Patent Publication Number: US-6212696-B1

Title: Toilet bowl with improved access opening

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates generally to plumbing fixtures and, more particularly, to a convenient access to the trap of a toilet bowl for clearing obstructions therein. 
     The trap or siphon of a toilet bowl often becomes clogged with a variety of materials, such as children&#39;s toys, paper, waste, bathroom articles, or the like. While some obstructions may be dislodged using a plumber&#39;s snake, other obstructions cannot be removed except by disconnecting the toilet, dismounting the toilet from the floor, removing the obstruction from the trap, and then remounting the toilet. This procedure is inconvenient, expensive, and may require the assistance of a plumber. 
     Various toilet bowl constructions have been proposed for providing access to the trap of a toilet bowl for removing an obstruction therefrom, such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,376,313 and 3,681,791. While such constructions utilize an opening through the exterior toilet bowl wall, they require the use of one or more fasteners and tools to seal a closure member over the opening. The necessary fasteners and tools may become lost and are inconvenient when an obstruction is desired to be quickly removed. 
     It is therefore desirable to have a toilet bowl construction which provides direct access to the trap. It is further desirable to have a toilet bowl construction in which the access opening is sealed during normal operation. Finally, it is desirable that the sealing member can be inserted or removed from the access opening without the use of any tools or fasteners. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Accordingly, the improved toilet bowl construction according to the present invention utilizes a toilet bowl having exterior walls which enclose a siphon or trap therein. The siphon includes an upwardly extending channel connected at an upper end thereof to a downwardly extending channel. The channels are separated by a partition within the toilet bowl. The toilet bowl presents a circular opening through a wall thereof and is positioned to communicate with both the upwardly and downwardly extending channels of the siphon. The opening extends through a side, front, or rear wall of the toilet bowl depending upon the particular configuration of the siphon therein. 
     The improved toilet bowl construction further includes an annular cover member having a lever extending therethrough. The lever is pivotally coupled to the cover member and is movable between a first position and a second position displaced from the first position. A resilient sealing member having an annular configuration substantially similar to the cover member is coupled thereto. The diameter of the sealing member is slightly larger than the diameter of the access opening. The lever bears against a central hub on the sealing member when the lever is placed in the second position. A user movement of the lever to a position bearing against the sealing member causes the diameter of the sealing member to decrease sufficiently so as to allow the sealing member to be inserted into the access opening. Releasing the lever to its first non-bearing position allows the diameter of the sealing member to increase so as to tightly seat within the access opening. A user may remove the sealing member from the access opening by again moving the lever to the position bearing against the sealing member and then extracting the sealing member from the opening. 
     It is therefore a general object of this invention to provide a toilet bowl construction which provides access to a trap or siphon positioned internally therein. 
     Another object of this invention is to provide a toilet bowl construction, as aforesaid, which provides access to both upwardly and downwardly flowing channels of the trap. 
     Still another object of this invention is to provide a toilet bowl construction, as aforesaid, having a sealing member which covers and seals the access opening during normal operation. 
     Yet another object of this invention is to provide a toilet bowl construction, as aforesaid, in which the sealing member is held within the access opening without the use of fasteners. 
     A further object of this invention is to provide a toilet bowl construction, as aforesaid, in which the sealing member can be inserted into or removed from the access opening without the use of tools. 
     Other objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein is set forth by way of illustration and example, an embodiment of this invention. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the improved toilet bowl construction according to the present invention; 
     FIG. 2 is a side view of the toilet bowl construction as in FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 3 is a rear view of the toilet bowl construction as in FIG. 1 with a portion of the rear wall broken away to show the sealing assembly; 
     FIG. 4A is a front perspective view of the sealing assembly ; 
     FIG. 4B is a perspective view as in FIG. 4A with the cap removed from the closure member; 
     FIG. 4C is an enlarged view of the means for releasing the protective cap from the cover member; 
     FIG. 5A is a side view of the sealing assembly of FIG. 4A; 
     FIG. 5B is a sectional view of the sealing assembly taken along line  5 B— 5 B of FIG. 5A; 
     FIG. 6A is an enlarged view of the sealing assembly inserted into the access opening as in FIG. 3; 
     FIG. 6B is an enlarged view of the attachment of the sealing member to the cover member; 
     FIG. 7A is a rear perspective view of the sealing assembly; 
     FIG. 7B is a perspective view of the sealing assembly as in FIG. 7A with the sealing member removed and with the levers in a first non-extended configuration; 
     FIG. 8 is a perspective view as in FIG. 7B on an enlarged scale with the levers in a second extended configuration; and 
     FIG. 9 is an exploded view of the sealing assembly of FIG.  7 A. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Turning more particularly to the drawings, FIGS. 1 and 2 show an improved toilet bowl construction according to the present invention. The improved construction includes a toilet bowl  10  or commode having external front  14 , side  12 , and rear  16  walls. The toilet bowl  10  includes a siphon  18  or trap extending within the rear portion of the toilet bowl  10 . The siphon  18  includes an upwardly extending channel  20  which is connected at its uppermost end  22  to a downwardly extending channel  24 . An inner wall or partition  26  separates the upwardly extending channel  20  from the downwardly extending channel  24  except at the upper end  22  thereof. 
