U.S. patent application number 12/745426 was filed with the patent office on 2011-05-05 for flush water unit for a toilet bowl.
This patent application is currently assigned to VILLEROY & BOCH AG. Invention is credited to Jorg Kramer, Jean-Christophe Legrix.
Application Number | 20110099704 12/745426 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 39105812 |
Filed Date | 2011-05-05 |
United States Patent
Application |
20110099704 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Kramer; Jorg ; et
al. |
May 5, 2011 |
Flush Water Unit for a Toilet Bowl
Abstract
The invention relates to a flush water unit for a toilet bowl
that has several outlet openings (3,3') ending in the bowl interior
(1) of a bowl body (2), through which flush water enters into the
flusher bowl (1) from the rear of the bowl body (2) below the upper
bowl edge (4). The outlet openings (3, 3') are configured on the
respective front end (5, 5') of separate, preferably essentially
straight feed pipes (6, 6') that project from the outside into the
interior of the bowl (1) and are insertable through at least one
installation recess (7, 7') in the rear wall (8) of the bowl body
(2).
Inventors: |
Kramer; Jorg;
(Merzig-Besseringen, DE) ; Legrix; Jean-Christophe;
(Saarbrucken, DE) |
Assignee: |
VILLEROY & BOCH AG
Mettlach
DE
|
Family ID: |
39105812 |
Appl. No.: |
12/745426 |
Filed: |
November 26, 2008 |
PCT Filed: |
November 26, 2008 |
PCT NO: |
PCT/EP2008/010023 |
371 Date: |
December 22, 2010 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
4/420 |
Current CPC
Class: |
E03D 2201/40 20130101;
E03D 11/02 20130101; E03D 11/17 20130101; E03D 11/06 20130101; E03D
1/38 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
4/420 |
International
Class: |
E03D 11/00 20060101
E03D011/00 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Nov 30, 2007 |
DE |
20 2007 016 854.3 |
Claims
1. A flush water unit for a toilet bowl comprising: a plurality of
outlet openings ending in a bowl interior of a bowl body through
which flush water enters below an upper bowl edge into the bowl
interior from a rear of the bowl body, wherein the outlet openings
are designed at a respective front end of separate, preferably
essentially straight supply pipes that are insertable from an
outside through at least one installation recess in a rear wall of
the bowl body, which project up to the bowl interior.
2. The flush water unit according to claim 1, wherein at least one
central supply pipe projects less far into the bowl interior than
respectively one of the supply pipes associated with a respective
lateral wall of the bowl body.
3. The flush water unit according to claim 1, wherein the front
ends of the supply pipes, are at least one of slit on at least one
of the bowl bottom side and bowl side wall side, recessed, and
designed as an outlet nozzle.
4. The flush water unit according to claim 1, wherein the supply
pipes have various horizontal flow cross sections, preferably and
wherein a central supply pipe has a smaller horizontal flow cross
section than the two lateral supply pipes.
5. The flush water unit according to claim 1, wherein the supply
pipes can be passed through respectively one dedicated installation
recess in the rear wall of the bowl body and can be sealed against
an interior walling of the installation recess.
6. The flush water unit according to claim 1, wherein the supply
pipes are stacked together in one or more parts to form a joint
inlet piece.
7. The flush water unit according to claim 1, wherein the inlet
piece is equipped with sealing sleeves for sealing off the supply
pipes with respect to an interior walling of the installation
recesses.
8. The flush water unit according to claim 1, wherein the front
ends of the supply pipes are formed at least by separate shorter or
longer extensions.
9. The flush water unit according to claim 1, wherein at least one
of the supply pipes is provided with a flexible section for
adapting the supply pipe to at least one of a curve of the bowl
body and the bowl edge.
10. The flush water unit according to claim 1, wherein the supply
pipes have an associated water distributor that can be connected
with a water supply.
11. The flush water unit according to claim 10, wherein the water
distributor comprises: an upstream connection to the connection
with a water supply, a branching section that is provided
downstream of the connection for dividing the flow of water into
several partial flows and downstream of the branching section it
has, for each of the partial flows, a deflection section for
deflecting the partial flows from a vertical direction of flow in
the installation position into a horizontal direction of flow.
12. The flush water unit according to claim 1, wherein the supply
pipes individual, or combined into an inlet piece can respectively
be connected to a separate water distributor, which forms the
connection to at least one of at least one flush water outlet of a
flush water tank and a different water supply.
13. The flush water unit according to claim 10, wherein at least
one of the flush water tank and the water distributor can be
mounted on a frame-like wall element.
14. The flush water unit according to claim 1, wherein at least one
of the supply pipes, the inlet piece, the water distributor and the
flush water tank comprise plastic.
15. The flush water unit according to claim 1, wherein the bowl
body is equipped with a water ring insert made of plastic.
