Height-adjustable toilet seat

Abstract

To provide a convenient handrail and a lifting toilet seat.SOLUTION: A handrail 1 is installed in a closet bowl 100 fitted with a toilet seat body 111. The handrail 1 is provided with a handrail body 10 relatively freely movable in a vertical direction relative to the toilet seat body 111. The handrail body 10 is freely movable in the vertical direction within a range including a top surface 10A of the handrail body 10 positioned below a seat surface 111A of the toilet seat body 111 in a lateral view of the state that it is provided for the closet bowl 100.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present disclosure relates to handrails and liftable toilet seats. [Background technology]

[0002] Patent Document 1 discloses a conventional handrail, which is integrally provided with a handrail portion and an armrest portion that is continuous with the rear portion of the handrail portion and is higher than the handrail portion. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 9-28623 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] In the case of Patent Document 1, the armrests and the handrails, which are lower than the armrests, are both located above the toilet seat. In this case, when a wheelchair user transfers to or from the toilet seat, for example, the user's lower back may come into contact with the handrails, hindering the user's movements, making the toilet less user-friendly.

[0005] The present disclosure has been made in consideration of the above-described conventional situation, and aims to solve the problem of providing a handrail and a lift-up toilet seat that are easy to use. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a handrail according to one embodiment of the present disclosure is a handrail that is installed on a toilet bowl to which a toilet seat body is attached, and includes a handrail body that is movable in the vertical direction relative to the toilet seat body, and when viewed from the side when installed on the toilet bowl, the handrail body is movable in the vertical direction within a range that includes a state in which the upper surface of the handrail body is positioned lower than the seat surface of the toilet seat body.

[0007] The above-mentioned "state in which the upper surface of the handrail body is located lower than the seat surface of the toilet seat body" does not necessarily mean that the entire upper surface of the handrail body is located lower than the seat surface of the toilet seat body. The "state in which the upper surface of the handrail body is located lower than the seat surface of the toilet seat body" means that the upper surface of the handrail body may be partially higher than the seat surface of the toilet seat body, as long as it does not impede the user's actions such as transferring onto the toilet seat body.

[0008] In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the liftable toilet seat according to one embodiment of the present disclosure comprises a toilet seat device having a toilet seat body that can be raised and lowered freely relative to the toilet bowl, and a handrail as described in claim 1 that rises and falls in conjunction with the raising and lowering of the toilet seat body. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0009] [Figure 1] 1 is a perspective view showing a state in which a liftable toilet seat according to a first embodiment is installed on a toilet bowl. [Figure 2] 1 is a side view showing the state in which the liftable toilet seat according to the first embodiment is installed on a toilet bowl. [Figure 3] 3 is a side view showing the state in which the liftable toilet seat according to the first embodiment is installed on the toilet bowl, showing the state in which the toilet seat body is raised higher than the state shown in FIG. 2. FIG. [Figure 4] 3 is a side view showing the state in which the liftable toilet seat according to the first embodiment is installed on the toilet bowl, and shows the state in which the handrail has been moved upward from the state shown in FIG. 2. FIG. [Figure 5] 1 is a plan view showing a state in which a liftable toilet seat according to a first embodiment is installed on a toilet bowl. [Figure 6] 1 is a plan view showing a state in which a liftable toilet seat according to a first embodiment is installed on a toilet bowl. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0010] <Embodiment 1> As shown in Figures 1 to 5, the handrail 1 and lift-up toilet seat E according to the first embodiment are installed on a toilet bowl 100. The toilet bowl 100 is a typical Western-style toilet bowl equipped with a toilet body 101 and a tank 102, and is fixed to a floor surface F, which serves as the installation surface. The lift-up toilet seat E is equipped with a toilet seat device 110 and a lift-up device 120. The lift-up toilet seat E can raise and lower the toilet seat device 110 relative to the toilet bowl 100 using the lift-up device 120. The handrail 1 is provided on the lift-up toilet seat E. The lift-up toilet seat E, together with the toilet bowl 100, constitutes a toilet bowl device T.

