Patent Publication Number: US-2009235445-A1

Title: External urinal for portable toilets

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application claims priority benefit to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/070,481, the entirety of which is incorporated by reference herein. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND  
     1. Field of Invention 
     This invention relates to toilets and sanitary facilities in general, and to non plumbed, toilet assemblies in particular. 
     2. Background 
     Portable toilet assemblies are commonly used at outdoor recreational events, parks, concerts, sporting events, and wherever toilets are needed in locations without proper plumbing. Other portable toilet designs have both a standard toilet and several have an additional urinal inside the housing of the portable toilet assembly. This allows both males and females to relieve themselves in a sanitary environment. Often however the number of people in need of these facilities greatly exceeds the number of facilities available at a given time causing people to wait uncomfortably in long lines or even relieve themselves in non sanitary environments. 
     Several types of portable urinals were designed to provide facilities for urination only. These designs create a single facility for urination but require the extra expense and set up time of an extra portable toilet assembly 
     What is needed is an embodiment that can increase the number of people whom can use a single portable toilet assembly at the same time with minimal extra expense. 
     SUMMARY 
     The external urinal embodiment of this invention comprises of a urine receiving basin mounting to the external wall of a base portable toilet and draining into the base portable toilet&#39;s waste tank. 
    
    
     
       DRAWINGS—FIGURES  
       In the drawings, closely related figures have the same number but different alphabetic suffixes. 
         FIG. 1A-B  shows the external urinal attached to a single wall of a base portable toilet. 
         FIG. 2A-B  shows the external urinal with a concave basin in the wall of a base portable toilet. 
         FIG. 3A-G  shows various arrangements base portable toilets using multiple external urinals. 
         FIG. 4A-C  shows various arrangements for privacy screens. 
         FIG. 5A  details arrangement for basins. 
         FIG. 6A  shows arrangement utilizing an external waste tank. 
     
    
    
