Patent Publication Number: US-6668391-B1

Title: Water-saving toilet

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The present invention relates to a water-saving toilet characterized by a flexible plumbing tube, which resulted in significant saving of flushing water. 
     BACKGROUND ART 
     Due to the shortage of water resource, the problem of wasting water has become a serious public concern. Especially, water used in toilet flushing is a huge waste of resources since the clean water produced by extensive purification steps goes right into sewers in this process. 
     FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a conventional toilet fixture. Referring to FIG. 1, a toilet comprises a toilet main body  10  having a water inlet orifice  11  on the top and a water outlet orifice  12  at the bottom, a toilet bowl  13  from which water and waste materials are discharged and is connected to the inlet orifice  11  and the outlet orifice  12 , the first discharge tube  14  the bottom of which makes a direct contact with the outlet orifice  12  and the top of which is positioned higher than the outlet orifice  12 , and the second discharge tube  15  which follows the first tube and guides the waste materials downward to drainage; a water reservoir tank  20  which has an inlet orifice  11  connected to an outlet orifice  22  of the toilet main body  10 ; a trip lever  40  which presents at the outside of the water reservoir tank  20  and can move up and down; a packing  31  which controls the opening and closing of the tank outlet orifice  22  by connecting to the lever  40 ; and a trap  50  disposed at the first discharge tube  14  of the toilet main body  10 . 
     When the outlet orifice  22  in the reservoir tank  20  is opened up by pulling down the trip lever  40 , water from the reservoir tank  20  rapidly flows into the toilet main body  10 . The elevated water level in the toilet main body  10  forces the water to exit through the trap  50  by the siphon effect. 
     The conventional toilets based on the aforementioned water-pressure dependent siphon mechanism consume about 7˜13 L of water in an operation and in addition create a noisy flushing sound due to the presence of a trap. 
     DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION 
     Therefore, the objective of the present invention is to provide a water-saving toilet which does not employ a siphon principle and a trap, thus saving the amount of flushing water. 
     To achieve the objective, the water-saving toilet of the present invention comprises a toilet main body having an inlet orifice for introducing water through an external water supply tube, a toilet bowl that collects waste materials and receives the flushing water from the inlet orifice, and an outlet orifice for discharging the waste materials and water in the toilet bowl; a discharge tube one end of which is connected to the outlet orifice of the toilet main body and the other end of which is connected to an outside outlet to serve as a discharge passage of the waste materials and water, including a vertically movable curved portion; and means for moving the curved portion of the discharge tube up and down. 
     Preferably, the discharge tube is made of a flexible material. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a conventional toilet; 
     FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a water-saving toilet according to the present invention; and 
     FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a water-saving toilet of the FIG. 2 in flushing operation. 
    
