Patent Publication Number: US-6336229-B1

Title: Water saving apparatus for water tank

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates to a toilet tank and particularly a toilet water tank that has a valve cap for closing water outlet tightly and a water saving means to couple with the valve cap for saving toilet flush water. 
     The awareness and concerns for environmental protection and resources conservation have been wide spread around the world in recent years. Water is one of the critical resources affecting people&#39;s life everyday. Fresh water has limited supply and its availability highly depends on geographical and weather conditions which are mostly out of people&#39;s control. Hence water conservation is an issue many people are keenly aware of nowadays. To help people to conserve water resource and reduce waste, a wide variety of water saving devices and facilities have been developed and introduced over the years. Some statistics show that, among people&#39;s water consumption in their daily life, consumption of toilet flush water is even greater than drinking water. Hence many water saving devices for toilet use have been proposed and developed to reduce water waste. FIG. 1 and 2 show a conventional toilet tank for this purpose. It has two handles outside the tank for controlling a valve inside the tank. One handle may open the valve to a larger degree for releasing a larger amount of water to flush feces while another handle may open the valve to a smaller degree for releasing a smaller amount of water to flush urine. It may save water consumption. However the valve is usually integrally made of a soft rubber which cannot close water outlet tightly. Water leakage through the valve is prone to happen. There is still room for improvement. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It is an object of this invention to provide a water saving toilet tank that has a novel stop valve means and a linkage bar means to control and release different amount of water through a water outlet for flushing feces and urine so that water may be used more effectively and economically. 
     According to this invention, the tank has two beams to actuate a movable strut which in turn may cause a hollow ball to float or sink. The floating hollow ball may open the water outlet rapidly for releasing a required amount of water to flush feces. The sinking hollow ball will close the water outlet sooner for releasing a smaller amount of water to flush urine. The height of the tank ball may be adjusted for changing amount of water to be released for flushing urine. 
     In one aspect of this invention, the tank includes a stop valve means and a linkage bar means located above the stop valve means. The stop valve means and linkage bar means are connected by two chains at two ends thereof. 
     The stop valve means is located above a water outlet and includes a valve cap which has a round opening and a pair of valve lugs, a movable strut which engages with two valve disks and has a transverse trough and a wedge slot formed at an upper section thereof, a semi-spherical hollow ball having an inlet and a through hole for water and air to circulate therethrough, a rocker which has one end engageable with the transverse trough and another end formed a pinch slot and a rocker lug in the middle thereof pivotally engaged with the valve lugs for functioning like a lever. 
     The linkage bar means includes a flush handle located outside the tank, a shaft sleeve located inside the tank which has one end provided with two notches and three levers each has a bore formed therein, a shaft stem housed in the shaft sleeve having two fingers at one end thereof, and two beams each has one end formed a trigger end and another end having a plurality of slant openings and a pivot strut located near the trigger end pivotally engageable with the bore of the shaft sleeve. 
     There are further a tank ball and two chains in the tank. The tank ball has an aperture. One chain has one end engaged with the aperture of the tank ball and another end engaged with the wedge slot of the movable strut. Another chain has one end engaged with the slant opening and another end engaged with the pinch slot of the rocker. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The invention, as well as its many advantages, may be further understood by the following detailed description and drawings, in which: 
     FIG. 1 is an exploded view of a flush control mechanism for a conventional toilet tank. 
     FIG. 2 is a schematic side view of the flush mechanism according to FIG.  1 . 
     FIG. 3 is an exploded view of a stop valve means of this invention. 
     FIG. 4 is perspective view of a stop valve means of this invention. 
     FIG. 5 is an exploded view of a linkage bar means of this invention. 
     FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a linkage bar means of this invention. 
     FIG. 7 is a side view of this invention. 
     FIG. 8A is a fragmentary side view of a linkage bar means of this invention, at an operation state. 
     FIG. 8B is a fragmentary side view of a linkage bar means of this invention, at another operation state. 
     FIG. 9A is a fragmentary sectional view of a stop valve means of this invention, at an operation state. 
     FIG. 9B is a fragmentary sectional view of a stop valve means of this invention, at another operation state. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Referring to FIG. 3,  4  and  5 , the water saving apparatus for water tank according to this invention includes broadly a stop valve means  20 , a linkage bar means  30  located above the stop valve means  20 , and two chains  50  and  51  which have respectively two ends for linking the stop vave means  20  and linkage bar means  30 . Aforesaid means and chains are housed in a tank  10  (shown in FIG.  6 ). 
     The stop valve means  20  is located above a water outlet  11  shown in FIG. 7) and includes the following components: 
     A valve cap  21  has a round opening  210  in the center, an annular flange  211  extended below the opening  210 , two arms  212  extended outward from one side thereof, and two valve lugs  213  located at another side thereof opposite to the arms  212  and extended upward from the top surface of the valve cap  21 . The arms  212  are pivotally engaged with a pipe  12  (FIG. 7) connected with the water outlet  11  for the valve cap  21  to close or open the outlet  11  to control the flow of flush water. 
     A movable strut  22  has two annular recess rings  220  formed at a lower portion thereof for respectively engaging with a first valve disk  221  and a second valve disk  222 , and an upper end which has a transverse trough  223  and a wedge slot  224  formed therein. 
     A position ring  23  is fixedly located in the annular flange  211  (also shown in FIG. 9A) for the first valve disk  221  to move between the valve cap  21  and position ring  23  without slipping out. 
     A hollow ball  24  is formed in a semi-spherical shape for pressing against the annular flange  211  and has an inlet  240  formed in the side wall at a middle section for circulating air or water, and a through hole  241  formed at the lower portion thereof adjacent the water outlet  11  to facilitate air or water circulation (FIG.  9 A). 