     A circular access opening  28  extends through a side wall  12  of the toilet bowl  10  and communicates with the siphon  18  therein. The opening  28  is positioned at the upper end  22  so as to communicate with both the upwardly  20  and downwardly  24  extending channels of the siphon  18 . Thus, obstructions in any portion of the siphon  18  may be removed through the access opening  28 . It is understood that while the opening  28  extends through a side wall  12  of the toilet bowl illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, the opening may extend through the front  14  or rear  16  wall depending on the particular construction of the toilet bowl. 
     With reference to FIG. 9, the improved toilet bowl construction further includes a sealing assembly  29  having a cover member  30 , a sealing member  60 , and a cap  66 . The cover member  30  presents a generally annular configuration. An exterior side  32  of the cover member  30  defines a pair of spaced apart recesses  34 , each recess  34  being large enough to receive the finger or thumb of a person therein (FIG.  4 B). The cover member  30  further includes an interior side  46  having a rim  48  extending thereabout to form an interior space. Two pair of spaced apart brackets  50  are mounted to the interior side  46  of the cover member  30  (FIG.  9 ). 
     A pair of levers  36  extend through the cover member  30  (FIG.  5 B). Each lever  36  includes a first end  38  which extends into a respective recess  34  in the exterior side  32  of the cover member  30  (FIGS.  4 B and  5 B). Each lever  36  further includes a second end  40  which extends into the interior space of the interior side  46  of the cover member  30 . An axle  44  is integrally connected to the second end  40  of each lever  36  and is pivotally coupled to a pair of brackets  50 . Each axle  44  is therefore a pivot axis for a respective lever  36 . Each lever  36  is freely pivotal thereabout upon movement of the first end  38  by a user. 
     Each lever  36  further includes a flange  42  integral connected to the second end  40  thereof. In a first position, each flange  42  is parallel to the interior side  46  of the cover member (FIG. 7B) while free ends of said flanges  42  are displaced from the interior side  46  when the levers  36  are pivoted to a second position (FIG.  8 ). 
     The sealing member  60  includes a rim  62  having a diameter slightly greater than the diameter of the cover member rim  48 . The sealing member  60  is securely coupled to the cover member  30  by frictionally fitting the sealing member rim  62  over nubs  52  extending from the cover member rim  48  (FIG.  6 B). The sealing member  60  further includes a hub  64  concentrically mounted on the interior side  46  thereof and extending therefrom (FIG.  5 B). In the first position (FIG.  7 B), the flanges  42  are adjacent to the hub  64 , whereas the flanges  42  bear against the hub  64  when placed in the displaced position (FIG.  8 ). The sealing member  60  is formed of a resilient material, such as a thin plastic material, such that the diameter thereof is decreased as the hub  64  is pushed outwardly by the flanges  42 . More particularly, the sealing member rim  62  grips the cover member rim  48  more tightly as the hub  64  is outwardly extended, thus decreasing the diameter of the sealing member  60 . 
     Another rim  54  extends about the exterior side  32  of the cover member (FIGS.  4 B and  9 ). The cap  66  also includes a rim  68  presenting a diameter slightly smaller than the diameter of the cover member rim  54  such that the cap  66  may be releasably coupled to the cover member  30  in a friction fit relationship (FIG.  5 B). The rim  68  of the cap  66  presents a notch  70  adapted to receive a screwdriver or the like therein for separating the cap  66  from the cover member  30  (FIG.  4 C). A wall  72  completely extends between the edges of the rim  68  such that access to the levers  36  of the cover member  30  is prevented when the cap  66  is coupled thereto. 
     In operation, the access opening  28  is covered by the sealing assembly  29  when access to the siphon  18  of the toilet bowl  10  is not desired. To insert and seat the sealing member  60  into the opening  28 , a user depresses the first end  38  of one or both levers  36  which extend into the recesses  34  of the cover member  30 . Preferably, the levers  36  are simultaneously depressed by squeezing the levers  36  together with the thumb and fingers of a user&#39;s hand. Depression of first ends  38  causes the levers to pivot such that the flanges  42  on the second ends  40  of the levers  36  bear against the hub  64  of the resilient sealing member  60 . As the hub  64  is outwardly extended, the diameter of the sealing member is decreased to facilitate insertion of the sealing member  60  into the access opening  28 . 
     A release of the lever first ends  38  causes the levers to pivot to a non-bearing position (FIG.  7 B). In turn, the diameter of the sealing member  60  increases to create a tight seal within the opening  28 . The cap  66  may then be frictionally mounted to the cover member  30  so as to prevent inadvertent movement of the levers  36  which may result in leakage from the toilet bowl  10 . 
     When access to the siphon  18  is desired, the sealing assembly may be removed from the access opening  28  in a manner similar to that required for insertion. The cap  66  is removed from the cover member  30 . The first ends  38  of the levers  36  are squeezed together to pivot the levers  36  and force the flanges  42  to bear against the hub  64  of the sealing member  60 . With the levers  36  in a bearing position (FIG.  8 ), the diameter of the sealing member  60  is decreased, allowing the sealing assembly  29  to be extracted from the opening  28 . 
     Accordingly, it can be seen that the improved toilet bowl construction provides convenient access to the siphon or trap of a commode without the use of tools or fasteners. 
     It is understood that while certain forms of this invention have been illustrated and described, it is not limited thereto except insofar as such limitations are included in the following claims and allowable functional equivalents thereof.