Dispenser mountable under a toilet bowl rim
a technology for dispensers and toilet bowls, applied in water installations, lavatory sanities, construction, etc., can solve the problems of waste of cleaning chemicals, insufficient cleaning, and manual labor for cleaning toilet bowls,
Active Publication Date: 2006-06-15
SC JOHNSON & SON INC
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- Abstract
- Description
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- Application Information
AI Technical Summary
Benefits of technology
[0028] As such, one advantage of the present invention to provide an improved toilet bowl chemical dispenser that can dispense quantities of cleaning / freshening toilet bowl treatment chemicals from under the rim of a toilet bowl during a flush, without requiring any attachment connectors that extend over the top of the bowl rim.
Problems solved by technology
This task has required manual labor to keep the toilet bowl clean.
However, a system which relies on adding the chemical to the storage tank typically requires the consumer to lift a tank lid in order to install the device and / or to add a new charge / block of cleaning chemical.
Also, for some of the embodiments of this system precise control over the quantity of chemical to be delivered is difficult, with resulting waste of cleaning chemical or inadequate cleaning.
Further, when the chemical is placed in the storage tank the cleaning chemical must be compatible for long-term contact with some of the valving present in the toilet tank, which may impose some limitations on formulation.
While this latter type of system is becoming increasingly popular, there are some disadvantages associated with current products that embody this approach.
One disadvantage is that some of these devices use a hook that extends over the top (and usually to some extent an outside side wall) of the toilet bowl rim to mount the device.
Further complicating matters is that the designs of toilet bowl rims vary widely between manufacturers, and even between different models of a single manufacturer.
Some holders that are suitable to mount a dispenser under the rim by a prong that is extendable into a small rim drain hole (see e.g. U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,202,822, 1,974,955, 1,979,755, 2,214,798, and 3,736,600) are generally unsuitable for mounting that same device under an open bottom rim like that of U.S. Pat. No. 3,946,448.
Since many consumers aren't readily aware of that information, that creates a marketing impediment which may lead a consumer to select a system that provides the chemical to the tank directly (rather than mounts under the bowl rim).
Frictional contact between the arm and the rim interior held the dispenser in place.
However, if the rim was dimensioned too tall, such an arm could pass all the way into the rim and catch in place inside the rim, making removal difficult.
If instead the rim hole was too small, the arm plus support might not fit into it at all.
Method used
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Embodiment Construction
[0038] Turning first to FIGS. 1 and 2, there is a dispenser (generally 10) having a housing / cage portion (generally 11) supportable by a brush form suspender (generally 12). The interior 13 of the housing 11 constitutes a cage for retaining a dissolvable block 14 of cleaning material.
[0039] The brush 12 preferably has a twisted wire central core 16 from which extends a plurality of flexible bristles. The twisted wire core 16 is preferably made of a metal or plastic, and the bristles are preferably made of plastic.
[0040] The bristles can be integral with the core 16, or can be attached to the core by a conventional brush formation technique (e.g. winding the bristles with a wire core; adhering the bristles by adhesive; etc.).
[0041] The bottom of the wire core 16 may be connected to the housing 11 by any suitable technique. It may be integrally formed with the housing 11. However it is preferred (for ease of molding) to form the brush separately and attach it by a technique such as...
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Devices for dispensing cleaning chemicals from under the rim of a toilet bowl are suspended from either an open bottom toilet bowl rim or a toilet bowl rim with bottom wall holes, using a brush or brush-like suspender. Bristles of the brush flex together to permit the brush to extend into toilet bowl rim holes or an entrance of an open bottom rim. They then expand away from each other to retain the dispenser directly under the rim, in an essentially hidden manner.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] Not applicable STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH / DEVELOPMENT [0002] Not applicable BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0003] The present invention relates to dispensers, and in particular to dispensers for dispensing cleaning and / or freshening chemicals into toilet bowl water from a dispenser mounted adjacent the rim of a toilet bowl. [0004] Toilet bowls require care to prevent the buildup of unsightly deposits, to reduce odors and to prevent bacteria growth. Traditionally, toilet bowls have been cleaned, deodorized and / or disinfected by manual scrubbing with a liquid or powdered cleaning / sanitizing agent that is added to the bowl water by hand. This task has required manual labor to keep the toilet bowl clean. [0005] In order to reduce or in some cases eliminate the need for such manual scrubbing, various automatic toilet bowl cleaning systems have been proposed. One type of system delivers the cleaning chemical by adding it to...
Claims
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Login to View More IPC IPC(8): E03D9/02
CPCE03D9/032
InventorCONWAY, SIMON M.SCHWALLIE, STEPHEN R.KOVARA, TERRY M.
OwnerSC JOHNSON & SON INC