     A gasket  25  is located between the valve cap  21  and hollow ball  24  (FIG.  9 A). 
     A rocker  26  has one end engaged with the transverse trough  223  and another end formed a pinch slot  260 , and a rocker lug  261  located in a middle portion thereof for pivotally engaging with the valve lugs  213  (FIG.  9 A). 
     The linkage bar means  30  includes the following components (referring to FIG.  5  and  6 ): 
     A handle  31  is located outside the tank  10  and includes a protrusive strut  310  in the center of an inner side, a spline  311  formed in the protrusive strut  310 , a screw nut  312  and a washer  313 . 
     A shaft sleeve  32  is located inside the tank  10  and has a first end formed with external screw threads  320  for fastening to a wall of the tank  10  through the screw nut  312 , and a second end provided with a first notch  321  which has a selected first depth and a first opening pointing to a first direction, and a second notch  322  which has a selected second depth different from the first depth and a second opening pointing to a second direction different from the first direction. The second end further has a first lever  323 , a second lever  324  and a third lever  325  extended outward from the side wall of the shaft sleeve  32 . The first lever  323  is adjacent the first notch  321 . The second lever  324  is located between the notches  321  and  322 . The third lever  325  is adjacent the second notch  322 . All the levers  323 ,  324  and  325  have respectively a bore  326  formed therein. 
     A shaft stem  33  is housed in the shaft sleeve  32  and has one end formed a spline shaft  330  engageable with the spline  311 , and another end provided with a first finger  331  and second ginger  332 . 
     A first beam  34  has a plurality of first slant openings  340  located at one end, a protrusive first trigger end  341  formed at another end thereof, and a first pivot strut  342  extended transversely at two opposite sides at a selected location between the first slant openings  340  and first trigger end  341 . 
     A second beam  35  is shorter than the first beam  34  and has a plurality of second slant openings  350  located at one end, a protrusive second trigger end  351  formed at another end thereof, and a second pivot strut  352  extended transversely at two opposite sides at a selected location between the second slant openings  350  and second trigger end  351 . 
     A tank ball  40  has a through aperture  41  (FIG.  7 ). 
     A first chain  50  and a second chain  51  each made by stringing a plurality of beads  53  through a piece of rope (FIG.  7 ). The first chain  50  runs through the through aperture  41  of the tank ball  40  and has a clip  52  clamped at a selected location thereof for setting the maximum floating height of the tank ball  40 . The first chain  50  has the top end engaged with one of the second slant openings  350  and the bottom end thereof engaged with the wedge slot  224  (also shown in FIG.  4 ). The second chain  51  has the top end engaged with one of the first slant openings  340  and the bottom end thereof engaged with the pinch slot  260  (also shown in FIG.  4  and  7 ). 
     When this invention is in use (shown in FIG. 7,  8 A and  9 A), the handle  31  may be moved downward. The first finger  331  will be turned downward to press against the first trigger end  341  downward. The first beam  34 , functioning like a lever, will move the second chain  51  upward and pull the rocker  26  upward at the end of the pinch slot  261 . Then another end of the rocker  26  will press the movable strut  22  downward to make the second valve disk  222  closing the through hole  241 . In the mean time, the first valve disk  221  also will be moved downward to close the position ring  23 . The hollow ball  24  thus becomes buoyant. When pulling up by the floating tank ball  40 , the valve cap  21  may be lifted rapidly from the water outlet  11  to release a large amount of water for flushing feces. 
     When the handle  31  is moved upward (FIG. 7,  8 B and  9 B), the  20  second finger  332  will be turned to press the second trigger end  351  downward. The second beam  35 , acting as a lever, will move the first chain  50  upward and pull the movable strut  22  upward. The resilient force of the first valve disk  221  will also aid to push the movable strut  22  upward. The second valve disk  222  will be moved away from the through hole  241 . Then air may be circulated through the inlet  240  and though hole  241  and results in the hollow ball  24  losing buoyant force. The floating force of the tank ball  40  will move the valve cap  21  upward for flushing water. When water level in the tank  10  drops lower, the tank ball  40  also drops lower. When the valve cap  21  drops down and closing the water outlet  11 , a strong water suction force will drag the valve cap  21  downward rapidly to stop water release. Hence water will be discharged at a smaller amount for flushing urine to save water consumption. 
     As a result, this invention may offers the following advantages: 
     1. Through moving the handle  31  downward or upward, the first beam  34  or second beam  35  may be moved up respectively for pressing the movable strut  22  downward or pulling the movable strut  22  upward. The hollow ball  24  may become buoyant (with the downward strut  22 ), which when coupling with the floating tank ball  40 , may cause the tank  10  to release a large amount of water for flushing feces. On the other hand, the hollow ball  24  will become not buoyant (with the upward strut  22 ) because of air circulation through inlet  240  and through hole  241 ,. As a result, the tank ball  40  will control the tank  10  to release a small amount of water to flush urine for saving water. 
     2. The first valve disk  221  has resilient force to aid the pulling or pushing force for moving the movable strut  22  and second valve disk  222  up or down rapidly to perform valve function. 
     3. The bead structure of the chains  50  and  51  enables the clip  52  to clamp at a selected height of the chain for setting the tank ball  40  at a high desired easily and effectively. The chains  50  and  51  may be integrally formed by stringing a rope through the beads  53  for a length desired. The chains may respectively engage the movable strut  22  with the second beam  35 , and engage the rocker  26  with the first beam  34 , or wind around the first and second slant openings  340  and  350  flexibly at a number of times desired.