Selective flusher for water closet

This selective flusher for water closets has a horizontal base plate, the front end of which is secured to the top of the flush pipe by the valve seat. This base plate has a corresponding opening at the front end thereof to allow passage of water through the flush pipe, a fulcrum post and fulcrum pin at the midportion thereof, and a tail guide at the rear thereof. A generally S-shaped valve lever is normally seated on the fulcrum pin and a flush valve is secured to the downwardly extending front end thereof to normally close the valve seat. At the front portion of said S-shaped valve lever is adjustably secured a gauge float, while at the midportion thereof is disposed a main-float two-thirds of which is to the rear of the fulcrum pin while one-third thereof is to the front of fulcrum pin. Said S-shaped valve lever has a vertical slot at the midportion thereof into which a catch plate is pivotally mounted. The catch plate has a downwardly extending tail portion having a forwardly extending tip and a rounded recess upwardly of said tip. This catch plate is connected by a pair of chains to a trip plate which is mounted off-center to the shaft of a trip lever. The actions of the generally S-shaped valve lever, the gauge float, main float and catch plate regulates the lifting distance of the valve from the valve seat and the duration of closing of the valve in accordance with the selective flushing desired or needed.

RELATED INVENTIONS 
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,839,746 and 4,056,856 
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
The conventional flush tanks used in toilets are designed to discharge a 
standard volume of water everytime these are flushed. Sometimes, however, 
the full discharge or flush is not necessary such that much water is 
actually wasted. In order therefore to reduce the volume of water used in 
flushing, various improvements were made on the flushing system of the 
flush tanks. One such improvement consists of a float operated cam for 
retaining the valve stem of a ball valve in a flush position until the 
float lowers to a preselected level, then releases the ball valve stem. 
This improvement allows the regulation of the flushing operation by 
limiting the quantity of water discharged from a water closet. In another 
improvement, selective flushing is effected by the use of valves at 
different elevations. By opening the valve located close to the water 
closet bottom a large volume of water is discharged for flushing. The more 
elevated valve is opened when a much lesser volume of water is needed for 
flushing. 
DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
This invention relates particularly to a selective flushing device for 
water closets. 
It is well known that in conventional flush tanks, the flushing means is 
operated to discharge a standard volume of water, which at certain 
instances is not actually needed, thus resulting in much waste of water. 
The object then of this invention is to provide a flushing device for water 
closets which would reduce water consumption in the flushing of toilets. 
More specifically, the object of this invention is to provide a selective 
flushing device which is simple but effective in regulating the volume of 
water discharged for flushing, after said flushing device has been preset. 
Another object is to provide a flushing device independent of the water 
inlet system or mechanism of a conventional flush tank, which flushing 
device is practically trouble free.

Referring now to the drawings, particularly FIGS. 1 and 2, there is shown a 
conventional flush tank wherein are mounted the conventional water supply 
pipe A, ballcock B, tank float C and float arm D. In said flush tank T is 
a conventional flush pipe P, a gasket G and a valve seat S with an offset 
standpipe O. The valve seat S and the annular gasket G are screwed to the 
flush pipe P in the conventional manner sandwiching the front of the base 
plate 1 of this selective flushing device. 
This invention of a selective flushing device or flusher has an elongated 
base plate 1 disposed horizontally and longitudinally close to the bottom 
of the flush tank T. The bottom of the flush tank is secured by anchor 
bolts AB to the rear of the closet CL. 
The base plate 1, as shown clearly in FIG. 6 tapers towards the rear 
terminating with a relatively narrow rear end portion 2 and has an 
enlarged rounded front end 3 with a circular hole 4 coinciding with the 
corresponding holes of the annular gasket G and the valve seat S. Said 
base plate is rigidly secured to the top of the flush pipe P by the gasket 
G and the valve seat screwed on said flush pipe. For access to one of the 
anchor bolts AB of the flush tank, the base plate is provided with an 
opening 1a directly above said bolt. Secured by a bolt 5 to the midportion 
of said base plate rearwardly of the valve seat S is the upstanding and 
slightly rearwardly inclined channel shaped fulcrum post 6, and at the 
narrow rear end portion of said base plate is fitted the flattened bottom 
sleeve portion 7 of the upstanding tail end guide 8. The tail end guide is 
forwardly arcuate and has a pair of parallel legs 8a which have 
correspondingly aligned arcuate slots 8b. Spaced upwardly from the bottom 
of the fulcrum post 6 is a fulcrum pin 9. 
