Toilet-bowl flush system and devices therefor

The present invention relates to a selective toilet flushing arrangement and more particularly to a device for converting a single-volume flushing cistern into a selective volume flushing cistern.

Single-volume flushing cisterns known today have various mechanisms. There are manufactured and used for example in Israel today flushing cisterns based on the siphon principle and cisterns having an outlet provided with a flushing valve including a seat and a valve member engageable with said seat and liftable therefrom wherein said valve is of the type utilizing an air bell, a buoyant ball valve or a rubber suction cup attachable to the lid of the cistern by vacuum pressure.

All of the above types of toilet flushing arrangements and others known in the art work in their various ways to achieve the same result upon actuation of their respective flushing mechanisms. As is known, upon actuation, the flushing mechanism of a water toilet is arranged to release a predetermined amount of water from the water cistern, which water rushes into the toilet bowl under the force of gravity and flushes waste materials contained in the bowl over a barrier into a discharge conduit that conducts them into a sewer. The amount of water consumed with each such flushing operation is usually substantial.

The common type of cistern contains not less than 6.5 liters of water (the Israeli standard is 9.5+0.5 liters) and on pressing a lever, pulling or pressing a knob, a lever is actuated which releases all the quantity of water in the cistern at once into the toilet bowl. The mechanism and its activating lever have a single-stage action and release the whole quantity of water contained in the cistern at each activation. Frequently, however, the amount of waste in a toilet bowl is very small and in fact in the ^majority of instances the only waste in the toilet bowl is liquid urine waste. Obviously on such instances it is unnecessary and wasteful to spend at least 6.5 to 9.5 liters, and even up to 5 gallons in larger american type cisterns, to flush liquid waste material from a toilet bowl especially in areas where water is in short supply.

With the increasing shortage of water in almost every country and especially in light of the increased awareness of the public with regard to the importance of the conservation of national resources such as water, people have sought, and means have been suggested, to reduce the quantity of water used in the flushing operation in general and the quantity of water used for flushing down liquids in particular. Thus, for example in some of the current flushing cisterns, when the user does not press the lever all the way, only a small portion of the water and not all the water in the cistern is released, and there are those who customarily release only a portion of the water in this way when flushing urine. This arrangement was not considered in the planning or the production of the flushing cistern and it is not efficient because the amount of water released by the partial activation is not fixed or regulated־: and if the user is not sufficiently agile the whole quantity of water is released. Moreover, it has the disadvantage that the user must keep his hand on the lever and wait until the desired quantity has been dispensed.

Some of the means suggested to reduce the amount of water used in general in the flushing operation are exemplified in the descriptions found in U.S. patents 3 259 918 and 3 732 577 in which there are described cup or box-like vessels adapted to surround the flush valve in a conventional cistern forming an open-ended water column extending upward around the valve assembly thereby preventing water stored in the base of the cistern outside the column and below the level of the upper

י 4 edge or lip thereof from being discharged during flushing. These devices are mainly designed for the american type cisterns which hold up to 5 gallons of water in order to reduce the excessive amount of water used during every flush and are not useful for the European and Israeli cisterns which initially are designed to hold the minimum amount of water calculated by the regulating authorities of the respective countries to be necessary to properly and completely flush solid waste. Said devices also have the disadvantage of creating an area in the cistern not subject to the cleansing flushing action in which undesirable sediment accumulates. Furthermore, said devices, once installed, are not designed to allow selective flushing and in fact deliver:, a uniform reduced amount of water for every flush whether it be for solid or liquid waste.

Dual or selective flushing cisterns, have been described in the prior art, e.g., in U.S. Patents 2 351 672; 2 731 647;

864 095; 3 758 893 and 3 766 571 and Israel Patent 20 018. These patents, however, all operate on the same principle which involves replacing or substantially modifying the existing valve mechanism with a new and usually complicated and expensive two-level selective volume valve assembly for providing optional light and heavy flushes.

In contradistinction to the devices of said prior art patents and in accordance with the present invention there is now provided a simple inexpensive device which permits the conversion of an existing flushing cistern with a single-volume flush mechanism into a selective volume flush unit without introducing any alternations into the single flush valve mechanism itself. One of the major advantages of the devices of the present invention is that they are adapted to be simply installed by the average home owner himself without the need for professional help or expensive tools whereafter said device will act in concert with the existing flush mechanism to achieve the desired results.

Two prior art patents describe devices which proport to־'have a similar object and approach as the present invention but which have also been found not to achieve the desired results.

