 and ventilated seat base 24 to be raised and lowered around the hinges 
25 on the mounting block 30. The hinges shown are merely illustrative of 
hinges that could be used and any appropriate hinge arrangement that 
allows the toilet seat 22 and ventilated seat base 24 to pivot upwardly 
can be utilized. 
The mounting block 30 is securely fastened in any conventional manner to 
the upper rear area of the toilet bowl 12 and just forward of the toilet 
tank 13. The mounting block 30 comprises a base plate 32 which provides a 
surface for the attachment of the mounting block 30 to the toilet bowl 12 
and for receiving the hinges 25. A top vent plate 34 is attached to the 
upper side of the base plate 32 on the toilet seat side of the base plate 
32 and a rear top block 38 is attached to the base plate 32 behind the top 
vent plate 34. 
The rear top block 38 has a rear top block passageway 40 that extends from 
the front of the rear top block passageway 40 therethrough to the rear. 
The top vent plate 34 also includes a top vent plate passageway 36 that 
extends therethrough from the front to the rear of the top vent plate 34. 
One side of the top vent plate passageway 36 communicates with the hollow 
interior 28 of the toilet seat 22 and the other side of the top vent plate 
passageway 36 communicates with the rear top block passageway 40 on the 
interior of the rear top block 38. 
Attached to the rear of the rear top block 38 is a hollow tubular member 42 
that also has a hollow tubular member opening 44 that aligns and 
communicates with the rear top block passageway 40 in the rear top block 
38. At each end of the hollow tubular member 42 is a hollow coupling 46. 
One of the hollow couplings 46 attaches to the exhaust line 14. The other 
hollow coupling 46 may be closed off or it may be attached to a second 
exhaust line 14 that is also disposed through the bathroom and attached at 
its other end to the exhaust fan housing 15. 
In use, the bathroom exhaust system 10 is activated by flipping of the 
switch 18 which turns on the exhaust fan in the exhaust fan housing 15 and 
provides suction or vacuum through the exhaust line 14. This suction or 
vacuum causes noxious odors to be withdrawn from the toilet bowl through 
the vent apertures 26 in the toilet seat 22 and ventilated seat base 24. 
The noxious odors pass into the hollow interior 28 of the toilet seat 22 
and from there through the top vent plate passageway 36 of the top vent 
plate 34 and the rear top block passageway 40 of the rear top block 38 and 
into the hollow tubular member 42 through the hollow tubular member 
opening 44. The suction or vacuum draws the noxious odors from the rear 
top block 38 through the hollow coupling 46 and into the exhaust line 14. 
The noxious odors travel through the exhaust line 14 and into the exhaust 
fan housing 15 from which they are finally exhausted through outside vent 
line 16 into the outside atmosphere. 
If the exhaust fan housing 15 is provided with vent openings that 
communicate through the ceiling with the interior of the bathroom, noxious 
odors will also be drawn from the bathroom and vented to the outside 
atmosphere. 
When the toilet seat 22 and ventilated seat base 24 are pivoted upwardly 
about the hinges 25, the suction or vacuum from the exhaust fan housing 15 
will be disconnected from the hollow interior 28 of the toilet seat 22. 
This eliminates any suctioning from the toilet bowl and the exhaust fan 
housing 15 will only draw odors from the interior of the bathroom. 
While the invention has been illustrated with respect to several specific 
embodiments thereof, these embodiments should be considered as 
illustrative rather than limiting. Various modifications and additions may 
be made and will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, the 
invention should not be limited by the foregoing description, but rather 
should be defined only by the following claims.