GB2380444A

GB2380444A - Composite toilet seat and lid

Info

Publication number: GB2380444A
Application number: GB0117502A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Martin Wang; Chi-Sui Wang; Jui-Shih Lin; Tzu Chin Lin
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2001-07-18
Filing date: 2001-07-18
Publication date: 2003-04-09
Anticipated expiration: 2021-07-18
Also published as: GB0117502D0; GB2380444B

Abstract

This is a composite toilet seat and lid, comprising a toilet seat 100 and a toilet seat lid 200, the toilet seat lid 200 being assembled to the toilet seat 100 to become one unit, with the innermost interior of both composed of a coarse Bakelite (RTM) layer 10, which in turn is composed of coarse wood granules mixed with glue. The surrounding of the coarse Bakelite layer 10 is coated by a fine Bakelite layer 20 that is composed of fine wood powder 21 mixed with glue, this fine Bakelite layer 20 is then further coated by at least one layer of water-resistant paper 30. This water-resistant layer 30 is then coated again by a thin wood plate (40 (40') (figures 5, 7 - not shown). The above components are then compression molded to combine them into one unit, so that the toilet seat lid 200 and toilet seat 100 can be formed respectively and the thin wood plate shows its wooden grains and patterns (41, 41', figures 5, 7 - not shown) on the uttermost exterior. The coarse Bakelite layer 10, the fine Bakelite layer 20 and the water-resistant paper 30 serve to reinforce its integral structural tenacity and tightness to resist water and fire, thus comprising a set of toilet seat and toilet seat lid showing wooden tone its surface to resist water and fire. A plurality of inlays (42', 43' and 44') (figure 7 - not shown), preferably in different colours and wooden patterns, are sequentially embedded in respective locations in an embedding groove (41') engraved on the surface of plate (40'). A layer of water-resistant paper 30 may additionally lie between layers 10 and 20 (figure 8, not shown).

Description

COMPOSITE TOILET SEAT AND LID This invention relates to a composite toilet seat and lid, particularly one used for bath facility, a type of toilet seat and lid that is made of Bakelite layers after compression molding to show wooden tone and resist water and fire.

The toilet seat and lid is a bath facility we use most frequently in our daily life. One of the features of conventional toilet seat and lid made of solid color plastics is its mass production. Besides its monotone appearance, the integral tone of the toilet seat assembly looks poor. Furthermore, plastic toilet seat and lid has a brittle structure and poor tenacity, can be easily deformed or cracked or broken due to heated expansion and cooled shrinkage in the environment, resulting in inconvenience and trouble for the user. Such plastic toilet seat and lid is not biodegradable, so it causes environmental problems such as piling of junk garbage.

The toilet seat and lid can be made of logwood to enhance its log grains to the quality of the toilet seat and lid. But the use of entire blocks of logwood for the manufacture of toilet seat and lid would mean deforestation and devastating damage to the woodland ecology. Logwood production of toilet seat and lid involves sophisticated processes, much more working hours and labor. In addition to increased production cost.

Logwood has another problem of corruption or corrosion because it is exposed to water and high density of moisture in the bathroom.

Furthermore, toilet seat and lid made of log has a low combustion point and is highly consumable, so it could be a best burning agent in case of fire in the bathroom.

Therefore, the inventor has devoted in research and improvement, and has finally come up with a type of composite toilet seat and lid that has the preferred features of mass production, superior quality tone of logwood grains, high resistance to water and fire, using waste and lowcost materials such as coarse wood dust or fine wood powder, so the end product of toilet seat and lid has the characteristics of industrial applicability, such as upgraded quality tone, extended service life, reinforced safety protection and secondary environmental protection.

Preferably the primary objective of the invention is to provide a composite type of toilet seat and lid with reinforced structural strength and tenacity to prevent deformation and damage that may be caused by heated expansion and cooled shrinkage, thereby extending the service life of the product.

Preferably the second objective of the invention is to provide a composite type of toilet seat and lid, which surface has the superior quality tone of logwood grains, thereby increasing the value and enhancing the beautiful appearance of the toilet product.

Preferably the third objective of the invention is to provide a composite type of toilet seat and lid, which has structural tightness to resist water, fire, high density of moisture and combustion.