In Israel Patent Specification No. 22861 there is described and claimed a liquid flow control device for selectively controlling the quantity of a liquid discharged through an outlet in a tank, characterized in the provision of a sleeve in said tank surrounding said outlet, and a lifting mechanism for positioning said sleeve either to a lower or to a higher position, the lower position of the sleeve being such that its lower edge is against the bottom of the tank and its upper edge is below the liquid level in the tank, whereby a partial discharge of the liquid is produced until its level reaches that of the upper edge of the sleeve, the higher position of the sleeve being such that its lower edge is above the bottom of the tank, whereby a complete discharge of the liquid from the tank is produced through the space between the bottom of the sleeve and the bottom of the tank.

Similarly in U.S. Patent specification 3 041 630 there is described and claimed a different form of device embodying a water closet valve comprising a basically cylindrical openended housing having one end thereof disposed on the bottom of a water closet tank and surrounding the flush valve seat therein in substantially concentric spaced relation thereto, the said housing being disposed vertically upward therefrom to a height less than the normal full level of the tank in condition for .flushing, a flushing lever positioned above the upper extremity of the said housing within the said water closet tank and communicating with a flushing handle mounted exteriorly of the said tank, a buoyant ball valve aligned with the said flush valve seat and being concentrically disposed within the said housing, a resilient mounting communicating with the said buoyant ball valve and having its uppermost extremity mounted on the flushing lever, and a gate valve pivotally mounted proximate the lower extremity of the said housing and opening inwardly thereinto.

As is recognized in the art one of the major problems involved is producing a selective volume flushing cistern is that of finding suitable means for effecting the timely opening and the timely and automatic closing of the openable port which is opened to allow the complete discharge of water from the cistern.

In both of the above patents the preferred embodiments described, and in fact the only means described for effecting the automatic closing of the openable port, involve the lowering of the sleeve in the Israel Patent and the closing of the gate valve in the U.S. patent as a direct result of the automatic descent of the buoyant float of the flushing mechanism to reposition the valve onto the water outlet thereof.

Systems of the above type wherein the openable port is closed as a direct result of the descent of the flushing mechanism float have now been found to suffer from the disadvantage of having the openable port prematura!ly begin to close before substantially aid the water has exited from the cistern. This premature partial closing of theyopenable port results in the restriction of the exit rate of the final portion of water below that necessary to achieve the final surge of water which very often is instrumental in properly and completely flushing all of the solid wastes contained in the toilet bowl over/ the barrier and into the discharge conduit.

Similarly this inter-dependancy of the openable port and the flushing mechanism float often results in a premature substantially complete closing of the openable port before aibstantially all the water has exited from the cistern and the non6 utilization of said remaining water in the flushing process.

Furthermore, neither of the devices described in said patent are adapted for easy installation by the home owner as the Israel Patent requires the complicated taking apart of the bell-valve for installation and the U.S. Patent requires the drilling of a hole and installation of a spring mechanism.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a device for converting a single-volume flushing cistern into a selective volume flushing cistern wherein during the complete discharge of water from the cistern the water exits at a substantially constant discharge rate and volume which will not fluctuate from use to use and which is not influenced by the closing operation of the flushing mechanism. Another object of the present invention is to provide a device which assures that water is not left in appreciably greater amounts in the cistern after a complete discharge operation than existed during such operations before conversion of the cistern.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a simple and inexpensive device which is easily installable and which does not require any special locking latches or bars to effect the closing of its openable port.

Thus, in accordance with the present invention there is now provided a device for converting a single-volume flushing cistern into a selective volume cistern adapted to selectively allow both low-volume and high-volume flushes wherein said single volume cistern is of the type having a water inlet, a water outlet, a water le/el responsive means for controlling the amount of water flowing into the cistern including a valve mechanism operationally linked thereto, a flush actuating means and a flushing mechanism operationally linked to said water outlet, said device comprising a hollow vessel prodded with an opening at its upper end for the entry of water therethrough and being adapted to be inserted into the flushing cistern in a first normally closed rest position which surrounds the flushing mechanism and forms an open ended water column extending above and around said water outlet to exclude a portion of the water in said cistern from passing through said water outlet while said vessel is in said first position for low volume flushes, and wherein at least a section of the upwardly extending surface area of said vessel is adapted to be tilted and pivotally displaced from said first rest position to a second displaced open-position to form a multi-directional opening for the rapid passage of water under the lower edge of said tiltable section, and a water level responsive float means which in movement ascribes an arc; a portion of said tiltable section in its displaced position intersecting the arc ascribed by said water level responsive float means and being engaged by said float means in its downward arc upon the emptying of the cistern and being retained in said displaced position during the entire flushing section and until the completion thereof whereafter the rising water in the refilling cistern lifts said float means away from said section and allows said section to automatically return to its initial closed rest position.

