EP0105377B1

EP0105377B1 - Toilet device

Info

Publication number: EP0105377B1
Application number: EP19830900960
Authority: EP
Inventors: Hiroyuki Matsui; Yoshitaka Morikawa; Manabu Seno
Original assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co Ltd
Current assignee: Panasonic Holdings Corp
Priority date: 1982-03-17
Filing date: 1983-03-16
Publication date: 1988-10-19
Also published as: DE3378272D1; EP0105377A1; WO1983003274A1; EP0105377A4

Description

This invention relates to a toilet apparatus comprising a drying device composed of a drying heater and a fan having a motor, a drying switch being switchable on or off manually by a user to energize or de-energize said drying device, respectively, and a weight sensing switch arranged to be turned on when the user sits on a toilet seat of said toilet apparatus and to be turned off when the user rises from said toilet seat, said drying switch being connected in series with said weight sensing switch.
A toilet apparatus of this type is disclosed in US-A-4 237 560. In this prior art toilet apparatus there is provided a multi-mode selector rod urged into an inoperative position and movable against the action of a spring in three different operative positions. By moving the mode selector rod in either one of the three directions, either one of three switches is switched on, thereby effecting the cleaning of the user's body by directing water towards the user's body from a fore jet nozzle structure or an aft jet nozzle structure, or effecting the drying of the user's body by the drying device comprising a drying heater and a fan. The mode selector rod, however, returns immediately and automatically to the inoperative position by the action of the spring when the outer end of the rod is released. Thus, in order to continue the drying operation, it is necessary for the user to maintain the outer end of the mode selector rod at the corresponding operative position thereof, thereby causing the drying switch to be switched on. It is generally the case that three to four minutes are needed to complete one drying operation for drying the body of a user. Hence, it is very inconvenient for a user to continue his manual operation of switching on the drying switch throughout the drying operation period. Accordingly, this invention provides a toilet apparatus which, in view of the aforesaid drawback of the prior art, is designed to eliminate the need to keep pressing the drying switch during the drying time, thereby increasing convenience of use.
The toilet apparatus according to this invention is characterized in that said drying switch is constructed so that, when said drying switch is switched on manually by the user, said drying switch stays in the switched-on position thereof for a predetermined time after the user has released said drying switch and then after the lapse of the predetermined time said drying switch returns automatically to the original switched-off position thereof.
Thus the present invention makes it unnecessary for the user to continue his switching-on operation while the drying operation is carried out, thereby making it possible for the user to enjoy convenient and comfortable drying of his body. Further, it is of course possible for the user to switch off manually the switched-on drying switch at any time if desired.
Some preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the entire arrangement of a toilet apparatus according to an embodiment of the invention; Fig. 2 is a perspective view showing the internal arrangement of the toilet apparatus; Fig. 3 a and b show a top sectional view and a front view of a toilet seat; Fig. 4 is a side sectional view showing the relation between a driver and a gravity switch; Fig. 5 is an electric circuit diagram of the toilet apparatus; Fig. 6 is an electric circuit diagram of another embodiment; and Fig. 7 is an electric circuit diagram of a further embodiment.
Removably attached to a main toilet body 1 shown in Fig. 1 is a main apparatus body 2. Over the main toilet body 1, a toilet seat 3 is turnably attached to the main apparatus body 2, and over the toilefseat 3, a toilet lid 4 is pivotably disposed. Installed inside the toilet seat 3 is a toilet seat heater 62 shown in Fig. 5.
