Abstract:
The invention comprises a novel device for circulating and treating odorous air inside a toilet bowl without the need for external venting of the treated air. The invention comprises a toilet air treatment device that has an air treatment member. The air treatment member has an inlet port leading from the toilet bowl to an air pathway and an outlet port leading from the air pathway to the toilet bowl. A means for treating air is located along the air pathway of the air treatment member. A means for moving air, located inside the air treatment member, causes air to be moved under pressure from the toilet bowl, through the inlet port, along the air pathway, into contact with the means for treating air, and through the outlet port into the toilet bowl.

Description:
BACKGROUND 
       [0001]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0002]    The present invention relates to an air treatment device for a toilet. 
         [0003]    2. Description of the Related Art 
         [0004]    Odors emanating from a toilet are a long-standing problem associated with use of said toilet. Many attempts have been made to address this issue, both external and internal to the toilet. A common technique is to ventilate the enclosed space where the toilet resides. This ventilation means normally consists of an exhaust fan located in the ceiling of the enclosed space where the toilet resides. Due to its location, the exhaust fan can actually exacerbate the spread of odors throughout the enclosed space. Another technique is to place the ventilation means in or around the toilet seat. However, air vented in this manner must still either be dispersed into the enclosed space where the toilet resides or through tubing or other similar means to a location external of the enclosed space. 
         [0005]    Information relevant to attempts to address this problem can be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,165,274 B1, 7,117,548 B1, 7,103,925 B1, 6,928,666 B1, 6,895,604 B1, 6,775,853 B1, 6,772,449 B1 and 4,780,913 and also U.S. Patent Application Nos. 2007/0028373 A1, 2007/0000035 A1, 2006/0277671 A1, 2006/0248634 A1, 2006/0195975 A1, 2006/0031979, 2005/0166305, and 2004/0019960. However, each one of these references suffers from one or more of the following disadvantages: exhaust of treated air into space occupied by user, air moving means external of toilet, and ventilation means external of toilet. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0006]    The present invention is directed to a device that allows for the treatment of toilet odors without need for external venting of the treated air. The invention comprises a toilet air treatment device that has an air treatment member. The air treatment member has an inlet port leading from the toilet bowl to an air pathway and an outlet port leading from the air pathway to the toilet bowl. A means for treating air is located along the air pathway of the air treatment member. A means for moving air, with the associated power source being located in the air treatment member, causes air to be moved under pressure from the toilet bowl, through the inlet port, along the air pathway, through the means for treating air, and through the outlet port into the toilet bowl. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0007]    These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with regard to the following description, appended claims, and accompanying drawings where: 
           [0008]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view from above of the air treatment member of the embodiment shown in  FIG. 1 . 
           [0009]      FIG. 1A  is a perspective view from below of the air treatment member of the embodiment shown in  FIG. 1 . 
           [0010]      FIG. 1B  is a front elevation view of the air treatment member of the embodiment shown in  FIG. 1 . 
           [0011]      FIG. 2  is a perspective view from above of the top of the air treatment member of the embodiment shown in  FIG. 1 . 
           [0012]      FIG. 2A  is a perspective view from below of the top portion of the air treatment member of the embodiment shown in  FIG. 1 . 
           [0013]      FIG. 3  is a perspective view from above of the middle portion of the air treatment member of the embodiment shown in  FIG. 1 . 
           [0014]      FIG. 3A  is a perspective view from below of the middle portion of the air treatment member of the embodiment shown in  FIG. 1 . 
           [0015]      FIG. 4  is a perspective view from above of the bottom portion of the air treatment member of the embodiment shown in  FIG. 1 . 
       
    
    