The vessel according to the present invention is mounted in such a way that the lower part of the valve mechanism, or the lower part of the suction section in case of a siphon mechanism, which as is known has no valve, will be inside the vessel. By selective use of the device the user is able, at will, with the aid of the vessel, to fool the flushing mechanism into assuming that the water has already left the flushing cistern and thereby to cause the automatic stopping of any further emptying of the cistern when in fact only the water above and in the vessel have been utilized as will be explained more fully hereinafter.

It will be understood that manufactures can readily produce cisterns having the devices of the present invention installed therein and the present invention is also directed to a flushing cistern whenever provided with a device according to the present invention.

In the devices according to the present invention it is preferred that at least a quarter of the upwardly extending surface area of said vessel be adapted to be tilted and especially preferred are devices wherein at least a third of the upwardly

8a extending surface area of said vessel is adapted to be tilted.^

In the most preferred embodiment of the present invention, which has recently undergone tests at the Israel Institute of Standards and been given the highest rating of any such device tested todate in Israel, the entire upwardly extending surface area of said vessel is adapted to be tilted and pivotally displaced from its rest position on the. bottom of the cistern in which.־/it is installed whereby there is created an opening for the rapid passage of water under the lower edge of said vessel.

The present invention is also directed to a device incorporating a vessel as described in combination with a mechanism adapted to effect the tilting of said tiltable vessel section, the arrangement being such that upon insertion of said device in said cistern and upon actuation of said flush actuation means said section remains in its rest position and the flushing action mainly utilizes only the water enclosed in the vessel and the water contain ed in the cistern above the level of said opening at the upper end of the vessel, while upon actuation of said tilting mechanism said section is tilted to form an opening facing more than one wall of and the ci stern/retained in its open position by retaining means until after the completion of the flushing action, whereby the actuation of the flushing mechanism results in the rapid entrance of the water contained in the cistern under the lower edge of said section and out the water outlet of the cistern wherein the inward flow of water from the walls of said cistern towards said water outlet under said edge is multidirectional and substantially all the water contained in the cistern as well as the water enclosed in the vessel is utilized for the flushing action, whereafter said retaining means are adapted to release said section from its tilted position to enable its return to its initial closed rest position.

In-such a device said tilting mechanism can preferably comprise a lever coupled at one end to a handle and having its other end extending adjacent a tiltable section of said vessel and adapted to push thereagainst and effect the pivotal displacement thereof wherein said lever is further provided with / retention means adapted to engage and automatically retain said tiltable section in its tilted position until released.

According to yet another variation of the present invention there is provided a device Incorporating a vessel as described in combination with a dual actuating means for the flushing mechanism of the cistern 1n which the device is installed, which dual actuating means is adapted to replace the regular flush actuating means of said cistern.

The first of said means preferably comprises a mechanism for actuating the flushing mechanism and the second of said actuating means comprises a mechanism adapted to actuate the flushing mechanism and to effect the pivotal displacement of the tiltable section of said vessel, the arrangement being such that upon insertion of said device in said cistern and upon actuation of said first flush actuation means said section remains in its rest position and the flushing action mainly utilizes only the water enclosed in the vessel and the water contained in the cistern above the level of said opening at the upper end of the vessel, while upon actuation of said second actuating means said flushing mechanism is activated and said section is tilted to form an opening facing more than one wall of the cistern and said tillable section is retained in its open position by retaining means until after the completion of the flushing action. This arrangement permits the rapid entrance of the water contained in the cistern under the lower edge of said section and out the water outlet of the cistern whereby substantially all the water contained in the cistern as well as the

10 ־ water enclosed in the vessel is utilized for the flushing action, whereafter said retaining means are adapted to automatically release said tiltable section from its open position to enable its return to its initial closed rest position.

In such a device said second actuating means preferably comprises a lever coupled at one end to a handle adapted to actuate the flushing mechanism and having its other end extending adjacent a tiltable section of said vessel and adapted to push thereagainst and effect the pivotal displacement thereof and said retaining means preferably comprise two independant but functionally complementary retaining means the first of said retaining means being adapted to effect an initial retention of said section in its tilted position whereupon the second of said retaining means is then adapted to engage s;aid vessel section and retain it in its open position until after the completion of the flushing action.

