Male urinal

Abstract

A urinal assembly comprising a body comprising a bottom wall, front and back walls, first and second side walls bridging the front and back walls, an open mouth positioned generally opposite the bottom wall, and an attachment feature positioned proximate to the open mouth. The attachment feature includes outer and inner edges and an opening defined by the inner edge. The urinal assembly further comprises a lid including a lid portion and a strap having a fastener positioned at a distal end. The fastener includes a central portion positioned between first and second arms. Each of the first and second arms has a first end coupled to the central portion and a second end positioned a distance away from the central portion. The first and second arms extend through the opening such that the first and second free ends of the arms abut the inner edge of the attachment feature.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0001]The present invention relates generally to a urinal. More particularly, the present invention relates to an all-plastic, disposable, male urinal with enhanced reinforcing elements, an improved lid-attachment mechanism and automated method for attaching a lid to a urinal, and a leak-resistant lid and which is additionally configured for nesting to allow cost-effective storing, transporting, and / or shipping.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]One piece, all-plastic urinals in widespread use are generally manufactured using an extrusion blow-molding process where a molten tube of polymer is dropped between two halves of a mold. The polymer may include polyurethane, polypropylene, polyethylene, polyethylene, PET polyester, polyvinyl chloride, another type of thermoplastic polymer, or other suitable polymers. A thermoplastic polymer includes any polymer that may be melted, ground, and re-melted. The mold halves are closed onto the molten tube. Compressed air is t...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0010]In yet another embodiment of the present invention, a plastic urinal comprises a body including a bottom wall, a front wall, a back wall, and first and second side walls bridging the front wall and the back wall. The front wall defines a first plane generally parallel to a second plane defined by the back wall. The urinal further comprises an open mouth comprising a generally circular portion. The open mouth is positioned generally opposite the bottom wall. The urinal further comprises a handle extending from the front wall. At least one of the front wall, back wall, side walls, and handle includes indentations or raised areas. The indentations or raised areas are configured to increase the strength of the urinal.

Problems solved by technology

Because the walls are thin, the urinals have a tendency to tip, deform, and / or collapse when gripped and / or handled, particularly when the urinal is full or nearly full.

Therefore, it is often difficult for a user to hold, keep upright, carry, and / or empty the contents of existing urinals, which often causes spillage.

Current thicker-walled urinals are less likely to collapse but are more difficult to dispose of and more costly to ship due to their greater weight compared to existing thin-walled disposable urinals.

Furthermore, thicker-walled urinals are generally more costly to manufacture because they require more material.

Because the process of attaching the lids to the handle requires maneuvering of the urinals, it must be done manually and is very difficult or cannot be automated.

The lids of existing urinals also have a tendency to fall off during packing or shipping.

Furthermore, because the movement of existing lids between an open and a closed position is unrestricted, existing lids may fall into the urine flow when the urinal is being emptied and become contaminated.

When lids are installed over the mouths of existing urinals, the lids often do not seal properly around the mouths, thereby causing significant leakage of urine from the space between the lids and the mouths of the urinals.

The lids of existing urinals are also prone to pop off altogether, thereby causing urine to spill out from the urinals.

Another disadvantage of existing urinals is that they are often expensive and / or bulky to store, transport, and / or ship.

Because of their often irregular shape, size, and / or dimensions, existing urinals require a substantial amount of space for storing, transporting, and / or shipping.

Furthermore, existing urinals are not conducive to side-by-side packing of urinal pairs or to stacking urinals on top of one another.

Consequently, existing urinals may be expensive for consumers, manufacturers, hospitals, healthcare facilities, or the like to store, transport, and / or ship.

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