16. A toilet bowl with a flush water unit according to claim 1 with
an, in particular designed as a wall-mounted deep-flushing bowl
body, in the rear wall of which a discharge opening, as well as
several installation openings are formed, wherein, in the rear wall
of the bowl body additional mounting openings for mounting the bowl
body at a wall element or the like are formed, whereby the mounting
openings are located in the installation position above the
discharge opening and below at least one of the installation
openings.
17. The toilet bowl according to claim 16, further comprising a
siphon in the discharge of the bowl body, wherein, the volume of
the siphon is reduced to under 2 liters.
Description
[0001] The invention concerns a flush water unit for a toilet bowl
with several outlet openings ending into the bowl interior of a
bowl body, through which flush water enters into the flusher bowl
below the upper bowl edge from the rear of the bowl body.
[0002] From DE 20 204 019 425 U1, a toilet bowl is known with a
toilet seat that can be positioned at its upper edge and with a
supply of flush water essentially revolving in a guide channel
around the upper edge of the bowl, whereby at least a part of the
design of the guide channel is designed as movable bowl edge that
can be lifted off the bowl and the guide channel is formed jointly
by the bowl wall and a guide surface of the bowl edge that can be
lifted, whereby the flush water guide channel has a revolving
U-shaped cross section that is open toward the bottom. The entry of
water into the bowl interior takes place by means of a single
inflow and is delivered in various directions because of the water
distributor located in the bowl interior.
[0003] From DE 201 20 693 U1, a flush water distributor unit for
toilet bowls with a spring mechanism for fixation below the toilet
edge is known, in which a base body is designed cylindrically and
partially closed toward the front with a deflector, a revolving,
partially interrupted edge surrounds the base body and on both
sides, a tapered flush water channel is provided that is open
toward the front.
[0004] From DE 33 15 926 A1, a water distributor for water closets
is known. It is designed as insert made of plastic for installation
into the single flush pipe connection of the water closet from the
interior for distribution of the flush water. At the same time, at
a housing having the form of a cylinder, centrically revolving
sealing lids, a guide surface, stop dogs, outlet openings and a
guide surface, as well as guide ribs are located.
[0005] DT-OS 1 817 631 concerns closet bowls with an intake port
leading at an incline from the rear and/or from the top to a
distributor provided with lateral flush channels and flush
openings, which intake port has a partition wall, whereby a
separation of the flush flow takes place to lateral flush channels
in the distributor and in a lower flush flow, to the middle flush
openings in the distributor.
[0006] DT-PS 1 658 261 reveals a flush water distributor consisting
of a hollow body for installation into a water closet bowl with a
central main outlet nozzle toward the bottom and lateral of such,
two diverging flow branches for running underneath the bowl edge
with respective flow outlet at the end, whereby the lateral flow
branches are provided with smaller water outlet openings at their
underside and whereby their flow through cross section becomes
steadily smaller with increasing distance from the main outlet
nozzle. Here too, the flush water supply occurs by means of a
single flush water inlet of the bowl.
[0007] GB 2 431 937 A shows and describes a water closet bowl,
which has a circumferential edge on the upper side. Via a single
water inlet, the flush water is delivered through various openings
and channels into the ceramic bowl body toward the bottom, as well
as also in the region of the bowl edge into the interior of the
bowl.
[0008] From DE 86 19 584 U1, a water closet is known with a closet
pot that can be connected by means of a flanged socket to a water
supply, for example, to a water tank, the lateral border of which
is provided at the upper interior edge with a flush water guide
that is provided with a flush water outlet, and has a fold-away
toilet seat, whereby at the upper interior edge of the side border
of the closet pot, a hollow profile body with a hollow chamber can
be supported that forms the flush water guide, which can be
connected with a flanged socket, into which the flush water outlet
openings end. As a result of this hollow body profile, the
production effort and installation effort is relatively high.
[0009] It is the object of the present invention to provide a flush
water unit of the type mentioned at the beginning, which ensures
effective flushing as a result of its simpler design and easier
installation at low flow resistance and low water consumption.
[0010] This object is, for example, essentially solved thereby,
that the outlet openings are designed at the respective front end
of separate, preferably essentially straight inflow pipes, which
are insertable from the outside through at least one installation
recess in the rear wall of the bowl body and project into the
interior of the bowl. The supply pipes can be simple, straight
commercial pipes, which can be comfortably inserted with the front
ends from the rear through at least one installation recess
extending up to the bowl interior and can be fixated sealingly at
the rear wall of the bowl body. The actual water distribution to
the various outlet openings thus takes place outside of the bowl
body and is not subject to the danger of contamination. As a result
of this, hygiene is significantly improved.
