Patent Publication Number: US-6698034-B1

Title: Toilet rim dispenser for colored liquid

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates to liquid rim dispensers to be suspended from the rim of a toilet bowl in the path of flushing water during a flushing operation of the toilet, and including a bottle containing a lavatory freshner/cleaner liquid a quantity of which is delivered to the toilet during a flushing operation. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     A liquid rim dispenser of the above mentioned type is, for example, sold under the trade name Toilet Duck by Johnson Wax. The dispenser comprises a carrier with an upwardly extending tubular puncturing member with a bottom aperture and a fan-shaped plate with radially extending grooves whose innermost portions underlie the aperture. A bottle of liquid composition with a sealing cap is applied on the carrier so that the puncturing member pierces the cap and the liquid drains onto the carrier below. A predetermined volume of liquid composition is held by way of capillary action on the grooves for entrainment into a toilet during a flushing operation. The liquid rim dispenser is necessarily required to be more or less upright for containment of liquid composition in the grooves, however, since such a disposition can be easily upset by the action of flushing water, the liquid rim dispenser is susceptible to leakage therefrom. If the liquid composition is colored, the blue color being most often preferred, a streak or drops leave unpleasant stains on the wall of the toilet bowl. 
     A liquid rim dispenser is manufactured by Sano, Israel (Patent Application No. 134160) where a bottle with colored liquid composition is disposed in a toppled position over a carrier in a similar manner to the Toilet Duck described above. However, the Sano dispenser provides a cup under the bottle opening, the cup walls being higher than the opening. Thereby, a limited portion of concentrated colored liquid drained in the cup above the level of the bottle opening is always ready to be mixed with the flushing water. The cup is surrounded by a slotted wall conductive to the vigorous mixing of the colored composition with the flushing water. 
     Other liquid rim dispensers are disclosed, for example, in EP 0538957 and EP 0785315, in which a quantity of liquid composition is washed out from a porous mass made of sponge or sintered porous material during a flushing operation. 
     A toilet dispenser of a different type, disclosed in IL 85410 and directed to delivering colored solution to the toilet bowl, is designed for using a solid preparation dissolvable by the flushing water. It comprises a holder for the solid colored substance and a bath under the holder, the bath having two openings slightly extended by tubing so that the colored solution drops far from the bowl wall. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a liquid rim dispenser intended for suspension from a rim of a toilet bowl adjacent a wall thereof, in the path of flushing water during a flushing operation. The liquid rim dispenser comprises a basin with a basin wall and a basin bottom having a bottom opening, a cup with a cup wall and a cup bottom fixed within the basin, and a container with a colored staining liquid. The container has a discharge opening facing the bottom of the cup with a predetermined clearance therebetween. The dispenser is so configured that the discharge opening is lower than the cup wall, the bottom opening is lower than the cup wall and is located remote from the wall of the toilet bowl, and the bottom opening is higher than the lowest portion of the basin bottom, at least when the dispenser is suspended from the bowl rim. 
     The dispenser operates in the following way: the colored liquid seeps into the cup forming a first pool, and the discharge opening, which is the only access for air into the container, becomes submerged in the first pool. During a first flushing operation, the flushing water entrains the colored liquid from the first pool therewith into the toilet, spilling over the basin wall. A last portion of the flushing water is retained in the basin below the basin wall and is gradually drained from the dispenser through the bottom opening, dropping clear from the wall of the toiled bowl. A second pool of diluted color liquid is formed in the low portion of the basin bottom ready to be entrained with the flow of flushing water in a next flushing operation. This process is repeated until the container is empty. 
     The liquid rim dispenser preferably comprises two bottom openings disposed in a line generally parallel to the rim of the toilet bowl. The openings are preferably formed as drainage tubes extended beneath the bottom of the basin and curved so as to convey the dropping last portion of the flushing water farther from the wall of the toilet bowl. The drainage tubes may be also elevated above the bottom of the basin, thereby defining the low portion of the basin bottom. 
     The cup bottom is preferably elevated from the basin bottom, at least about the level of the drainage tubes&#39; inlets. 
     The wall of the basin and the wall of the cup are preferably complemented with a plurality of baffles and openings or slits therebetween so as to restrain the flow of flushing water and delay the entraining of the colored liquid into the toilet bowl. 
