Abstract:
An easily removable and replaceable toilet seat lid and hinge assembly. When it becomes necessary to clean the top of the toilet, toilet seat, and lid, the toilet seat and lid may be readily removed without having to remove the bolts which hold the seat on the toilet. Instead, male and female clip members hold the seat to the toilet and may be readily snapped in and out of attachment to remove or replace the toilet seat.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The field of the invention is toilet seats and the invention relates more particularly to toilet seats that are configured to facilitate the cleaning of the top surface of the toilet bowl and basic cleaning of the seat and lid by rinsing under hot water. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It is an object of the present invention to provide a toilet seat, lid, and hinge assembly which may be easily removed from the top of a toilet bowl to facilitate the cleaning of the top of the toilet bowl. 
     The present invention is for an easily removable and replaceable toilet seat, lid, and hinge assembly attachable to a toilet. Such toilet seats are conventionally held to the top of the toilet bowl by a pair of nuts and bolts. While the nuts and bolts may be removed, this is impractical for cleaning purposes because it is too time consuming and requires tools. The toilet seat, lid, and hinge assembly are attached to the toilet bowl by a pair of male and female clips which are snapped together. The female clips are held by a pair of bolts secured by a pair of nuts in the conventional vertical holes located on the top of the toilet bowl. A pair of male clip members are part of the hinge assembly which attaches to the toilet seat and lid. When it is desired to remove the toilet seat, lid, and hinge assembly (which stays together as a unit), the male and female clip members are disconnected and the toilet seat lifted away from the toilet bowl. All that is left is a pair of female clip halves around which cleaning may be readily accomplished. The seat and lid can easily be cleaned by rinsing under hot water. Then the male clip members may be reinserted into the female clip members and snapped together to secure the toilet seat, lid, and hinge assembly back on the toilet bowl. 
     One male and female clip assembly includes a pair of flexible fork legs on the male half and a pair of sideways oriented openings on the female half. When pressed together, the fork legs move outwardly into the openings in the sides of the female clip member. An alternate configuration utilizes a male clip body having a raised flexible tab which has a locking ridge at its rear end. The female clip half has an opening in its upper surface and the forward end of the opening terminates in a ridge against which the male&#39;s locking ridge of the raised flexible tab abuts. When it is desired to remove the male clip body, the raised flexible tab is pressed downwardly so that its locking ridge falls below the forward edge of the opening in the female half. 
     Another approach is to provide a vertical passageway in the bolts and a male pin which may be snapped into the vertical openings. The male pin supports a post attachment member which holds the hinge assembly with its toilet seat and lid. This is removed by lifting directly upwardly to pull the post out of the passageway in the bolts. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a top view showing a toilet bowl and tank and a removed toilet seat, lid, and hinge assembly. 
     FIG. 1A is an enlarged view taken along line  1 A— 1 A of FIG.  1 . 
     FIG. 1B is an enlarged perspective view of the bolt head and center stabilizing leg of FIG.  1 A. 
     FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the male and female clip members of the assembly of FIG. 1 in a disconnected configuration. 
     FIG. 3 is a connected version thereof. 
     FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of an alternate embodiment of the clip assembly of FIG.  1 . 
     FIG. 5 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken along line  5 — 5  of FIG.  4 . 
     FIG. 6 is a top view of the toilet bowl utilizing the attachment means shown in FIG. 4 of the drawings. 
     FIG. 7 is an exploded top view of an alternate configuration of a male and female clip pair of the assembly of FIG.  1 . 
     FIG. 8 is a side view of the male portion of the clip assembly of FIG.  7 . 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     A toilet bowl  10  and tank  11  are shown in top view in FIG. 1 of the drawings. The bowl and tank are conventional, except that a pair of female clip members  12  and  13  are secured over the conventional space to vertical holes  14  and  15 . The bolt is shown in FIG.  1 A and indicated by reference character  16  and the bolt head with grooves is indicated by reference character  17 . Bolt head  17  has a large stabilizing groove  17 ″ and a screwdriver slot  17 ′. The interlocking of the stabilizing leg  35  in stabilizing groove  17 ″ prevents the bolt head from turning and loosening. A nut  18  with a pair of limiting tabs  18 ′ holds the bolt  16  to the toilet bowl  10  while the limiting tabs  18 ′ prevent the turning of the nut any significant amount so it holds the bolt  16  to the toilet bowl  10 . 
     A pair of hinge post members  21  and  22  are attached or are integral with seat  19 . Each hinge post member has an integral post  23  and  24 . 
     A pair of end sleeves  25  and  26  are attached to the toilet lid and have an opening  27  and  28  into which posts  23  and  24 , respectively, fit. 