[0011] Terms such as "front", "back", "above", "below", "upstream",
"downstream", or "rear wall" refer to the installation or use
position of the flush water unit and the toilet bowl. Thus, the
rear wall is, for example, a rear wall in installation position
that can be designed for mounting at a wall element or similar. The
invention thereby concerns a flush water unit by itself, i.e.
essentially the pipes without a toilet bowl, as well as the toilet
bowl itself and a combination of the flush water unit with a toilet
bowl. Preferably, the toilet bowl is a wall-mounted
deep-flusher.
[0012] The outlet openings for the flush water can thereby be
positioned in the interior of the bowl because of the length of the
respective supply pipe in such a way that an effective flush water
flow is created in the interior of the bowl. Thus, it is provided
in particular, that at least one central inlet pipe projects less
far into the interior of the bowl than respectively at least one of
the inlet pipes associated with the respective lateral wall of the
bowl body. As a result of the separate supply, in addition to a
central flush flow, a surface flushing of the interior wall
surfaces of the bowl is created. Because of the converging lateral
flush water flows, a powerful, targeted, upward-arching, stable,
broad "water crest" is created for an effective flushing away of
the matter to be flushed and for cleaning the interior walls of the
bowl interior. In this manner, the water distribution takes place
essentially outside of the toilet bowl at low interior flow
resistance, as a result of which the danger of contamination is
largely precluded.
[0013] The front ends of the inlet pipes can be designed slit or
recessed on the bowl bottom side and/or on the side of the lateral
walls of the bowl and/or be designed as outlet nozzle, in order to
direct the flow relationships and to thus optimize them.
[0014] In the adaptation to the spatial situation and the form of
the body of the bowl it is also possible that the inlet pipes have
differing flow cross sections, preferably, a central inlet pipe has
a smaller flow cross section than the two lateral inlet pipes.
[0015] For a simple and safe installation it can be provided that
the inlet pipes can be passed respectively through their own
installation recess in the rear wall of the bowl body and can be
sealed perfectly against the interior wall surface of the
installation recess, whereby the sealing means simultaneously serve
to securely position the inlet pipes in the installation
recesses.
[0016] Installation on site can, for example, be simplified even
further when the inlet pipes can be put together in one part or in
several parts into a joint inlet piece or can be stacked into each
other and/or are already stacked, which can be installed as a
unit.
[0017] Thereby, the inlet piece can be equipped with sealing
sleeves for sealing the inlet pipes against the interior wall
surfaces of the installation recess(es).
[0018] In the process of the adaptation to the spatial
relationships of the bowl interior, the front ends of the inlet
pipes can additionally be formed by at least separate more or less
long extensions, which (even still on site) can be exchanged with
others having a different length.
[0019] In the flush water unit according to the invention, at least
one inlet pipe is provided with a flexible section for adaptation
of the inlet pipe to the curve of the bowl body. Preferably, the
two lateral inlet pipes that project further into the bowl interior
are respectively provided with at least one such flexible,
shapeable section. In the further development of this inventive
idea it is particularly preferred when these inlet pipes are first
inserted straight into the interior of the bowl and a flexible
section is provided only in the proximity of the outlet
openings.
[0020] For the purpose of supplying flush water, in the inlet
pipes, a water distributor is attached that can be connected with
the water supply, in particular a flush water tank. Thereby, the
separate inlet pipes are preferably individually or jointly put
together into the inlet piece, respectively capable of being
connected to a separate water distributor or connected, which forms
the connection to at least one flush water outlet of a perhaps
conventional flush water tank with a single flush water outlet or
to a separate water supply.
[0021] A particularly space-saving installation of the flush water
unit in accordance with the invention can be achieved thereby, that
the water distributor has an upstream connection for connecting
with a water supply, a downstream branching section for separating
the water flow into several partial flows, downstream of the
branching section for each of the partial flows a diverting section
for diverting the partial flows from a vertical flow direction in
the installation position into a horizontal flow direction and has
connections for connecting the diverting sections to the supply
pipes. The branching into several partial flows thus takes place
essentially in a vertical plane, for example, of a wall element.
According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the branching
section has three pipe elements that are associated with the
respective supply pipes that are fed by a larger, for example, by a
pipe element that is associated with the flush water outlet of a
flush water tank. These pipe elements can have various horizontal
cross sections; in particular, the two lateral pipe elements
associated with the lateral supply pipes are larger than the pipe
element that is associated with the central supply pipe.
[0022] Thereby, for further simplification, the flush water tank
and/or the water distributor can be mountable at a preferably
frame-like wall element, which is, for example, mountable on the
wall of the building.
[0023] While the bowl body of the toilet bowl is conventionally
made of ceramic material, the supply pipe(s) is/are and/or the
inlet piece and/or the water distributor and/or the flush water
tank, are made of plastic. If appropriate, they can be made
available together with the wall element as well as at the
installation site as construction set.
[0024] In addition to the steps taken previously, the bowl body can
be made with a water ring insert made of plastic, in order to
deflect the flush water flow from flowing out of the interior of
the bowl.