[0011] As shown in Figures 1 to 4, the toilet seat device 110 is installed above the toilet bowl 100. The toilet seat device 110 has a toilet seat body 111, a functional unit 112, and an operating unit 113. The toilet seat body 111 has a seat surface 111A that serves as a seating surface for the user. The toilet seat body 111 is provided so as to be able to rotate freely relative to the toilet bowl 100 via the functional unit 112. The functional unit 112 is located at the rear of the toilet bowl 100. The functional unit 112 houses functional parts (not shown) inside for performing functions such as private cleaning and opening and closing the toilet seat.

[0012] In the following description, the up-down, left-right, and front-to-back directions refer to the front-to-back, left-to-right, and front-to-back directions as seen by a user using the toilet device T while sitting in a normal position on the seat surface 111A of the toilet seat body 111. The X-axis, Y-axis, and Z-axis shown in each drawing represent the front-to-back, left-to-right, and front-to-back directions, respectively. The positive directions of the X-axis, Y-axis, and Z-axis are the front, left, and top directions, respectively.

[0013] The operating unit 113 accepts operations to activate functions of the toilet seat device 110, such as private parts cleaning and opening / closing the toilet seat. As shown in FIG. 5, the operating unit 113 is provided so as to protrude outward in the left and right directions from the toilet seat main body 111. In the present embodiment, the operating unit 113 is disposed on the right side of the toilet seat main body 111. The rear end of the operating unit 113 is connected to the right side of the function unit 112, and the front end extends to the right side of the toilet seat main body 111. As shown in FIG. 6, the upper surface 113A, which is the operating surface of the operating unit 113, is located below the seat surface 111A of the toilet seat main body 111. The upper surface 113A of the operating unit 113 is a flat surface that slopes slightly downward toward the front.

[0014] The lifting device 120 moves the toilet seat device 110 relative to the toilet bowl 100 by operating an operating unit (not shown) of the lifting device 120, thereby changing the height of the seat surface 111A of the toilet seat body 111 relative to the floor surface F. The lifting device 120 can freely raise and lower the toilet seat device 110 between a lower limit position shown in FIG. 2 and an upper limit position shown in FIG. 3. These lower limit and upper limit positions are the mechanical upper and lower limit positions of the lifting device 120 in an installed state. The lower limit position is the height position when a user relieves themselves. In this embodiment, the movement distance between the upper limit and lower limit positions is 124 mm. When in the upper limit position, the lifting device 120 tilts the toilet seat device 110 forward by approximately 5° from the posture at the lower limit position.

[0015] The lifting device 120 is configured with an actuator such as an electric cylinder, and a lifting mechanism (not shown), such as a link mechanism. As shown in Figures 1 to 4, the lifting device 120 has storage sections 121 that house these lifting mechanisms, located on each of the left and right sides of the toilet bowl 100. The storage sections 121 have a support post support section 122. The support post support section 122 supports a support post 20 (described below) of the handrail 1 so that it can slide freely in the vertical direction. A height adjustment knob 123 is inserted into the support post support section 122 from the front. The height adjustment knob 123 is used when adjusting the height of the handrail 1.

[0016] As shown in Figures 1 to 4, the handrails 1 are arranged on the outer left and right sides of the toilet 100. In this embodiment, a pair of handrails 1 are provided on each of the left and right sides of the toilet 100. The pair of left and right handrails 1 are arranged and shaped symmetrically with respect to the center of the toilet device T in the left-right direction.

[0017] As shown in Figures 1 to 4, the handrail 1 is T-shaped in side view. Specifically, the handrail 1 has a handrail main body 10 extending in the front-to-rear direction and a support post 20 extending in the up-down direction, forming a T-shape in side view. The handrail main body 10 is the part on which a user of the toilet device T places or holds on to with their hands. The top surface 10A of the handrail main body 10 is formed as a flat surface. This allows the handrail main body 10 to be used as an armrest depending on the height position. The support post 20 is a part that supports the handrail main body 10. The support post 20 constitutes part of a fixing mechanism that fixes the height position of the handrail 1 at a desired position when it moves up and down relative to the toilet seat device 110.