     Between members  21  and  25 , post  23  is exposed and a male clip member  30  is pivotally attached. Similarly, clip member  29  is pivotally attached on horizontal post  24 . 
     The details of construction of the male and female clip members is shown best in FIGS. 2 and 3 of the drawings. Since both clip members are identical, only one will be described. The male portion  29  has a left flexible fork leg  31  and a right flexible fork leg  32 . Each fork leg has an outwardly extending protrusion  33  and  34 . A center stabilizing leg  35  may be added to provide further structural integrity and to keep bolt  17  from coming loose by the presence of stabilizing leg  35  in stabilizing groove  17 ″ when the male and female portions are locked together. Male portion  29  has a body which includes a through hole  36  which passes over horizontal post  24 . 
     The female portion  12  of a clip has an entrance  37  large enough to accept male portion  29 . A larger hole  38  is formed above entrance  37  for the insertion of bolt  16  and a smaller hole  39  is formed below entrance  37  to secure the head  17  of bolt  16 . This secures the female portion  12  to the top of toilet bowl  10 . Toilet bowl  10  has a flat upper surface indicated by reference character  40  in FIG.  1 . 
     A pair of openings  41  and  42  are formed in the sides of the female portion  12  and the protrusions  33  and  34  snap outwardly into openings  41  and  42 , securing male portion  29  to female portion  12 . A folding cap  43  may be added to cover the top of female portion  12 . A track  44  is formed between openings  41  and  42  for the passage of center stabilizing leg  35 . 
     The assembled clip is shown in top view in FIG.  3 . It may be released by pressing inwardly on protrusions  33  and  34  while pulling outwardly on male portion  29 . This leaves only the female portions  12  on the flat upper surface  40  of toilet bowl  10 , thereby permitting it to be very easily cleaned. 
     Another method of removably securing a toilet seat, lid, and hinge assembly is shown in FIGS. 4,  5 , and  6 . A bolt  45  is secured to the toilet bowl by a nut  46 . Nut  46  may be of conventional construction, but the preferred construction has a pair of limiting tabs  47  and  48  which prevent the turning of the nut when bolt  45  is turned. Bolt  45  has a hexagonal opening  49  which may be utilized with an Allen wrench to tighten bolt  45  and nut  46  against toilet bowl  10 . Below the hexagonal opening  49  is a cylindrical opening  50  which has an inwardly facing groove  51 . 
     A post attachment member  52  is shown at the top of FIG.  4  and has a hole  53  into which a hinge post may be inserted. Post attachment member  52  is secured to post  54  as shown in FIG.  5 . Post  54  has a ring  56  which snaps into groove  51 . In FIG. 5, bolt head  57  has an outer peripheral groove  58 . Post attachment member  52  has an outwardly extending flange  59 . Flange  59  has a downwardly extending ring  60  which has an inwardly extending ridge  61 . Ridge  61  snaps into groove  62  on the outer edge of bolt edge  57 . In use, post  54  is inserted through hexagonal opening  49  and into passageway  50 . It is pressed downwardly until ring  56  snaps into groove  51 . This secures the toilet seat, lid, and hinge assembly to the toilet bowl. The seat, lid, and hinge assembly are not shown since they may be clearly understood by viewing FIG. 1 of the drawings. 
     When it is desired to remove the toilet seat, lid, and hinge assembly, one merely lifts up with sufficient force so that ring  56  snaps out of groove  51  and ridge  61  releases from groove  58 . This leaves only two bolt heads  57  protruding the flat upper surface  40  of toilet bowl  10 . Thus, the wiping off of the toilet surface is very easy, after which the toilet seat, lid, and hinge assembly is snapped back into place. 
     Yet another male and female type of connectors are shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 of the drawings. The male portion is indicated generally by reference character  62 . Male portion  62  has an opening  63  for the passage of post  23  or  24 . The male clip body  64  has a raised flexible tab  65  which has a biased hinge  66  near the front edge  67  of male portion  62 . An opening  68  surrounds raised flexible tab  65  so that the locking ridge  69  on flexible tab  65  may raise above clip body  64 , as shown best in FIG.  8 . 
     The female portion  70  has a rectangular opening  71 . Opening  71  has a forward edge  72  which abuts locking ridge  69  when the male and female portions are snapped together. An opening  73  is formed for a conventional bolt to hold the female portion  70  in place. 
     Thus, a very easily operated assembly is provided which permits the rapid removal and replacement of the toilet seat, lid, and hinge assembly for cleaning. Typically, the parts would be fabricated from a polymer. A composite polymer can provide sufficient strength for securely holding the parts together while still providing sufficient flexibility for the assembly and disassembly. 
     The present embodiments of this invention are thus to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive; the scope of the invention being indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description. All changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are intended to be embraced therein.