Mounted on the fulcrum pin is the generally S-shaped valve lever 10 which 
is horizontally disposed, such that the downwardly extending front end 11 
thereof would be axially aligned with the center of the valve seat S. To 
the front end 11 is fitted the flush valve 12 which is normally seated on 
the valve seat. Except for the downwardly extending front portion thereof 
which is rounded, the generally S-shaped valve lever 10 is flat and the 
mid-portion 13 thereof is loosely wedged between the parallel legs 6a of 
the fulcrum post 6 while the upwardly arcuate tail portion 14 thereof is 
also loosely wedged between the slotted parallel arms 8a of the tail guide 
8. To limit the travel of the tail of the S-shaped valve lever a 
transverse pin 14a is secured to said tail portion which pin is arrested 
by the upper or lower ends 15 and 15a respectively of the arcuate slots 
8b. 
Substantially at the lower midportion of the generally S-shaped valve lever 
10 is a downwardly extending saddle 16 defined by a rounded notch 16a and 
a pair of straddling rounded tongues 17. The saddle 16 is normally seated 
on the fulcrum pin 9. At the flat midportion of the generally S-shaped 
valve lever is a vertical slot 18 which is clearly shown in FIG. 2. Into 
this slot is loosely disposed the catch plate 19 which has a generally 
elliptical shaped upper portion 19a and a reduced forwardly bent lower 
tail portion 20 with a forwardly extended tip 21 and a rounded recess or 
catch 22 upwardly of said tip. The catch plate 19 is free to swing about 
an off-center pivot pin 23 secured transversely to the S-shaped valve 
lever and through the vertical slot thereon. At the upper rear side of the 
catch plate 19 are two spaced apart holes 24a and 24b to which the lower 
ends of the chains 25a and 25b are connected, respectively. 
To the downwardly extending front portion of the generally S-shaped valve 
lever 10 is adjustably connected by a bolt 26 and wing nut 26a, the 
parallel arms 27 of the gauge float 28. At the lower side of the 
midportion of the generally S-shaped valve lever is secured the main float 
29. Two-thirds of the length of the main float extend rearwardly of the 
fulcrum pin 9, while one-third extends to the front of said fulcrum pin. 
In FIG. 6, the main float 29 indicated in dotted lines, has a bifurcated 
front portion 31 straddling the fulcrum post 6. The main float and the 
gauge float are both made of styrofoam or any suitable highly buoyant 
material, such as hollow molded plastic. 
The upper ends 32a and 32b of the chains 25a and 25b, respectively, are 
connected to stud clips 33a and 33b which are spacedly secured to the 
generally trapezoidal trip plate 34 at points generally at the opposite 
sides of the off-center pivot shaft 35 of said trip plate. Said trip plate 
is of suitable weight so as to be able to return immediately by gravity to 
its normal upright position as shown in FIG. 1. 
As shown in FIGS. 7 and 9, the trip plate 34 is secured by a nut 36 and 
washers 37 to the inner end 38 of the off-center pivot shaft the outer end 
39 of which is secured to the hub 40 of the trip lever 41. The hub of the 
trip lever has a pair of rearwardly extending oppositely disposed lugs 42 
which upon rotation of the trip lever are stopped by corresponding opposed 
lugs 43 at the front of the hollow shank 44 secured to the flush tank wall 
W. The rear portion of the shaft 39 is rotatively supported by a 
rectangular support frame 45 screwed to the hollow shank 44 as clearly 
shown in FIG. 7. A set screw 46 and a collar 47 secured to the shaft 35 
prevents axial movement of the shaft. 