     DRAWINGS—REFERENCE NUMERALS  
       20  Base portable toilet 
       22  Base portable toilet waste tank 
       24  Hole in base portable toilet external wall 
       26  Hole in base portable toilet waste tank 
       28  Basin 
       30  Drain pipe 
       34  Cap 
       36  Protection Screen 
       38  Cover 
       40  Mounting devices 
       42  Privacy screen 
       44  External waste tank 
       46  Privacy screen hinge 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION—FIG A—FIRST EMBODIMENT 
     One embodiment of the external urinal is illustrated in  FIGS. 1A and 1B  (side angle views). The base portable toilet  20  includes a waste tank  22 , toilet, and surrounding walls, floor, and ceiling. The external basin  28  is attached to an external wall of the base portable toilet  20  with mounting device(s)  40 . A hole in the base portable toilet external wall  24  allows the drain pipe  30  to pass through the wall and then attach to the base portable toilet waste tank  22  at the hole in the portable toilet waste tank  26 . 
     An optional protection screen  36  can be placed over the hole in the basin  28 . An optional cap  34  can be placed over the hole in the basin  28  when not in use. An optional cover  38  can also be placed over the basin  28 . An optional privacy screen  42  can also be attached to the base portable toilet  20  in several different size, shapes and positions. 
     OPERATION—FIG.  1 A-B 
     The manner of attaching the external urinal may vary slightly depending on the size, shape, and construction of the base portable toilet  20  and the setup of the external urinal. A hole in the external wall  24  the same size as the outer dimension of the drain pipe  30  is drilled in the base portable. Another hole the same size is drilled in the base portable toilet waste tank  26 . The external urinal is then attached to the external wall of the base portable toilet  20  with the mounting devices  40 . The drain pipe  30  attaches to the basin  28  outlet and passes through the hole in the base portable toilet external wall  24 . The other end of the drain pipe  30  is attached to the base portable toilet waste tank  22  at the hole in the portable toilet waste tank  26 . 
     Optional privacy screens  42 , protection screens  36 , and cover  38  can also be utilized. 
     The manner of the using the external urinal is the same as using a standard urinal. The user will walk up to the external basin  28  and urinate into the basin. The urine will pass through the basin outlet into the drain pipe  30  and then deposit in the base portable toilet waste tank  22 . 
     FIG.  2 —ADDITIONAL EMBODIMENTS 
       FIGS. 2A and 2B  (side angle views) show the external basin  28  inserted into the wall of the base portable toilet  20 . Instead of having the external basin  28  protruding from the wall, the wall is molded with a concave (could also be convex) external basin  28  formed into the wall itself. For existing base portable toilets  20  the external basin  28  could also be inserted into the external wall by cutting a hole  24  the size and shape of the basin. This molded basin  28  will include the hole in the base portable toilet external wall  24 . The molded shape could include a ridge or cover around the upper edge of the basin  28  to prohibit precipitation from running down the wall of the base portable toilet  20  into the external basin  28 . The drain pipe  30  will attach to the basin outlet and continue to the hole in the base portable toilet waste tank  26 . The manner of attaching the drain pipe  30  would be the same as in  FIG. 1 . If the basin is molded into the portable toilet wall there would be no need to attach the basin to the base portable toilet wall with mounting devices  40 . The manner of using this embodiment of the external urinal is identical to that of  FIG. 1 . 
     FIG.  3 A-G—ADDITIONAL EMBODIMENTS 
       FIG. 3A  (side angle view) shows base portable toilets  20  set up side by side with space between them for one external urinal on the right or left side wall. An external urinal is attached to one side wall of each base portable toilet  20 . Privacy screens  42  can be set up on either side of the external urinal area. 
       FIG. 3B  (front view) shows base portable toilets  20  set up side by side with space between them for two external urinals, one on each side wall. This is the same design as  FIG. 3A  except urinals are place on both side walls of the base portable toilet  20 . The first and last units may only have one external urinal. 
       FIG. 3C  (back view) shows base portable toilets  20  set up side by side with no space between each unit. External urinals are attached to the back wall of each base portable toilet  20 . 
       FIG. 3D  (top view) shows base portable toilets  20  set up side by side with space between them for one or two external urinals and an external urinal attached to the back wall. This is a combination of the arrangements in  FIGS. 3B and 3C . 
       FIG. 3E  (top view) shows the base portable toilets  20  organized into a square (a rectangle or any polygonal shape would suffice) with no space between each unit. The base portable toilet&#39;s  20  door faces outward from the center of the square and on the back wall of the unit an external urinal is installed. A gap is left open in the square for users to enter the inside of the shape to use one of the external urinals. The corner units of base portable toilets  20  can be turned to maximize efficiency forming an octagon shape. Any size or type of polynomial could be used instead of a square, rectangle or octagon. This arrangement could also be used with spaces between the base portable toilets  20  for one or two external urinals to be placed on the side walls as well with a back wall privacy screen  42 . For larger sized polynomials additional base portable toilets  20  with external urinals attached to all sides could be placed in the center of the polynomial as displayed in  FIG. 3F  (top angle view). 
       FIG. 3G  (top angle view) shows four base portable toilets  20  set up with each units back corners touching the unit on each sides back corner. The arrangement creates a shape similar to a plus sign with a void in the middle. External urinals are then attached to the left and right side walls of the base portable toilet  20 . 
     FIG.  4 A-E ADDITIONAL EMBODIMENTS 
       FIG. 4A  (side angle view) shows a privacy screen  42  attached to the front side wall of the base portable toilet  20 . 
       FIG. 4B  (front view) shows a privacy screen  42  hinged to the base wall of a base portable toilet  20 . The optional privacy screen hinge  46  can be attached directly to the walls of the base portable toilet  20  or as pictured in the figure the hinge  46  can attach to a static privacy screen that is then attached to the base wall. Instead of having hinges on both sides, a single hinged privacy screen could be attached to just one side. 
       FIG. 4C  (top view) shows an additional privacy screen  42  attached between two base portable toilets  20  back walls. This type of privacy screen  42  could be a solid material that attaches to both toilets, or could be a flexible material that attaches to one base toilet and rolls or folds out to attach onto the second base toilet. 
     A privacy screen  42  could also attach to an arced or straight pole that connects between the two top corners of the base portable toilet  20 . The privacy screen  42  can either be made of a flexible material that slides along the pole similar to a shower curtain or a more rigid material could also be used in an accordion style. The privacy screen  42  could also be made of strips of material allowing users to walk through the screen and have it close behind them. 
     A privacy screen  42  could also attach to a pole attached to the upper corner or elsewhere on the base portable toilet  20  wall. The privacy screen then hangs down from this pole. This can be used in multiple locations to provide the desired level of privacy. The poles could be hinged so they can collapse for easier transportation. 
     FIG.  5 A ADDITIONAL EMBODIMENTS 
       FIG. 5A  shows a basin  28  attached to the base portable toilet  20  wall in a manner that allows the user to use the external urinal with their back facing the public area. 
     An optional cover  38  can be installed over the top portion of the basin  28 . This cover  38  is to help prevent rain or other forms of precipitation from entering the external urinal. This cover could have a flat top or even molded to hold a drink cup. 
     Another shape for the basin  28  is designed to have flexible or hinged edges that can fold, allowing the basin to flatten against the wall of the base portable toilet  20 . This would be beneficial for transportation, allowing the external urinal to stay attached to the base portable toilets  20  when they are placed on a truck or trailer with minimal space between each toilet. 
     FIG.  6 A ADDITIONAL EMBODIMENTS 
       FIG. 6A  shows an external waste tank  44  which is placed vertically under the external urinal. The basin  28  can be directly attached to the external waste tank  44  with the basin outlet opening into the external waste tank. The external waste tank  44  can be placed next to or attached to the base portable toilet  20 . 
     ADVANTAGES 
     From the descriptions above, a number of advantages of some embodiments of the external urinal become evident:
         (a) By doubling, tripling, or quadrupling the number of users whom can use a single base portable toilet at one time the wait time to use a portable toilet will be greatly reduced. Users will have more time to enjoy and spend money at the location or event they are interested in without spending time in unpleasant lines.   (b) The external urinal will be easily installed and easily detached from the external walls of base units for quick setup, tear down, and transportation. This will enable a single portable toilet to be used by multiple people with just slightly more time than it takes to set up an individual portable toilet. For new construction of base units it will also be possible to mold a concave (or convex) external urinal in the outside wall(s) of base units eliminating any extra set up.   (c) The different ways to organize base portable toilets with external urinals can create the sense of a partitioned restroom facility providing the necessary amount of privacy without the time and cost of setting up rigid construction.       