     DESCRIPTION 
       [0016]    Reference now will be made in detail to the embodiments of the invention, one or more examples of which are set forth below. Each example is provided by way of explanation of the invention, not limitation of the invention. In fact, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. It is intended that the present invention cover modifications and variations as come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents. 
         [0017]    In describing the various figures herein, the same reference numbers are used throughout to describe the same material, apparatus, or process pathway. To avoid redundancy, detailed descriptions of much of the apparatus once described in relation to a figure is not repeated in the descriptions of subsequent figures, although such apparatus or process is labeled with the same reference numbers. 
         [0018]      FIG. 1  shows an air treatment member generally at  10  according to an embodiment of the present invention.  FIG. 1  further shows the air treatment member top portion  11  connected to the air treatment member middle portion  12 , which is further connected to the air treatment member bottom portion  13 . Connection of the air treatment member top portion  11  and air treatment middle portion  12  creates outlet ports  14  which direct air horizontally across air treatment member opening  15 . In a preferred embodiment, the air treatment member  10  serves as a toilet seat. Hinge screw openings  16  allow the toilet seat to be connected to the toilet bowl by use of traditionally used nuts and bolts. Though shown in one configuration here, the hinge screw openings could easily be modified to accept all traditional hinge screw patterns. 
         [0019]    As best seen in  FIGS. 2 ,  3 , and  4 , the air treatment member  10  is formed of three separate pieces including air treatment member top portion  11 , air treatment member middle portion  12 , and air treatment member bottom portion  13 . The air treatment member top portion  11  may be secured to the air treatment member middle portion  12  by a plurality of clips extending from the air treatment member top portion  11  which engage a plurality of aligned clip attachments located on the air treatment member middle portion  12 . In a preferred embodiment, the air treatment member top portion  11  is connected to the air treatment member middle portion  12  by the connection of the top portion clips  22  into the top portion clip receptacles  23 . The air treatment member middle portion  12  may be secured to the air treatment member bottom portion  13  by a plurality of clips extending from the air treatment member middle portion  12  which engage a plurality of aligned clip attachments located on the air treatment member bottom portion  13 . In a preferred embodiment, the air treatment member middle portion  12  is connected to the air treatment member bottom portion  13  by the connection of the middle portion clips  19  into the middle portion clip receptacles (not shown). The provision of the top, middle, and bottom portions of the air treatment member facilitate the construction of the air pathways and placement of operative components as will best be described below. However, other conventional attachment mechanisms such as a dowel/aperture configuration, adhesives, or other joining hardware may be used between the top, middle, and bottom portions of the air treatment member. 
         [0020]    Air treatment member  10  has an air inlet port  15  that is preferably located along the bottom surface of air treatment member  10 . In one embodiment, inlet port  15  comprises an opening defined upon the bottom of the air treatment member. However, as seen in  FIG. 1A , a plurality of inlet ports  15  may be provided. The inlet port  15  is in connection with the air pathway, the shape and direction of air pathway best seen in reference to the directional arrows of  FIGS. 1 ,  1 A,  3 , and  4 . The air pathway is defined by the hollow portion of the air treatment member  10 . In a preferred embodiment, rib supports  21  in the air treatment member bottom portion  13  and air treatment member top portion  11  do not completely extend to the surfaces of the air treatment member middle portion  12 . The directional arrows indicate the flow of air through the air pathway, the air movement being controlled by the air moving means. In this preferred embodiment, two fans (not shown), such as those used to cool desktop computers, are used as the air moving means. The computer cooling fans (not shown) used in a preferred embodiment are placed into the fan mountings  24  measure forty (40) millimeters by forty (40) millimeters by ten (10) millimeters. Fan ribs  29  allow space for the fans (not shown). The operation of the fans (not shown) pulls air through the inlet port  15  and into the air pathway, said air pathway shown by air flow directional arrows. The movement of air generated by the fans (not shown) establishes a substantially circular air pathway of air entering inlet port  15  and continuing through air pathway. The air pathway passes the moving air along the air treatment means (not shown). In a preferred embodiment, the air treatment means is comprised of a foam filter treated with scented oils (not shown). This foam filter is manufactured to fill each side of the air pathway in the air treatment member bottom portion  13 . In this preferred embodiment, air enters inlet port  15 , flows directly through the foam filter treated with scented oils (not shown), and passes through the fans (not shown) and into air treatment member top portion  11 . 
         [0021]    Air passing through fan (not shown) and into air treatment member top portion  11  is directed along the air pathway and out of the air treatment member top portion  11  via outlet port  14 . In one embodiment, outlet port  14  comprises an opening defined upon the inside edge of the air treatment member opening  20 , created by connection of the air treatment member top portion  11  and air treatment member middle portion  12 . However, as seen in  FIGS. 1A and 3 , a plurality of outlet ports may be provided. Air exiting outlet port  14  is directed straight across the air treatment member opening  20 . During use in this embodiment, a circular flow of air is created by the fans (not shown), allowing for continual treatment of air within toilet. This preferred embodiment is that for a mostly circular opening in the toilet seat. However, the present invention could easily be modified to take the shape of an oval toilet seat or split toilet seat. 
         [0022]    As seen in  FIG. 4 , a battery housing  30  is provided within the interior of the air treatment member  10 . Power supply may be provided by conventional batteries, including a rechargeable battery pack. If a rechargeable battery pack is used, it is convenient to provide an access port for a conventional connection for a re-charger. 
         [0023]    Electrical leads (not shown) connect the power source to fan. In a preferred embodiment, a switch, seen here in the form of a pressure contact switch placed on the switch mounting  27  with a switch contact pin  18  moving through a switch contact pin housing  28 , switch contacts  25 , may be provided to control the operation of the fan when the seat bears weight of a seated individual. If desired, a rocker switch may also be used to control the operation of the fan. For either type of switch, it is desirable that the switch be responsive to a timer circuit so as to provide for a pre-determined interval of operation before the fan is automatically turned off Use of the timer circuit provides for a continued interval of operation once the user has left the bathroom facility and, in the case of a rocker switch, conserves battery life if the rocker switch is left in the on position. 
         [0024]    Two conventional spacers  17  are located on the bottom surface of the air treatment member  10  to insure that the inlet port  15  does not rest on the rim of the toilet bowl when an individual is seated. This ensures proper air flow into the inlet port  15  when fan is in operation. 
         [0025]    The illustrated embodiment is manufactured by injection molding. One having ordinary skill in the art would be able to create an equivalent structure from milled or routed wood or other materials. However, injection molding allows for less expensive and quicker manufacturing while still providing sufficient structural strength required by consumers. 
         [0026]    The structural strength of air treatment member  10  is also enhanced by the placement of rib supports  21  throughout the air treatment member top portion  11  and air treatment member bottom portion  13 . The air treatment member middle portion  12  also contributes to the strength of the air treatment member  10 . In this embodiment, the rib supports  21  also define the air pathway as shown by the air flow directional arrows. 
         [0027]    The means for providing power to the means for moving air may be accessed by disconnecting the air treatment member middle portion  12  from the air treatment member bottom portion  13 . In a preferred embodiment, the means for providing power is comprised of a battery housing  30  built into the air treatment member. The battery housing  30  holds nine (9) AA batteries and is connected to the fans (not shown) by electrical leads (not shown) which pass from the battery housing  30 , through the electrical lead passageway  26 , to the switch contacts  25 , and to the fans (not shown). 
         [0028]    Although the present invention has been described and illustrated with respect to a preferred embodiment and a preferred use therefore, it is not to be so limited since modifications and changes can be made therein which are within the full intended scope of the invention.