OPERATION 
To use this selective flushing device, after bowel movement, the trip lever 
41 is pressed downwardly as indicated by the arrow FF to effect a full 
flush. At the initial downward pressing of the trip lever, the catch plate 
19 which is pivoted swings a few degrees to the left from its normal 
position, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, causing the catch plate 19, the 
rounded notch or recess 22 and the tip 21 thereof away from the fulcrum 
pin 9. As the trip lever is turned further downwardly, the chain 25a pulls 
the catch plate further to the left causing it to pivot about the pivot 
pin 23, then lifting the catch plate 19 until the tip 21 thereof engages 
the fulcrum pin 9. Thus lifting the front end of the S-shaped valve lever 
and opening the flush valve at the front end of said S-shaped valve lever 
to cause the water in the flush tank to flow through the valve seat down 
through the flush pipe. At this point, as shown in FIG. 4, the transverse 
pin 14a at the tail of the S-shaped valve lever rests on the lower end of 
the arcuate slots 8b of the tail guide 8. This position of the S-shaped 
valve lever and the flush valve is caused by the buoyancy of the main 
float and the gauge float. 
As the water in the flush tank gradually goes down, the surface thereof 
will come to a level where the submerged gauge float 28 is located, and 
from this point, the gauge float will start to lose its buoyancy. The 
buoyant force at the left side of the fulcrum pin 9 is now greater, thus 
forcing the tail end of the S-shaped valve lever 10 to go up and the gauge 
float 28 to go down with the receding water surface. As stated earlier, 
two-thirds of the main float 29 is at the left of the fulcrum pin, while 
only one-third is at the right of said fulcrum pin. The imbalance causes a 
shift in buoyancy the moment the gauge float is no longer under water. 
As soon as the tail pin 14a reaches the upper end of the guide slots 8b, 
the gauge float 28 and the valve 12 momentarily stop to go down because 
the main float has enough buoyant force to support the combined weight of 
the lever, flush valve, catch plate and gauge float, thus leaving the 
gauge float above the water. At this stage, the flush valve will not yet 
close because it is still too far from getting sucked in by the water 
draft. But as the water surface gets down where the main float is located, 
the combined weight goes down with the low level receding water and the 
flush valve will close. 
After urinating when only a partial flush is needed, the trip lever 41 is 
pushed or turned upwardly as shown in the arrow PF to effect a partial 
flush. As the trip lever 41 is pushed further upwardly the chain 25b is 
correspondingly pulled upwardly causing the rounded recess 22 of the catch 
plate 19 to engage the fulcrum pin 9. At this stage, the flush valve 12 is 
lifted from the valve seat at a lesser distance upwardly of said valve 
seat than when the catch plate tip 21 engages the fulcrum pin 9. The 
positions of the catch plate 19, S-shaped valve lever, gauge float and 
flush valve are shown in FIG. 5. This position is also brought about by 
the buoyancy of the main float 29 and the gauge float 28. Also, as the 
water in the tank gradually recedes, the surface thereof will come to a 
level where the submerged gauge float is located, and from this point the 
gauge float starts to lose its buoyancy. The buoyant force of the main 
float at the left side of the fulcrum pin is now greater thus forcing the 
tail end of the S-shaped valve lever 10 to go up while the gauge float 
goes down with the receding water surface. 
The moment the tail pin 14a of the S-shaped valve lever reaches the upper 
end of the guide slot 8b, the flush valve 12 will be very close-only about 
three-eight of an inch-from the valve seat S. At this point, the suction 
effect of the discharging water causes the closing of the flush valve. 
The gauge float may be preset at any desired angle, preferably about 30 
degrees from the horizontal. If it is preset at a position X, as shown in 
FIG. 3, the level of the receding water in the flush tank will still be 
rather high before the gauge float starts to lose buoyancy and cause the 
same to go down. This results to a sooner closing of the valve during the 
partial flush. 
On the other hand, if the gauge float is preset at position Y for example, 
the level of the receding water will be rather low before the gauge float 
starts to lose buoyancy. This results to a delayed closing of the flush 
valve--thus lesser water is left than in the position X. 
With the selective flushing device installed in a conventional flush tank, 
it is possible to save about a gallon of water every time the partial 
flush is used. 
Various modifications may be made by those skilled in the arts without 
departing from the essence of the invention as defined in the appended 
claims.