Patent Abstract:
A toilet lever system includes a body for extending through a toilet wall, a stem extending through the body for movement relative to the body, a decorative flange covering the stem and removeably attaching to the body, and a handle attaching to the stem.

Full Description:
RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/374,023, which was filed Aug. 16, 2010. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND 
     Toilet levers are well known. Typically, a lever, which is manipulated by the user, rotates a spindle that rotates a lever to activate a toilet valve. 
     Some toilet levers become noisy and hard to use over time. 
     SUMMARY 
     According to an exemplar herein, a toilet lever system includes a hollow body for extending through a toilet wall, a stem extending through the hollow body for movement relative to the body, a decorative flange covering the stem and removably attaching to the body, and a handle attaching to the stem. 
     According to a further exemplar herein, a kit has a hollow body for extending through a toilet wall, the hollow body having an end flange greater than an opening of a hole in the toilet wall, a stem extending through the hollow body for movement relative to the body, a plurality of flanges for covering a length of the stem and removably attaching to the hollow body the flange having first decorative features, a plurality of portions for covering an end of the stem and removably attaching to the stem, the portion having decorative features and a plurality handles for attaching to the portion the handle having decorative features. 
     According to a still further exemplar herein, a method for assembling a toilet flush system includes providing a body for extending through a toilet wall, providing a stem extending through the body for movement relative to the body, providing more than one flanges for covering the stem, the more than one flanges removably attaching to the body the more than one flanges having decorative features, and providing more than one handles for rotating the stem, the more than one handle having decorative features. Once provide the method further includes selecting one of the more than one flange, selecting one of the more than one handle, and attaching the selected one of the more than one flange to the body, and attaching the selected one of more than one handle to the stem. 
     These and other features of the present invention can be best understood from the following specification and drawings, the following of which is a brief description. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is an exploded view of the toilet lever system of the invention. 
         FIG. 2  is a cross sectional view of the toilet lever of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 3  is a second exploded view of the toilet lever system of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 4  is an assembled version of the toilet lever system of  FIG. 3  showing differing decorative features. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Referring now to  FIGS. 1 and 2 , the toilet lever system  10  of the invention includes a stem  15 , a main body  20 , a flange nut  25 , a bolt  30  and a lever arm  35 . 
     The stem  15  includes a column  40  that may have material removed to make the part lighter. A first end  45  of the stem includes a first transverse opening  50  to receive the lever arm  35  and an axial opening  55  to receive the bolt  30 , and a second end  60  of the stem includes a circular platform  65  and an extension  70 . The extension  70  has a rectangular cross section and a second transverse opening  75 . The platform  65  has a detent  80  that may be wedge shaped that helps limit the travel of the column  40 , and therefore the lever arm  35 , if the column  40  is rotated by manipulating the handle  85  (See  FIGS. 3 and 4 ). 
     The main body  20  has a hollow threaded body  90 , a nut shape  95  disposed on the body  90  coaxially therewith, and an end flange  97  for receiving a flange cover  100  as will be shown in  FIGS. 3 and 4 . The end flange  97  has a cylindrical extension  105  in which the circular platform  65  is received and an outer threaded portion  110  for attaching to a flange  100  which acts as a decorative cover (see  FIGS. 3 and 4 ). The circular portion  90  of the main body  20  is hollow for receiving the stem  15  therethrough. The circular portion  90  of the main body is designed to fit an opening  127  within a toilet wall  125  and may be any shape that is required to fit the opening in a toilet for the system. The circular portion  90  has a threaded portion  129 . A pawl  113  is disposed on an inner surface  114  of the depression  105  and extends axially inwardly. As will be discussed herein, the pawl  113  cooperates with the detent  80   
     The flange nut  25  has an interior threaded surface  115 , which mates with threaded portion  129  of the threaded body  90 . The flange nut  25  has a wider diameter than the threaded body  90  so that a toilet tank wall can be securely enclosed between the end flange  97  and the flange nut  25 . 
     In practice, the nut shape  95  is placed into an opening  127  of the toilet wall  125  (see  FIG. 2 ) so that the main body  20  fits securely therein. The flange nut  25  is screwed onto the threaded body  90 , the stem column  40  is placed through the threaded body such that the stem extends beyond the flange nut far enough to allow the lever arm  35  to extend through the first transverse opening  50  and be secured therein by securing the bolt  30  in the axial opening  55 . The lever arm  35 , as is known in the art, has a rectangular cross-section that attaches to a flush valve (not shown). By torquing the bolt  30  securely in the axial opening  55  in front of a toilet (not shown), the lever arm  35  is securely held within the main body  20 . The circular platform  65  is placed within the depression  105  with the pawl  113  disposed in the detent  80 . Rotation of the stem  15  is limited by travel of the pawl  113  within the detent  80  to avoid over-rotation of the lever arm  35 . 
     Referring now to  FIGS. 3 and 4 , a flange cover  100 , a stem cap  130 , and a handle  85  are shown. The flange cover  100  has an interior threaded surface  135  mating with the outer threaded surface  110  of the cylindrical extension  97  of the main body  20 . The second end  60  of the stem  15  extends through opening  137  the flange cover  100 . The stem cap  130  has an axial hole  129  that mates with the second end  60  of stem  15 . The stem cap  130  also has a lateral hole  139  that matches the second transverse opening  75  in the stem  15  and receives a threaded shaft  140  of the handle  85  therein. The threaded shaft  140  in the handle screws into the second transverse opening  75  of the stem thereby securing the handle to the stem cap  130  for motion independent of the flange cover  100 . The stem cap  130  is also then securely held in the opening  137  of the flange cover  100 . By making it easy to attach the handle to the stem and the flange cover to the main body  20 , a user may be more able to coordinate decoratively any toilet hardware, such as the flange cover, with other hardware, such as toilet paper holders, towel hangers, faucets or mirrors or the like in a bathroom. A manufacturer of the toilet lever system  10  herein may choose to include more than one handle  85 , one stem cap  130  and one flange cover  100  having different decorative styles in a package (not shown) to enable a user to decorate a bathroom more easily by choosing one style of the other or some combination thereof (see  FIG. 4 ). 
     A user may also find it much easier to modify the décor of a bathroom by simply replacing the flange cover  100 , the stem cap  130  or the handle  85  without having to remove the body  20 , the flange nut  25 , or the stem  15 . 
     A box (not shown) that holds a kit including the items noted above also includes a plurality of handles  85  having each having different decorative features, a plurality of flange covers  100  having each having different decorative features and a plurality of end caps  130  having each having different decorative features. A user is then free to choose which decorative look is appropriate for each application. The different decorative features may be mixed or matched at the user&#39;s wish. 
     Although embodiments of this invention have been disclosed, a worker of ordinary skill in this art would recognize that certain modifications would come within the scope of this invention. For that reason, the following claims should be studied to determine the true scope and content of this invention.

Technology Classification (CPC): 4