     In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the liquid rim dispenser consists of a holder including said basin and a rim handle, and a separate container in the form of a replaceable bottle. The holder is preferably molded as one piece of material. The opening of the replaceable bottle is preferably covered by a puncturable cap which is punctured by a blade integral with the cup bottom in the moment when a new bottle is replaced in the holder. 
     The present invention uses the well known physical phenomenon that atmospheric pressure acting on a surface area of a pool of liquid can support a column of liquid within an inverted vessel whose open end is submerged in the pool of liquid. The volume of the pool of liquid which accumulates in the cup is dependent on its height which in turn is dependent on a number of factors including the annular surface area of the pool, the viscosity of the liquid composition, its surface tension, and others. The liquid rim dispenser of the present invention can be readily adapted for use with a wide variety of liquid compositions having a viscosity within the range of 50 and 3,000 centipoises at 25° C. to meet different criteria in terms of color, foam forming, odor release, desired number of flushing operations per bottle, and other considerations. 
     The liquid rim dispenser of the present invention promotes effective dilution of the colored liquid in the flushing water by preparing at each flushing a pool of diluted liquid ready for washing away with the next flushing. The inventive liquid dispenser delays the draining of the basin towards the end of the flushing operation thereby preventing the waste of colored liquid with the first portions of flushing water which always go down the sewer. This is beneficial to the overall freshening and cleaning action of the liquid composition. Moreover, the bottom openings in the basin of the present dispenser are specially designed to avoid staining of the toilet bowl wall by the last drops of relatively concentrated colored liquid draining from the basin. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     In order to understand the invention and to see how it may be carried out in practice, a preferred embodiment will now be described, by way of a non-limiting example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: 
     FIG. 1 is a side sectional elevation of the liquid rim dispenser of the present invention in operative position suspended on the rim of a toilet bowl; 
     FIG. 2 is a frontal section of the liquid rim dispenser along line II—II in FIG. 3; and 
     FIG. 3 is a horizontal section of the liquid rim dispenser along line III—III in FIG.  2 . 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     With reference now to the Figures, there is shown a liquid rim dispenser  10  of the present invention, in use, i.e. suspended from a rim  12  of a toilet bowl adjacent a wall  14  thereof, so as to be located in the path of flushing water during a flushing operation of the toilet and above the surface of water  16  normally retained in the toilet bowl. 
     The liquid rim dispenser  10  includes a holder  18  of unitary construction, and a replacement bottle  20  detachably connectable to the holder  18  and containing a colored liquid  22  with active ingredients for cleaning and freshening a toilet. The bottle  20  has an elongated neck  24  terminating in a rim  26  defining a discharge opening initially sealed by a cap  28  snap-fitted onto the rim  26 . 
     The unitary holder  18  includes a suspension hook  30  for suspending the dispenser  10  from the rim  12  of a toilet bowl, and a basin  32  with a basin bottom  34  and basin wall with upper rim  35 . The basin  32  has two bottom openings  36  formed with tubular nipples  38 , remote from the toilet bowl rim. The basin wall has upward extending baffles  44  with slits therebetween. A cup  40  with a cup rim  42  and cup bottom  43  is formed within the basin  32 , elevated above the basin bottom  34 . The cup also has upward extending baffles  45  with slits therebetween. At the cup bottom  43 , there is an upwardly extending tubular blade  46  for puncturing the cap  28  on insertion of the bottle  20  into the holder  18 . The blade has a discharge slit  47 . 
     The bottle  20  is snapped and held in fixed position by three recesses  48 A,  48 B,  48 C cooperating with three matching protrusions  49 A,  49 B,  49 C on the holder  18 . In the fixed position, the bottle  20  is toppled over the cup  40  with the rim  26  within the cup  40 , and the discharge opening of the bottle has a predetermined clearance  51  above the cup bottom  43 . 