[0025] The invention further concerns a toilet bowl that can be
equipped with a flush water unit of the type mentioned above.
Thereby, the bowl body of the toilet bowl is preferably designed as
a wall-mounted deep-flusher, in the rear wall of which a discharge
opening, as well as several, in particular three, installation
openings are provided. A particularly advantageous mounting of the
toilet bowl can be achieved thereby, that in the rear wall of the
bowl body, additional mounting openings for mounting the bowl body
on a wall element or similar, are formed. For this purpose,
preferably, the mounting openings are located in installation
position above the discharge opening and below at least one of the
installation openings, in particular, below the installation
openings for the two lateral inflow pipes and approximately at the
same height or below the installation opening for the smaller,
central inflow pipe.
[0026] One (if appropriate more) measure for decreasing the flush
water consumption can, in a toilet bowl of the type mentioned
above, but also in other toilet bowls whose bowl body is equipped
with a siphon in the discharge, can be achieved thereby, that the
volume of the siphon is reduced with respect to the previous
dimensions to less than 2 liters, preferably 1 liter. In this
manner, the amount of water that remains standing in the bowl body
is smaller and the energy required to put the amount of water in
motion is smaller. As a result, the flushing of the water closet is
simplified. For this reason, this measure can also be implemented
in a flush water unit independent of the previously mentioned steps
in accordance with the invention.
[0027] Additional goals, characteristics, advantages and
possibilities of application of the invention result from the
following description of examples of embodiments in conjunction
with the drawing. At the same time, all described and/or
pictorially illustrated characteristics by themselves or in any
combination form the subject matter of the invention, even
independent of their summary in the individual claims or their
reference.
[0028] FIGS. 1 to 6 schematically illustrate the individual
installation steps of a flush water unit in accordance with the
invention in various slanted views.
[0029] FIG. 1 illustrates an inlet piece 10, in which three
separate supply pipes 6, 6', a central and two lateral pipes are
put together, so that they, as can be seen in FIG. 2, can be
comfortably inserted from the rear into corresponding installation
recesses 7, 7' in the rear wall 8 of the bowl body 2, and with the
help of sealing sleeves 11, 11', can be positioned in such in a
sealing manner. Below the installation recesses 7' for the two
lateral supply pipes 6', two mounting openings are provided in the
rear wall 8. The front ends 5' of the lateral supply pipes 6' are
formed by extensions 12', which can be mounted exchangeable at
inlet piece 10. At the front ends 5, 5' of the supply pipes 6, 6',
slits 17, 17' (not shown) are provided that extend over a part of
their length, which, positioned in the bowl interior 1, for
example, can point in the direction of the bottom wall (supply pipe
6) or the lateral walls 9, 9' of the bowl interior 1.
[0030] As can be seen in FIG. 3, the front outlet openings 3, 3' of
supply pipes 6, 6' are located at a small distance below the upper
bowl edge 4, whereby the lateral outlet openings 3' are further in
the front of the bowl interior 1 than the central outlet opening 3.
As a result of the positioning and the design of the perhaps
nozzle-like outlet openings 3, 3', in addition to the central
flushing on both sides of the interior wall surfaces of the bowl
body 2, two surface flushes can be achieved, which arch up
crest-like in the front section of the bowl interior 1, and ensure
an effective removal of the matter to be flushed.
[0031] FIG. 4 illustrates a frame-like wall element 16, at which a
conventional flush water tank 15 with a lower flush water outlet 14
can be mounted. At the lower flush water outlet 14, a water
distributer 13 is connected with a corresponding number of
manifolds 18, 18', at the outlet openings of which--in the
illustrated case three--can be stacked onto the rear ends of the
guide pipes 6, 6' of inlet piece 10 in a sealing manner. The wall
element 16, the flush water tank 15 and the water distributor 13
can be supplied as pre-assembled unit and can easily be installed
on site into or onto the pertaining wall of the building.
[0032] FIG. 5 illustrates the essential parts of the flush water
unit in accordance with the invention including the bowl body 2
shortly before installation and FIG. 6 after final
installation.
REFERENCE NUMBERS
[0033] 1 Bowl interior [0034] 2 Bowl body [0035] 3, 3' Outlet
openings [0036] 4 Bowl edge [0037] 5, 5' Front ends [0038] 6, 6'
Supply pipes/inlet pipes [0039] 7, 7' Installation recesses [0040]
8 Rear wall [0041] 9, 9' Lateral walls [0042] 10 Inlet piece [0043]
11, 11' Sealing sleeves [0044] 12, 12' Extensions [0045] 13 Water
distributor [0046] 14 Flush water outlet [0047] 15 Flush water tank
[0048] 16 Wall element [0049] 17, 17' Slits [0050] 18, 18'
Manifolds
* * * * *