Preferably the fourth objective of the invention is to provide a composite type of

toilet seat and lid, which recycles the use of waste coarse wood granules and fine wood dust as its materials for environment-friendly production.

In a first aspect, the invention of composite toilet seat and lid is made of fine wood dust and fine wood powder that mixed with glue, forming a coarse Bakelite layer and a fine Bakelite layer, the fine Bakelite layer coating the exterior of the coarse Bakelite layer, then, a layer of water-resistant paper is used to wrap the exterior of the fine Bakelite layer, and finally, a thin wood plate covers the exterior of the water-resistant paper. The above components are hot compression molded in molds, so the respective layers can be tightly compressed to have reinforced structural strength and tenacity to resist water and fire.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS The drawings of preferred embodiments of this invention are described in following details to enable better understanding.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the first preferred embodiment of the invention of composite toilet seat and lid, showing the integrated structure of the toilet seat and the toilet seat lid.

FIG. 2 is a disassembled view of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a section view of the invention.

FIG. 4 is a blowup of the section view of the invention, showing the schematic view of the coarse Bakelite layer, the fine Bakelite layer, the water-resistant paper and the thin wood plate.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the thin wood plate in the invention.

FIG. 6 is a second preferred embodiment of the invention of composite toilet seat and lid, showing the schematic view of the thin wood plate

embedded with patterned inlays.

FIG 7 is a disassembled view of thin wood plate in FIG. 6.

FIG. 8 is a blowup of section view, showing a third preferred embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, this invention of composite toilet seat and toilet seat lid is indicated by numerals 100 and 200 respectively. The toilet seat 100 and the toilet seat lid 200 are assembled as one unit, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the toilet seat lid 200 can be lowered to cover the toilet seat 100 or a pickup mechanism of the toilet seat 100.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the interior of the toilet seat 100 and toilet seat lid 200 is composed of a coarse Bakelite layer 10. The coarse Bakelite layer 10 is composed of a plurality of coarse wood granules 11 (shown in FIG. 4) mixed with glue and a hardening agent. The coarse wood granules 11 can be obtained by grinding corrupted wood blocks or wood products.

The fine Bakelite layer 20 wraps over the exterior of the coarse Bakelite layer 10. The fine Bakelite layer 20 is composed of fine wood powder 21 (shown in FIG. 4) mixed with glue and a hardening agent. The diameter of the fine wood powder 21 particles is much smaller than that of the coarse wood granules, and can be obtained by grinding unwanted sawing dust or wood shavings into powder form. The exterior of the fine Bakelite layer 20 is then wrapper by a layer of water-resistant paper 30. The water-resistant paper 30 is made by immersing paper material in an adhesive or dehydrator before it is dehydrated, to wholly envelop the fine Bakelite layer 20.

As shown in FIG. 5, the exterior of the water-resistant paper 30 is

wrapped by a thin wood plate 40. The thin wood plate 40 is obtained from thin shavings shaved from a log, having exquisite decorative patterns on its surface. The decorative log pattern 41 is designed to be exposed on the outermost exterior. The above components, including the coarse Bakelite layer 10, the fine Bakelite layer 20, the water-resistant paper 30 and the thin wood plate 40 are placed inside molds (not shown in drawing) for the toilet seat 100 and the toilet seat lid 200, then the respective layers are hot compressed tightly to become one unit, as the products of toilet seat 100 and toilet seat lid 200 shown in FIG. 1 and 2.

FIGS. 6 and 7 illustrate the second preferred embodiment of the invention of toilet seat 100 and toilet seat lid 200. As shown therein, the outermost thin wood plate 40'is embedded with inlays. On the surface of the thin wood plate 40'is engraved an embedding groove 41', which is the prototype of the relief pattern as required in the original design. Then, a plurality of inlays 42', 43'and 44'are sequentially embedded in respective locations in the embedding groove 41'. In other words, the inlays 42', 43' and 44'can be made in different colors and wooden patterns to be embedded over the surface of the thin wood plate 40'to become relief engraving (as shown in FIG. 7). After the coarse Bakelite layer 10, the fine Bakelite layer 20 are the water-resistant paper 30 are compressed along with the thin wood plate 40'and formed to have desired appearance, the surface of the toilet seat 100 and the toilet seat lid 200 look to have relief engraved patterns.