     The dispenser  10  is configured so that the rim of the bottle discharge opening  26 , at height H 26 , is lower than the cup rim  42  at height H 42 , and the bottom openings  36 , at height H 36 , are lower than the cup rim  42 . The openings  36  are normally located over the surface of water  16  in the bowl. There is a part  52  of the basin bottom  34  still lower than the bottom openings  36 , at height H 52 . The basin  32  can be filled up to the height H 35  of the upper rim  35 . It should be understood that the dispenser is most likely to assume a slightly inclined position, as for example shown in FIG. 1, and the above mentioned heights then refer to the lowest points of the rims  35  and  42 , the lower of the openings  36 , and the highest point of the rim  26 . 
     Due to this configuration, the colored liquid  22  from the bottle  20  seeps into the cup  40  through the discharge slit  47  and the clearance  51  to form a first pool  54 . Since the discharge opening of the bottle is entirely submerged in the pool  54  and there is no other access for air into the bottle  20 , the pressure P above the free surface of the colored liquid  22  in the bottle falls under the atmospheric pressure P 0  with the seeping of the liquid. Thus, the created vacuum allows pouring of a portion of the liquid only. 
     The use and the operation of the liquid rim dispenser  10  is as follows: 
     The bottle  20  is inserted into the holder  18  whereby the blade  46  punctures the bottle&#39;s cap  28  and the colored liquid drains into the cup  40  and floods the bottle&#39;s discharge opening in the pool  54  of liquid accumulated in the cup. The dispenser  10  is suspended from the rim  12  of a toilet bowl, in the path of the flushing water. During a flushing operation, the flushing water flows past the baffles  44  into the basin  32  where it vigorously mixes with a color liquid solution resident in the lower part  52  of the basin from a previous flushing operation. The flushing water also mixes with the concentrated color liquid pool  54  in the cup  40 , penetrating past baffles  45 , and fills the basin  32  up to the height H 35  before flowing therefrom into the toilet. Due to the turbulent flow of the flushing water through the basin, air bubbles enter into the discharge opening of the bottle  20 , restoring the atmospheric pressure P=P 0  above the free surface of the colored liquid in the bottle whereby the bottle is ready to deliver the next portion of colored liquid to the cup  40 . 
     The baffles  44  and  45  over the basin wall  35  and the cup wall  42  limit the free flow of flushing water through the basin and delay its flooding, while the relatively narrow bottom openings  36  do not let the flooded basin to drain immediately. As a result, the basin  32  remains almost full of diluted colored liquid by the end of the flushing operation. Then the solution is gradually discharged through the bottom openings  36 , until the bottle  20  administers a new portion of colored liquid into the cup  40 , and the level of solution in the basin falls to the lower of the openings  36 , leaving a second pool in the part  52  ready for the next flushing. The process is repeated until the bottle  20  is empty. 
     Since, first, the last portions of colored liquid that drop from the openings  36  are not concentrated but diluted, and second, the openings  36  are disposed far from the bowl wall  14 , staining of the bowl wall with concentrated colored liquid is reduced or avoided altogether. At the same time, due to the limited and delayed access of the flushing water to the dispenser, the colored liquid is not uselessly flushed into the toilet but is delivered to the water surface  16  after the flushing. 
     It should be understood that, between the flushing operations, the portion of concentrated liquid in the first pool  54  must be separated from the liquid solution in the second pool  52  to avoid diluting of the liquid in the bottle by diffusion. Also, it is desirable to keep the cup  40  wide open for easier flushing and mixing. Given that the volume of the pool  54  should be limited to an optimal quantity of concentrated color liquid per flushing operation, the cup  40  is preferably designed to be relatively wide and shallow, i.e. the cup rim  42  to be relatively low. But then there is a chance that the pools  54  and  52  may communicate with each other, especially if the dispenser assumes a more inclined position. To warrant the separation of pools  54  and  52  for a wider range of suspension angles, and thus the operability for varying shapes of toilet bowls, the cup bottom  43  is preferably not flush with the basin bottom  34  but is rather elevated above the latter, at least to about the height of the bottom openings  36 . 
     While the invention has been described with respect to a limited number of embodiments, it will be appreciated that many variations, modifications and other applications of the invention can be made which fall within the scope of the claims appended hereto. For example, the liquid rim dispenser of the present invention can be formed with one bottom opening, the bottom openings may be formed with an extended downward outlet or with elevated inlet, the cup may be formed without the puncturing blade.