     CONCLUSIONS, RAMIFICATIONS, AND SCOPE  
     Accordingly, the reader will see that the external urinal of the various embodiments can be used to create extra capacity from a single base portable toilet helping to reduce lines for portable restrooms. Furthermore, the external urinal has the additional advantages that:
         it can be installed and removed from the base portable toilets without requiring the manufacturer to modify the base portable toilets current design;   it contains few parts to connect and disconnect to allow quicker set-up and take down;   it is small and light weight to allow more effective transportation; and   it can be washed and sanitized more easily.       

     Although the description above contains many specificities, these should not be construed as limiting the scope of the embodiment but as merely providing illustrations of some of the presently preferred embodiments. For example the external basin can have other shapes such as circular, oval, trapezoidal, triangular, concave, convex, collapsible, etc.; the external urinal can be connected to the base portable toilet in a variety of fashions such as rivets, key holes, bolts, adhesives, hooks, clasps, clamps, pins, velcro, latches, etc; the privacy screen(s) can have other shapes, sizes, materials, thickness, and connections; some parts may stay permanently attached to the base portable toilets other parts may be removed for transportation; the different parts may be made out of a variety of materials such as plastic, metal, vinyl, ceramic, fiberglass, or any type of composite, etc; the base portable toilets with attached external urinals can be arranged in a variety of patterns; the external urinals can be connected to any structure that has a waste tank, the external urinal can be independent when used with its own waste tank, etc. 
     Thus the scope of the embodiment should be determined by the appended claims and their legal equivalents, rather than by the examples given.