[0018] The handrail 1 is movable vertically relative to the toilet seat device 110 between a lower limit position shown in Fig. 2 and an upper limit position shown in Fig. 4. The handrail 1 is movable vertically within a range that includes a state in which the upper surface 10A of the handrail main body 10 is positioned lower than the seat surface 111A of the toilet seat main body 111. When the handrail 1 is at least in the lower limit position, the upper surface 10A of the handrail main body 10 can be positioned lower than the seat surface 111A of the toilet seat main body 111. In this embodiment, the handrail 1 rises and falls as the toilet seat device 110 is raised and lowered by the lifting device 120. In this case, the handrail 1 does not move relative to the toilet seat device 110, but moves only relative to the toilet bowl 100.

[0019] As shown in Figure 5, the handrail main body 10 is disposed on the left and right outer sides of the toilet seat device 110, extending in the front-to-rear direction. In a plan view, the outer shape of the handrail main body 10 is a rectangle with the front-to-rear direction as the longitudinal direction. The handrail main body 10 forms a recessed portion 11. The recessed portion 11 is formed such that the rear side surface of the handrail main body 10 is recessed more than the front side surface. For this reason, the handrail main body 10 is wider in the left-to-right direction at the front side than at the rear side. The recessed portions 11 are formed on both the left and right side surfaces of the handrail main body 10. The recessed portions 11 on both the left and right side surfaces have a symmetrical planar shape. The handrail main body 10 as a whole has a symmetrical planar shape.

[0020] The handrail main body 10 is arranged so as not to come into contact with the operating part 113. As shown in FIG. 5, the handrail main body 10 arranged on the right side of the toilet seat device 110 is arranged with the recessed part 11 along the side surface of the operating part 113. The handrail main body 10 does not overlap with the operating part 113 in a plan view. By aligning the recessed part 11 along the side surface of the operating part 113, the handrail main body 10 can be placed closer to the toilet seat device 110 than if there was no recessed part. With this arrangement, the front part of the handrail main body 10 juts out in front of the operating part 113, and is closer to the toilet seat device 110 than the rear part of the handrail main body 10.

[0021] As shown in Figures 1 to 4, the pillar 20 has a cylindrical shape that extends in the vertical direction. The upper end of the pillar 20 is connected to the lower part of the handrail main body 10. The lower end of the pillar 20 is inserted into a pillar support part 122 provided in a storage part 121. The pillar 20 is movable relative to the pillar support part 122 in the axial direction. The pillar 20 can be fixed to the pillar support part 122 at a desired position in the axial direction.

[0022] In this embodiment, the pole 20 is fixed to the pole support part 122 by a height adjustment knob 123. Specifically, the pole 20 has a through-hole (not shown) that penetrates in a direction perpendicular to the axial direction. A plurality of through-holes are provided lined up in the axial direction of the pole 20. The pole 20 is fixed by selecting one of the plurality of through-holes and inserting the height adjustment knob 123 into it. This allows the handrail 1 to fix the handrail main body 10 at the height desired by the user.

[0023] In this embodiment, the support pole 20 supports the handrail main body 10 so that it can move relatively in the front-to-rear direction. That is, the handrail main body 10 can move relatively in the front-to-rear direction with respect to the toilet seat device 110 to which the support pole 20 is fixedly disposed. The handrail main body 10 can move in the front-to-rear direction within a range between the rear end position, which is the rearmost position shown by the solid line in Fig. 5, and the front end position, which is the frontmost position shown by the two-dot chain line in Fig. 5. The handrail main body 10 is positioned so that it does not come into contact with the operating part 113 of the toilet seat device 110 even when in the rear end position.