In an especially preferred embodiment of the.present invention said second retaining means are controlled by the position assumed by the float lever of the cistern, the arrangement being such' that said retaining means are adapted to release the pivotally displaced section from its tilted position to enable its return to its initial closed rest position upon the refilling of the cistern and the effect of the rise in water level in said cistern on said float lever after the flushing mechanism has automatically closed said water outlet.

In order that the invention may be mere fully understood reference should be had to the following illustrative description read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which: Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a preferred vessel according to the present invention with part of its front wall broken away to disclose features of the bottom thereof;

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Figs. 2 and 3 are perspective views of different vessels according to the present invention;

Fig. 4 is a sectional view of a standard air bell valve operated cistern into which a vessel as shown in Fig. 1 and a preferred type of tilting and retention means have been incorporated;

Fig. 5 is a sectional view of a standard air bell valve operated cistern into which a vessel as shown in Fig. 1 and a different preferred type of tilting and retention means have been incorporated; and

Fig. 6 is a sectional view of a standard air bell valve operated cistern into which a vessel according to Fig. 1 and yet another type of tilting and retention means have been incorporated.

With specific reference now to the figures in detail it is stressed that the particulars shown are by way of example and for purposes of illustrative discussion only and are presented in the cause of providing what is believed to be the most useful and readily understood description of the principles and conceptual aspects of the invention. In this regard no attempt is made to show structural details of the system and its apparatus in more detail than is necessary for a fundamental understanding of the invention the description taken with t<he drawings ^,making apparent to those skilled in the art how the several forms of the invention may be embodied i<n .practice.

Referring first to Fig. 1 there is shown a hollow vessel 2 provided with an opening 4 at its upper end for the entry of water therethrough. Said vessel is adapted to be tilted and pivotally displaced from its rest position to the open position shown, by virtue of two flanges 6 and 8 extending from a side 10 of said vessel and pivotally attached by short pivot pins 12 and 14 to the walls 16 and 18 of a support base 20 which is shown

¹ ’ ׳׳ ' ^{as a}n integral part of vessel bottom 22.

The operation of such a vessel will be described hereinafter with reference to figures 4-6 however it should be noted that said vessel in its tilted position forms a multidirectional opening for the rapid passage of water under the lower edges of the sides 24, 26 and 28 of said vessel.

As will be understood the vessel can be a tubular body open at both ends wherein upon insertion of the vessel into the cistern the bottom of the cistern serves as a common bottom to both the vessel and the cistern. This possibility is especially envisioned in the cases 1n which manufacturers will manufacture cisterns with the devices of the present Invention forming an integral part thereof in which case support base 20 would be manufactured as part of the cistern and vessel bottom 22 would be unnecessary.

Alternatively and as can clearly be seen with reference to Fig. 1 said vessel 2 can comprise a hingedly attached bottom surface 22 having a water outlet opening 30 therein. Said water outlet 30 of the vessel 1s adapted to be of equal or greater area than the opening of the cistern water outlet so as to neither restrict the flow of water therethrough nor restrict the free movement of the valve of the flushing mechanism which it surrounds.

When the vessel is manufactured separately from the cistern it is preferable for said vessel to comprise means for affixing said vessel in said cistern. Thus, for example, since the standard cistern illustrated in Fig. 4 is manufactured with projections 32 extending from the bottom thereof,the vessel shown in Fig. 1 was prepared for attachment therein by the provision of complementary apertures 34 in the bottom of said vessel adapted to engage said _t projections.

Another possibility is to manufacture a specially designed vessel bottom comprising a downwardly extending connector pipe adapted to tightly fit through the water outlet of said cistern and upwardly extending projections positioned around the water outlet opening of said bottom and adapted to engage and support the bottom of an air-bell flush mechanism provided in said cistern. While not shown, such a multipurpose bottom should provide many advantages including a saving in component .parts to manufactures wishing to produce cisterns already incorporating devices according to the present invention.

Referring now to Figures 2 and 3 there are shown further embodiments of the device according to the present invention which embodiments can be recognized as functional equivalents of the vessel illustrated in Fig. 1 the difference being merely in the amount of upwardly extending surface area of said vessel adapted to be tilted.

While 1t has been found to be most advantageous to tilt the entire vessel to achieve a maximizing of the extent of the multidirectional opening created for the rapid passage of water there- . through, tilting of smaller areas of upwardly extending surfaces of the vessel also achieve satisfactory and acceptable results.

Thus, in referring for example to the preferred type of vessel having rectangular cross-section one could characterize such wherein .

vessels as those/at least one upwardly extending side of said vessel as well as at least a section of an additional side of said vessel are adapted to be tilted and in combination to form a multidirectional opening for the rapid passage of water^into the area Initially enveloped by said vessel^upon the tilting thereof.

