US2679053A - Infant's toilet seat - Google Patents

Description

i) 1954 o. R SMITII-I, JR 2,679,053

- INFANTS' TOILET SEAT Filed Oct. 19, 1950 3] Z9 Z6 J6 37 3maentor I 0445 1 5M/rh: J

Gttomeg Patented May 25, I954 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE INFANTS TOILET SEAT Dale P. Smith, Jr., Huntington Park, Calif. Application October 19, 1950, Serial No. 191,019

2 Claims.

This invention relates to toilet seats for infants and deals more particularly with the type that are attached to toilets for adult use.

Prior devices of this nature had a major fault in that separate manipulation of the infants seat was necessary to give access to the adults seat. Most toilets are provided with a lid that covers the seat opening and the same is, of course, raised. In the mentioned earlier devices, it is necessary to raise both the lid and the infants seat separately.

It is an object of the present invention to so combine an infants seat and the lid of a toilet that the lid alone or both the lid and said seat can be raised, as desired.

Another object of the invention is to so combine the lid and infants seat that both together, when the latter is folded, occupy the same space as the lid alone, thus providing a neat structure that outwardly has the appearance of a conventional lid.

Another object of the invention is to provide a novel infants seat that folds to a fiat condition of such small thickness that the same resides entirely within a seat or cavity formed in the lid and is flush with the under face of said lid.

The invention also has for its objects to provide such means that are positive in operation,

convenient in use, easily installed in a working position and easily disconnected therefrom, economical of manufacture, relatively simple, and of general superiority and serviceability.

The invention also comprises novel details of construction and novel combinations and arrangements of parts, which will more fully appear in the course of the following description. However, the drawings merely show and the following description merely describes one embodiment of the present invention, which is given by way of illustration or example only.

In the drawings, like reference characters designate similar parts in the several views.

Fig. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a toilet seat structure according to the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a bottom plan and sectional View as taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 1, and viewed in the direction of the arrows.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged, partly broken, side vie of the seat in an intermediate position between fully folded and fully opened positions.

In a conventional manner, the bowl 5 is provided with an adults seat 6 and with a lid or cover I to cover the opening of said seat. A pivot bar 8 at the rear of the bowl and supported by standards 9, pivotally mounts the seat and lid so that the lid alone or the lid and seat may be swung upwardly to an erect position. While otherwise conventional, the lid 1, according to the present invention, is provided with a cavity l9 that faces downwardly when said lid is down. A folding infants seat H is housed within said cavity, is separately connected to pivot bar 8 by means of an extension [2, and is retained in said cavity by means of a releasable latch 13. It will be clear that, when latched together, the lid l and folded seat ll moves together on bar 8 in the same manner as if the lid did not house an infants seat, since the same move on a common pivot axis.

The seat ll comprises, generally, a seat board it, a seat back l5, and side arms H3. The board and back are connected by aligned hinges II.

The seat board It is shaped substantially in accordance with the shape of cavity iii to freely fit thereinto and to have its under face it generally flush with the under face I9 of lid 1. A central ovate opening 29 is formed in seat board 18, the same being smaller than and substantially centered with the comparable opening 2! of seat 6.

The seat back i5 is formed to have a panel part 22 approximately the width of the seat board, and a, thickened back pad 23 that is shaped to freely fit into ovate opening 29, the same completing the flush appearance of the under face of the structure. It will be seen that in the closed or folded condition of Fig. l, the seat back i5 is superposed on seat board It on the inner side of cavity l0 and that hinges H are on the same side and, therefore, concealed by the seat board.

Each side arm It comprises an arm rest 24 that is connected by a pivot 25 to an edge of seat a back panel 22, and a brace 26 pivoted at 2! to the seat board and at 28 to the arm rest. The latter comprises a part 29 which is carried by pivot 25 and is provided with an end socket 30 to telescopically receive and guide an arm rest extension 3|. The pivot 28 is provided in said extension. A pin-and-slot connection 32 slidably connects extension 3| and arm rest part 29.

It will be noted from Fig. 2 that the side edges of back panel 22 are notched, as at 33, to accommodate arm rest parts 29 whereby the latter are enabled to lie, for the most part, within the side peripheral edges of the seat board l8 and against the upper face of said seat board, the sum of the thicknesses of the seat board and arm rest part 29 being equal to the depth of cavity l E to achieve the mentioned flush condition of the lid and the seat board.