[0024] In this embodiment, as shown in Fig. 6, when the handrail 1 is in the lowest position, the handrail main body 10 and the operating part 113 are arranged so that they overlap in the left-right direction in a side view. In this state, the top surface 10A of the handrail main body 10 is positioned higher than the top surface 113A of the operating part 113, at least on the front side. In other words, the handrail 1 can be configured so that the top surface 10A of the handrail main body 10 is lower than the seat surface 111A of the toilet seat main body 111 and higher than the top surface 113A of the operating part 113.

[0025] The operation of the handrail 1 and the liftable toilet seat E configured as described above will now be explained along with how to use the toilet apparatus T. A user of the toilet apparatus T moves the handrail 1 up and down to adjust it to the desired height position in advance. In particular, a user transferring from a wheelchair to the toilet seat apparatus 110 should move at least one of the left and right handrails 1 to the lowest position. The handrail 1 can position the height position of the upper surface 10A of the handrail main body 10 lower than the seat surface 111A of the toilet seat main body 111. This allows the user to transfer to the toilet seat main body 111 without being hindered by the handrail 1. The position of the handrail 1 can be adjusted not only vertically but also in the front-to-back direction. This allows the user to precisely set the position of the handrail 1 when using the toilet apparatus T.

[0026] When sitting on the toilet seat device 110, a user of the toilet bowl device T raises the toilet seat device 110 of the liftable toilet seat E to a desired height. In the liftable toilet seat E, the handrail 1 rises together with the toilet seat device 110 by the lifting device 120. The user can sit on the seat surface 111A while placing their hands on the handrail 1 that has risen together with the toilet seat device 110. This makes the liftable toilet seat E easy to use. In the liftable toilet seat E, even when the handrail 1 is in the lowest position, the upper surface 10A of the handrail main body 10 is positioned above the upper surface 113A of the operating part 113 of the toilet seat device 110. This prevents the user from accidentally touching the operating part 113 when placing their hand on the upper surface 10A of the handrail main body 10.

[0027] After sitting on the toilet seat device 110, the user lowers the toilet seat device 110 to its lowest position, which is the height position when using the toilet. At this time, the handrail 1 lowers as the toilet seat device 110 lowers, just as it did when it was raised. The liftable toilet seat E does not change the relative position between the toilet seat device 110 and the handrail 1 when the toilet seat device 110 is raised or lowered. Therefore, the user can stably raise or lower the toilet seat device 110 together with the toilet seat device 110 while keeping their hands on the handrail 1.

[0028] As described above, the handrail 1 according to the first embodiment is provided in a toilet bowl 100 to which a toilet seat apparatus 110 equipped with a toilet seat body 111 is attached. The handrail 1 comprises a handrail body 10. The handrail body 10 is movable up and down relative to the toilet seat apparatus 110. The handrail body 10 is movable up and down within a range that includes a state in which the upper surface 10A is positioned lower than the seat surface 111A of the toilet seat apparatus 110. For this reason, the handrail 1 can prevent the handrail 1 from interfering with the user's actions, for example, when a wheelchair user transfers to or from the toilet seat to the wheelchair. Therefore, the handrail 1 is easy to use.

[0029] The liftable toilet seat E according to the first embodiment is provided with the handrail 1. Therefore, the liftable toilet seat E can enjoy the effects of the handrail 1.

[0030] The liftable toilet seat E comprises a toilet seat device 110 and a handrail 1. The toilet seat device 110 has a toilet seat body 111 that is provided so that it can be raised and lowered relative to the toilet bowl 100. The handrail 1 rises and lowers as the toilet seat body 111 rises and lowers. In this way, with the liftable toilet seat E, the handrail 1 rises and lowers as the toilet seat body 111 rises and lowers, so when the toilet seat body 111 is raised and lowered while the user is seated, the relative position of the handrail 1 to the user does not change, making it easy to use.