    
     BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION 
     Examples of the present invention are described below by referring the attached drawings. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a water-saving toilet according to the present invention. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a water-saving toilet of FIG. 2 in flushing operation. 
     Referring to FIG.  2  and FIG. 3, water flows into the toilet main body  100  after opening of a flush switching valve  900  which comprises an inlet orifice, an outlet orifice and a working unit, and is installed in the flush water conduit  800 . For an external operation of the switching valve  900 , a button  1000  connected to the working unit of the switching valve is attached to the toilet main body. Pressing the button  1000  triggers the opening of the switching valve  900 , which is set to remain open until 2.5˜4 L of water is released and then returns to the closed position. 
     The toilet main body  100  comprises an inlet orifice  110  which connects the flush water conduit  800  for water introduction, a toilet bowl  130  which receives water from the conduit  800  and collects waste materials, and an outlet orifice  120  located below the toilet bowl  130 . The outlet orifice  120  of the toilet main body  100  is a discharge passage for water and waste materials in the toilet bowl  130 , and is connected to the discharge tube  210 . The inlet  110  and the outlet  120  orifices of the toilet main body  100  are specifically set to allow the discharge volume to the outlet orifice  120  to be larger than the volume of the flush water influx from the inlet orifice  110 . By default, the toilet bowl  130  is filled with 2˜3 L of water to prevent the offensive odor from coming out of the outlet orifice  120 . 
     One end of the discharge tube  210  connects the outlet orifice  120  of the toilet main body  100  and the other end connects to a drainage tube  220  running under the toilet main body  100 . The discharge tube  210  is made of a flexible material and is curved so that its center of gravity can be shifted vertically upon the application of an external force. 
     There is a space  140  in the toilet main body  100  except for the inlet orifice  110 , the outlet orifice  120  and the toilet bowl  130 , and means for a vertical moving of the discharge tube  210  is installed in the space  140 . The means comprises a hooked clasp  300  which has projections on its periphery and is attached to the center of the discharge tube  210 , a spindle  610  placed above the water level of the toilet bowl  130  when there is 2˜3 L of water and a pulley  620  which is installed to the spindle  610 , a wire  400  hanging around the pulley  610  by being connected to the clasp  300 , and a weight  500  attached to the other end of the wire  400 . The weight  500  is lighter than the weight of the discharge tube  210  plus water introduced in the discharge tube  120  but is heavier than the empty discharge tube  210  alone. 
     Or, a spring can be used as an alternative to the pulley-based moving means in triggering the vertical shift of the discharge tube&#39;s  210  gravity center. In this case, one end of the spring is connected to the clasp  300  installed at the center of the discharge tube  210 , and the other end is attached to the toilet main body  100 . The spring should be connected to the clasp  300  in such a way that one end of the spring connected to the clasp  300  is placed at a point higher than the default water level (2˜3 L) of the toilet bowl  130  when the spring is contracted. The elastic force of the spring need to be able to withhold the weight of the empty discharge tube  210 , but not the weight of the tube  210  filled with water. 
     A latch  710  is placed on the spindle  610 . The latch  710  is hooked to a projection of the clasp  300  so that the discharge tube  210  is kept at a fixed position when its center of gravity is raised at or above the default water level (2˜3 L) of the toilet bowl  130 , resulting in the difference in weight between the weight  600  and the discharge tube  210 . 
     At this point, the latch  710  tends to move away from the point where the discharge tube  210  is locked due to the weight of the discharge tube  210  imposed on the latch  710 , and as a result the discharge tube  210  will be released from the latch  710 . In order to prevent this from happening, a supporting rod  720  is installed to the latch  710 . When the discharge tube  210  needs to be freed from the latch  710  during the flush operation, an external force is applied to the support  720 , which will cause the supporting rod  720  to move away from the point of the discharge tube attachment, making the latch  710  rotate to release the discharge tube  210 . The supporting rod  720  is connected to the flush switching button  1000  to ensure that the release of the discharge tube  210  from the latch  710  is coordinated with the opening of the flush switching valve  900 . 
     When the flush button  1000  on the toilet main body  100  is pressed, the latch  710  rotates to release the discharge tube  210  from the latch  710 , and then the center of gravity of the discharge tube  210  is positioned below the outlet orifice  120  of the toilet main body  100 . As a result, water and waste materials in the bowl tank  130  are discharge by passing through the discharge tube  210  and the drainage tube  220 . Concurrently, flush water enters the toilet main body  100  through the flush valve  900 . The first 0.3˜1 L portion of water is used to rinse the toilet bowl  100  and the outlet orifice  120  of the toilet main body before exiting into the discharge tube  210 . Since the amount of the water exiting the toilet main body  100  is less than that of coming into the toilet main body  100 , the discharge tube  210  is being unfilled, and the tube  210  becomes lighter than the weight  500  pulling the tube  210  through the pulley wire  400  attached to the clasp  300 . The center of gravity of the discharge tube  210  moves upward and finally reaches the latch. Then the discharge tube  210  is locked in secure position with the latch  710 . This allows water to fill in the toilet bowl  130 . When the water level in the bowl tank  130  rises back to the default level (2˜3 L), the flush switching valve  900  closes up again. 
     INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY 
     As stated above, the water-saving toilet according to the present invention significantly reduces the amount of the water needed to flush a toilet, as compared with the conventional toilets. This was essentially achieved by a dynamic positioning of the waste discharge tube controlled by the balance between the weight of the discharge tube and an externally implemented weight. It also provides a much quieter operation due to the elimination of a siphon-based trap in the toilet bowl. 
     Furthermore, unlike the many currently available water-saving toilet models, it does not require an additional power source to assist the flushing operation, thus saving the energy. 
     Although the present invention has been illustrated with reference to embodiments of the present invention, various modifications are possible within the scope of the present invention by a person skilled in the art. Therefore, the scope of the present invention should be defined not by the illustrated embodiments but by the attached claims.