The braces 26 are arranged alongside the side edges of the seat board and are so formed as not to laterally overhang arm rest parts 28. The end of each brace at pivots 28 reside in slots provided in arm extensions 3|, as indicated in Fig. 3. .To allow fiat folding of the seat, a recess 34 is formed in each arm rest part 29 to accommodate the bearings 35 on board 18 that carry pivots 21.

It will be clear that when lid 1 is raised to the dot-dash line position of Fig. 1, seat II will be similarly raised. However, upon depression of latch 13 to release engagement with the seat, the lid alone will be raised leaving the folded seat ll superposed on seat 6. Now the seat back l5 may be raised on its hinges I! to effect unfolding of the folded arm rests it. By providing abutments 36 (Fig. 3), the erect position of the seat back is limited to a suitable slightly rearward angle as shown by the dot-dash lines of Fig. 1. An abutment shoulder 31 on each end of braces 26 limits the unfolding movemeht of said braces. The pin-and-slot connections 32 limit the telescopic extension of arm rests 16 so that a rigid open condition of the seat If is achieved wherein seat back may be swung through a greater are of movement than braces 26. Thus, by a simple upward-swinging movement of the seat back, the seat II is unfolded. The seat is as easily folded by pushing down on the seat back.

The latch i3 may be depressedby one finger of the hand that raises lid 1 and said latch may automatically engage the end of seat board [8 when the lid is dropped.

To enable removal of seat i I for use elsewhere,

the extension I2 is formed of separable parts 38 and 3,9 that are releasably connected as by a turn-bblt 40. As shown, part 38 is fixedly connected to seat board [8 while part 39 has hooking engagement at 4| with part 38. The turn-bolt if) is carried by part 38 and extends through a slot 42 provided in part 38. The parts are locked when the head of the turn-bolt stands transverse to slot 42, as shown. When said head is turned to align with said slot, parts 38 and 39 may be separated to effect their removal from pivot bar 8.

While the invention that has been illustrated and described is now regarded as the preferred embodiment, the construction is, of course, subject to modifications without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. It is, therefore, not desired to restrict the invention to the particular form of construction illustrated and described, but to cover all modifications that may fall Within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. In a toilet seat structure, a lid having a downwardly facing cavity, a folded seat residing within said cavity, hinges for said lid and seat on a common axis and said axis being disposed rearward of the lid and seat, said lid having an opening therethrough adjacent the forward end thereof, and a latch carried by the lid in latching engagement with the seat and provided with an operating member extending through said opening and accessible from the upper side of the lid, said folded seat comprising a seat board secured to said seat hinge, a seat back hinged to the rearward portion of said seat board, a pair of braces pivoted to the forward portion of said seat board on opposite sides thereof and a pair of arm rests each having one end thereof pivotally connected to said seat back and the other end pivotally connected to one of said braces, each of said arm rests being comprised of two members slidable longitudinally of each other so that said folded seat can be horizontally within said cavity and can be extended to place said seat back in substantially vertical position and said arm rests in substantially horizontal position above said seat board.

2. In a toilet seat structure, a lid having a downwardly facing cavity, a folded seat residing within said cavity, hinges for said lid and seat on a common axis and said axis being disposed rearward of the lid and seat, said folded seat comprising a seat board secured to said seat hinge, a seat back hinged to the rearward portion of said seat board, a pair of braces pivoted to the forward portion of said seat board on opposite sides thereof and a pair of arm rests each having one end thereof pivotally connected to said seat back and the other end pivotally connected to one of said braces, each of said arm rests being comprised of two members slidable longitudinally of each other so that said folded seat can be horizontally within said cavity and can be extended to place said seat back in substantially vertical position and said arm rests in substantially horizontal position above said seat board.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 538,388 Schonfeld Apr. 30, 1895 723,973 Alexander Mar. 31, 1903 904,053 Eastburn et al Nov. 17, 1908 1,196,427 Brandenburg Aug. 29, 1916 1,520,301 Michel Dec. 23, 1924 1,950,016 Zuckerman Mar. 6, 1934 2,113,704: Merrett Apr. 12, 1938 2,219,643 Zaio Oct. 29, 1940 2,556,252 Bergman June 12, 1951

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