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US 5,487,193 AGranted
Enhanced operation toilet
AssigneeFluidmaster, Inc.
InventorArnold Hennessy
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
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AssigneeFluidmaster, Inc.
InventorArnold Hennessy
Estimating the term…
A water saver toilet is provided, of the type that applies a vacuum to the toilet bowl outlet to assist flushing, which effectively uses the vacuum and which can be of low height. The toilet bowl outlet includes upper and lower trap devices (44, 50 in FIG. 2) connected by a trapway (46), with a vacuum source applied to the trapway during a flushing to pull out water and debris from the toilet bowl. One vacuum source (FIG. 3) includes a largely horizontal diaphragm (76) which separates a water chamber (82) from a vacuum chamber (80). The water chamber is initially filled with water, which is rapidly emptied during flushing, causing the diaphragm to rapidly fall from an upwardly bowed configuration (76) to a downwardly bowed configuration (76A). The vertically moving diaphragm produces a vacuum in the vacuum chamber that is connected to the trapway. A spring (84) (or weight) allows the water chamber to deliver water at a considerable pressure, regardless of the level of the water chamber with respect to the toilet bowl. Another vacuum source (FIG. 7) includes a water powered actuator (158) that receives water from a pressured water pipe at the beginning of flushing, to rapidly raise a vacuum diaphragm (170) that produces a vacuum in a vacuum chamber (172) which is connected to the trapway.
A vacuum assisted toilet which includes a toilet bowl, a flush conduit for passing water to said bowl, a bowl outlet which is coupled to a drain, a source of flush water and vacuum, and a flush valve, wherein said source of flush water and vacuum includes walls forming a container and a dividing device within said container which divides it into a water chamber and a vacuum chamber, said flush valve being operable to flow water from said water chamber to said toilet bowl at the beginning of a flushing, said vacuum chamber being coupled to said bowl outlet to apply a vacuum thereto, said dividing device being movable to expand and contract said water chamber and respectively contract and expand said vacuum chamber, characterized by:
A toilet which includes a toilet bowl, a flush valve, a container apparatus which holds a quantity of water which passes out of said container apparatus and through said flush valve into said toilet bowl during a toilet flushing, an inlet valve which supplies water to said container apparatus, and a toilet bowl outlet which includes an upper trap device extending from said bowl, a trapway extending down from said upper trap device, and a lower trap device extending from said trapway to carry water and debris from said toilet bowl toward a drain, wherein said container apparatus includes a vacuum source coupled to said trapway, which applies a vacuum to said trapway in response to a toilet flushing, when water passes out of said container apparatus through said flush valve and said toilet bowl into said bowl outlet, characterized by:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.