[0031] In the lift-up toilet seat E, the toilet seat device 110 has an operating unit 113. The operating unit 113 is provided so as to protrude outward to the left and right from the toilet seat body 111. The handrail body 10 is provided so as not to come into contact with the operating unit 113. Therefore, the lift-up toilet seat E can avoid the handrail 10 from interfering with the operation of the operating unit 113, making it easy to use.

[0032] In the lift-up toilet seat E, the handrail main body 10 is shaped so that it does not overlap the operating part 113 in a plan view, and is positioned forward of the operating part 113, extending further in the left-right direction than the rear side of the handrail main body 10. In other words, the handrail main body 10 is wider at the front side than at the rear side where the recessed part 11 is formed, and this front side protrudes forward of the operating part 113. For this reason, in the lift-up toilet seat E, the handrail main body 10 can be suitably positioned below the operating part 113, and the handrail main body 10 can be positioned closer to the toilet seat device 110 at the front side than at the rear side, making it easy to use.

[0033] The present disclosure is not limited to the embodiments described above and illustrated in the drawings, and the following embodiments, for example, are also included within the technical scope of the present disclosure.

[0034] The toilet seat body according to the present disclosure does not have to be provided in a toilet seat apparatus having a functional part, etc. The toilet seat body may, for example, be provided as a stand-alone unit. The toilet seat body may, for example, be provided in a toilet seat apparatus that does not have a private part washing function, a toilet seat opening / closing function, etc.

[0035] It is not essential that the toilet seat device has an operating unit. The toilet seat device may have, for example, a remote control-type operating unit, or may not have an operating unit.

[0036] The handrail according to the present disclosure may be provided on a toilet bowl in which the toilet seat body is attached so as not to be raised or lowered.

[0037] It is not essential that a pair of handrails be provided on the left and right sides. A handrail may be provided on only one of the left and right sides of the toilet.

[0038] The shape, size, etc. of the handrail body according to the present disclosure are not particularly limited. The configuration for vertically moving the handrail body relative to the toilet seat body is not limited to the configuration in which the handrail body is manually moved vertically as in the above embodiment, but may be moved vertically by, for example, an electric actuator or the like.

[0039] The configuration for raising and lowering the toilet seat body relative to the toilet bowl is not limited to the above embodiment.

[0040] The user in this embodiment is intended to include not only the person who actually sits on the toilet seat body, but also the caregiver who assists the person. [Explanation of symbols]

[0041] 1...handrail, 10...handrail body, 10A...upper surface of handrail body, 100...toilet bowl, 110...toilet seat device, 111...toilet seat body, 111A...seat, 113...operation unit, 113A...upper surface of operation unit, E...lift toilet seat

Claims

1. a toilet seat device having a toilet seat body that is provided so as to be able to rise and fall relative to a toilet bowl; A handrail provided on the toilet bowl that rises and falls in accordance with the rise and fall of the toilet seat body; It is equipped with The toilet seat body and the handrail are raised and lowered by a lifting device having an electric actuator, The handrail includes a handrail body that is movable relative to the toilet seat body in the up and down direction, The handrail body is movable up and down within a range including a state in which the upper surface of the handrail body is positioned lower than the seat surface of the toilet seat body when viewed from the side when installed on the toilet bowl.

2. The toilet seat device has an operating part that protrudes outward from the toilet seat body in left and right directions, The liftable toilet seat according to claim 1, wherein the handrail body is arranged so as not to come into contact with the operating portion.

3. The lift-up toilet seat according to claim 2, wherein the handrail body is shaped so as not to overlap the operating part in a plan view, and is positioned forward of the operating part and extending in the left-right direction beyond the rear side of the handrail body.

4. A lift-up toilet seat as described in any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the toilet seat body is tilted forward at its uppermost position.

5. A lift-up toilet seat as described in any one of claims 2 and 3, wherein the handrail body can be freely moved in the forward and backward directions relative to the toilet seat body without coming into contact with the operating part.

6. A liftable toilet seat as described in any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the toilet seat body is raised and lowered by operating an operating part that operates the lifting device.

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