US 4,543,674 AGranted

Water saving insert for toilet tank

OwnerConstant V. Davidinventor

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Abstract

An insert installed inside the toilet tank arranged and constructed to decrease the amount of water held in the tank. While the amount of flushing water used for each flush is appreciably less than it would be without this insert in place, the bulk of that water is still delivered to the toilet bowl under an average head higher than that which is normally obtained without the insert. The toilet flushing action is thus as effective as it would be otherwise, but only with a fraction of the water volume being required. The resulting saving of water is substantial and the tank also fills up at a much faster pace. The insert is supported by the bottom and side walls of the existing toilet tank and does not otherwise interfere with the operation of the toilet tank internal equipment. Because no water is allowed to flow between the insert body and the toilet tank walls, this space being sealed off, this insert also provides safety in case the toilet tank walls are accidentally broken.

Claims14

Dependent claims

A toilet tank insert comprising:

means for raising the center of gravity of the mass of water to be flushed out of the toilet tank during the flushing operation of an existing toilet tank in which said insert has been installed;
means for considerably reducing the total amount of water flushed during a normal flushing cycle as compared to the amount of water so flushed from the same toilet tank before said insert is installed, by eliminating most of the water stored in the lower internal volume of an existing toilet tank;
means for positioning and securing said insert inside the toilet tank;
means for transferring the hydraulic loads generated on the insert walls by the water inside said insert onto the toilet tank bottom and side walls;
means for preventing water from reaching and coming in contact with the tank bottom and side walls, thus causing said insert to be watertight;
means for isolating the head of the bolts fastening the toilet tank from water, thereby providing said bolt heads with protection therefrom;
and
wherein the structural damage and cracking of the toilet tank walls do not cause water to leak from inside the toilet tank, all of said water being contained inside said watertight insert.

5 more elements

An insert for a tank of a toilet comprising:

an upwardly opening container sized to fit within the tank and enclose a set of internal flush mechanisms of the toilet, the tank and the container each having a plurality of side walls and a bottom wall, the bottom wall of the container having a first hole that registers with a flush outlet hole in the bottom wall of the tank,the bottom wall of the container having a second hole that registers with a water inlet in the bottom wall of the tank, a lower portion of the container having a width substantially smaller than that of the tank and an upper portion of the container having a length and width closely approximating that of the tank, whereby the bottom wall of the container may be tightly fastened to the bottom wall of the tank, the set of internal flush mechanisms will cause the lower and upper portions of the container to be filled with water, the container will prevent the water from contacting the side walls of the tank, and the water in the container can be flushed through the flush outlet hole in the tank.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.