Fig. 2 shows the internal arrangement of the main apparatus body 2, which comprises a base 5 having various components mounted thereon, and a cover 6 shown in Fig. 1 removably attached to the base 5 and covering various components. Various components mounted on the base 5 will now be described with reference to Fig. 2. A rinsing nozzle 7 attached to the back of the base 5 substantially in the middle thereof communicates through hoses 8 and 9 with a hot water tank 10, which communicates through a hose 11 with a solenoid valve 12, which communicates through a hose 13 with a pump 15 driven by a motor 14, the pump 15 communicating through a hose 16 with a water supply port (not shown). The hot water tank 10 is equipped with a heater 17 for heating rinsing water supplied into the hot water tank 10, a thermostat 18 for detecting the temperature of the hot water in the hot water tank 10, and a float switch 19 for detecting the level of the hot water in the hot water tank 10. Attached to a switch block 20 positioned forwardly of the hot water tank 10 and secured to the base 5 are a knob 21 for adjusting the temperature of the toilet seat 3 and a knob 22 for adjusting the temperature of the hot water. A wind tunnel 23 positioned above the rinsing nozzle 7 and attached to the base 5 is partitioned by a partition plate 24 into two air supply passages. Thus, it has deodorizing suction ports 25, a drying air blowoff port 26, a drying air suction port 27 and an deodorizing exhaust port 28, so that the odors in the main toilet body 1 are sucked through the deodorizing suction ports 25 and discharged through the deodorizing exhaust port 28, while the drying air is sucked through the suction port 27 and blown off through the blowoff port 26. A damper 29 attached to the wind tunnel 23 and adapted to alternately open and close the drying air suction port 27 and deodorizing exhaust port 28 is operated by a drying switch lever 31 mounted on a switch block 30 positioned on the side opposite to the switch block 20 and attached to the base 5. Besides the drying switch lever 31, the switch block 30 is equipped with a drying power adjusting switch 32, an deodorizer switch 33, a power switch 34, a power indicator lamp 35, and a knob 36 for adjusting the pressure of water for rinsing. A deodorant (not shown) will be put in through a deodorant charging port 37 communicating with the odor passage in the wind tunnel 23. A gravity switch 38 attached to the base 5 adjacent to the switch block 20 is adapted to be driven by the vertical movement of a driver 39 vertically movably held by a holder 5a which is integral with the base 5.
Fig. 3 a and 3 b show the toilet seat 3 attached to the main apparatus body 2 through a rotary shaft 40. When the toilet seat 3 is attached to the main apparatus body 2 by the rotary shaft 40, the latter is pushed in from outside the main apparatus body 2 through a through hole 41 in the toilet seat 3, a through hole 42 in the toilet lid 4 and an elongated hole 43 in the main apparatus body 2, as shown in Fig. 3 a and 3 b, whereby the front end of the rotary shaft 40 is elastically locked in position by an engaging portion 44 disposed on the driver 39, thus completing the attaching operation. The aforesaid driver 39 is constantly upwardly urged by a spring 45, so that when the user sits on the toilet seat 3, the driver 39 is pushed down against the force of the spring 45 and, as shown in Fig. 4, a taper surface 39a formed on the lower portion of the driver 39 presses a roller 46 in a clockwise direction and pushes an actuator pin 47 to turn on the gravity switch 38.
Fig. 5 shows an electric circuit, wherein a power source 48 has connected thereto a power switch 34 and a single-pole, double-throw type drying switch 49. A terminal 49a of the drying switch 49 is connected through the gravity switch 38 to a drying heater 50 and thermostat 51 and is connected directly to a motor fan 52. The drying heater 50, thermostat 51 and motor fan 52 constitute a drying device 53. The other terminal 49b of the drying switch 49 is connected through a thermal fuse 54 and a thermostat 55 to a rinsing device 59 comprised of a hot water temperature adjusting thermostat 56, a heater 17, a pump energizing switch 57 and a motor pump 58. Further, a toilet seat switch 60 connected in series with the power switch 34 is connected to a toilet seat heater 62 through a thermostat 61.
First, the rinsing operation will be briefly described. The rinsing water heated by the heater 17 in the hot water tank 10 is emitted, being pressed by the rinsing water which is forced into the hot water tank 10 by the pump 15, from the rinsing nozzle 7 via the hoses 8 and 9 against the part of the user's body after the use of the toilet.
When the part of the user's body is dried, the drying switch 49 is switched from the terminal 49b in Fig. 5 to the terminal 49a to energize the drying heater 50 and motor fan 52 so as to blow off hot air through the blowoff port 26 into the main toilet body 1.