FIG. 8 illustrates the third preferred embodiment of the invention of toilet seat 100 and toilet seat lid 200. The difference between the first and the second embodiments lies in that, between the coarse Bakelite layer 10

and the fine Bakelite layer 20 is a layer of water-resistant paper 30, which serves to reinforce the tenacity and water-resistance of the toilet seat 100 and toilet seat lid 200.

As shown in FIGS. 1 through 8, the coarse Bakelite layer 10 at the innermost layer of the invention of toilet seat 100 and toilet seat lid 200 can provide most of the cubic measurements as required in actual applications The next layer of fine Bakelite layer 20 then provides a tightly knit coating structure, filling the pores formed by the coarse wood granules 11 inside the coarse Bakelite layer 10 to prevent penetration by water. Because of the rigid and tightly organized construction of the two, it is resistant to outside pressure and deformation that may result from ambient environmental influences. With its properties of high combustion point and resistance to fire, aided by the water-resistant paper 30 wrapping the exterior of the fine Bakelite layer 20, it further provides excellent resistance to water and structural tenacity, preventing the coarse Bakelite layer 10 and the fine Bakelite layer 20 from being broken, twisted or deformed after they are compression formed to have better and reinforced resistance to pressure.

The third preferred embodiment of the invention shown in FIG. 8 further provides water-resistance function and reinforced structural strength of the inner and outer layers of water-resistant paper 30, preventing the coarse Bakelite layer 10 and the fine Bakelite layer 20 from penetration by water or moisture, enabling better resistance to pressure and better prevention against distortion and deformation. The outermost layer of thin wood plate 40 or 40'provides the best display and variation of log grains and patterns, particularly the second preferred embodiment shown in FIGS.

6 and 7, which provides a relief engraved wooden grain and excellent

visual observation, adding additional sense of quality of the invention of toilet seat 100 and toilet seat lid 200. Meanwhile, after the thin wood plate 40 or 40'is hot compressed, its surface structure will be more tightly knit and better resistance to water.

To conclude, the invention of composite toilet seat and toilet seat lid has its integral technical contents and technical approaches that are unprecedented. The description and drawing disclosed above cover only some preferred embodiments of the disclosed technology. It must be declared herewith that all equivalent variations and modifications deriving from the structural details and technical approaches of the subject invention, without departing from the spirit and intent of the invention, shall be included in the following claim.

Claims

CLAIM What is claimed is : 1. A composite toilet seat and lid, involving a toilet seat and a toilet seat lid, comprising the follows: a coarse Bakelite layer, located at the innermost of its interior, composed of coarse wood dust mixed with glue, serving to constitute its main cubic measurements ; a fine Bakelite layer, located outside the coarse Bakelite layer, composed of fine wood powder mixed with glue, serving to fill in the clearances between the coarse wood dust particles of the coarse Bakelite layer, forming a structure with tight resistance against water ; a layer of water-resistant paper, wrapping the exterior of the fine Bakelite layer, reinforcing the resistance to water and structural strength of the coarse Bakelite layer and the fine Bakelite layer ; a thin wood plate, coating the water-resistant paper, having a surface decorated with log grains and patterns to be observed on the outside ;

characterized in that, the aforementioned coarse Bakelite layer, the fine c Bakelite layer, the water-resistant paper and thin wood plate are positioned inside molds for the formation of toilet seat and toilet seat lid, to be hot compressed and formed as the finished products of toilet seat and toilet seat lid.
2. The composite toilet seat and lid as claimed in claim I, wherein, the adhesive used in said coarse Bakelite layer and fine Bakelite layer is composed of glue and a hardening agent.
3. The composite toilet seat and lid as claimed in claim 1, wherein, between said coarse Bakelite layer and fine Bakelite layer is a layer of

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water-resistant paper.
4. The composite toilet seat and lid as claimed in claim I, wherein, said thin wood plate has an embedding groove; and, a plurality of inlays are respectively embedded in the embedding groove to enable the formation of relief engraved patterns on the surface of the thin wood plate.
5. The composite toilet seat and lid as claimed in claim 1, wherein, said embedding groove is configured in the desired shape of the relieve engraving patterns.
6. A composite toilet seat and lid substantially as any one embodiment herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.