In this case, since the present embodiment is designed so that the drying switch 49, once switched to the terminal 49a, is held in that position even if the user's hand is removed from the switch, the apparatus is very convenient for use.
Further, the drying switch 49 is electrically connected in series with the gravity switch 38 which will be turned on when the user sits on the toilet seat 3 thereby to energize the drying heater 50 of the drying device 53. Thus, when the user manually switches the drying switch 49 to the terminal 49a, i.e. switches so that the drying device 53 is energized to perform drying after rising and, upon completion of drying, the user forgets to manually switch the drying switch 49 to the other terminal 49b (or to turn it off), the gravity switch 38 will be turned off when the user leaves the toilet seat 3, so that power supply to the drying heater 50 of the drying device 53 is cut off and hence the safety becomes very high.
Further, since the motor fan 52 of the drying device 53 continues to rotate even if the gravity switch 38 is turned off, the user, hearing the sound of the operation of the motor fan 52, will be reminded that he has forgotten to turn off the drying switch 49. Moreover, since the rotation of the motorfan 52 acts to cool the remaining heat in the drying heater 50, the safety is further increased.
While the drying switch 49 in the above embodiment has been described as of the type designed so that when it is manually operated for the switching between the on- and off-positions, it is held in the respective positions, the same function and effect of the above embodiment can be attained by employing a switch designed so that when it is manually switched to the on- position, it is held in that position and will be turned off upon the lapse of a predetermined time.
In another embodiment shown in Fig. 6, the drying switch 49 has the terminal 49a thereof connected through the gravity switch 38 to the drying device 53 comprised of the drying heater 50, thermostat 51 and motor fan 52, and the other terminal 49b connected through the thermal fuse 54 and thermostat 55 to the rinsing device 59 comprised of the hot temperature adjusting thermostat 56, heater 17, pump energizing switch 57 and motor pump 58. The toilet seat switch 60 connected in series with the power switch 34 is connected to the toilet seat heater 62 through the thermostat 61.
Thus, in the embodiment shown in Fig. 6, the gravity switch 38 cuts off power supply to the drying heater 50 and motor fan 52 of the drying device 53, thereby preventing the temperature of the drying heater 50 from abnormally rising or avoiding waste of energy.
Fig. 7 shows a further embodiment, which differs from Fig. 5 in that the drying switch 49 is of the single-pole, double-throw type and in that a rinsing switch 63 is separately provided for independently operating the rinsing device 59.
As described above, the toilet apparatus of this invention is arranged so that when the drying switch is manually switched so that the drying device is energized, the drying switch is held in that position; thus, there is no need to keep pressing the drying switch during the drying operation. Thus, it is very convenient to use.
Further, since electric power is supplied to the drying heater of the drying device through the series combination of the drying switch and the gravity switch which is arranged to be turned on when the user sits on the toilet seat, even if the user forgets to turn off the drying switch, the gravity switch will be turned off when he leaves the toilet seat, thereby cutting off power supply to the drying heater of the drying device. As a result, the temperature of the drying heater does not abnormally rise thereby assuring safety, while waste of energy is avoided.

Claims

A toilet apparatus comprising a drying device (53) composed of a drying heater (50) and a fan having a motor (52), a drying switch (49) being switchable on or off manually by a user to energize or de-energize said drying device (53), respectively, and a weight sensing switch (38) arranged to be turned on when the user sits on a toilet seat (3) of said toilet apparatus and to be turned off when the user rises from said toilet seat (3), said drying switch (49) being connected in series with said weight sensing switch (38), and characterized in that said drying switch (49) is constructed so that, when said drying switch (49) is switched on manually by the user, said drying switch (49) stays in the switched-on position thereof for a predetermined time after the user has released said drying switch (49) and then after the lapse of the predetermined time said drying switch (49) returns automatically to the original switched-off position thereof.