Especially preferred are vessels wherein at least one upwardly extending side of said vessel and at least a section of two additional sides of said vessel are adapted to be simultaneously tilted and in combination to form a multidirectional opening as described hereinafter with reference to illustrative figures 2 and 3.

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Referring first to Fig, 2 there is shown a vessel designated by general reference number 36 having a substantially rectangular cross-section and substantially diagonally divided Into an upper 38 and lower 40 hingedly connected portion wherein said lower 40 portion 38 is comprised of at least sections of two sides 42 and 38 44 of said vessel and said upper portion/is comprised of at least a major section of one side 46 of said vessel and at least minor sections of at least two additional sides 42',44'of said vessel 54 wherein parts 48 and/of the lower edge of said upper portion are adapted in the closed rest position of said vessel to rest on a complementary upper edge 50 of said lower portion and wherein k said upper portion of said vessel is adapted to be tilted and pivotally displaced from its rest position whereby there is formed a multidirectional opening for the rapid passage of water under the lower edges 48, 52, 54 of said tiltable upper portion.

The above description is equally applicable to the vessel illustrated in Fig. 3 wherein like reference numerals have been used and which differs from the vessel illustrated in Fig. 2 only in that the vessel has been horizontally divided into two portions with side 46 formed as a part of upper portion 38 whose other sides 42* and 44'do not extend to the bottom of the vessel. Of course further variations in the division of the vessel are also possible and included in the present invention.

Referring now to Fig. 4 in said figure the reference number 53 designates a standard cistern of a toilet which is covered at the top by a detachable lid 54 and which has a water outlet 56 in its bottom 58. The cistern includes an inlet (not shown) whose outflow into the cistern through depending pipe 60 is controlled by a valve mechanism 62. When outlet 56 is closed the water flowing into the cistern reaches a level predetermined by a float 64 attached to the end of a lever arm 66 which controls

4m1 /2 the opening and closing of valve mechanism 62. As is known in normal operation of such cisterns when the float 64 at the end of lever arm 66 reaches a predetermined level, the arm closes valve mechanism 62 and the flow of water into the cistern terminates leaving the cistern filled with water up to said predetermined level. In the cistern shown the flushing mechanism comprises a standard air-bell valve 68 seated over said water outlet 56 and having an actuating head70 adapted to be lifted. When the toilet is to be flushed the outlet 56 is opening thereby permitting the water in the cistern to rush into the toilet bowl (not shown) and to flush waste material contained therein. After substantially all the water has drained from the cistern the vacuum which was created, between the two inverted cups which form the air-bell, upon the lifting of the actuating head 70, is broken by the entrance of air and the valve thereof automatically reseates itself over outlet 56. In the interim the cistern already begins to fill up again with water because descent of the float 64 has meanwhile opened the water supply valve 62. In such a cistern there can be provided, as shown a device according to the present invention comprising a hollow vessel ?inserted into the flushing cistern 53 and adapted to at least partially surround the flushing mechanism 68 and water outlet 56 thereof. Said vessel is provided with an opening 4 at its upper end for the entry of water therethrough and is adapted to be tilted and pivotally displaced as shown in broken lines from its rest position to form a multidirectional opening for the rapid passage of water under the lower edges of the sides 26 and 28[(not shown) and side 24/of said vessel.

In the preferred device illustrated there is provided in combination with the vessel already described a dual actuating means for the flushing mechanism which dual actuating means

''ז!

replaces the regular flush actuating means of said cistern. In the illustrated embodiment the first of said means comprises a mechanism for actuating the flushing mechanism as standardly found in such cisterns comprising a flushing knob 72 linked to a flushing lever 74 adapted to lift the actuating head 70 of the air-bell valve.

The second of said actuating means comprises a mechanism adapted to actuate the flushing mechanism and to effect the pivotal displacement of the tiltable section of said vessel, which in the embodiment illustrated constitutes the entire vessel, said mechanism comprising a lever 76 coupled atone end to flushing handle 78 and having its other end 80 extending adjacent a tillable section of said vessel and adapted to push thereagainst and effect the pivotal displacement thereof.

The vessel of the present invention once installed in a cistern as illustrated can be adapted to interact with one or more retaining means adapted to retain the tiltable section of the vessel in its tilted open position until after the completion of the flushing action.

In the embodiment shown said retaining means in fact comprise two independent, but functionally complementary a resilient retaining means. The first of said retaining means comprises/hook 82 extending from side 10 of vessel 2 which is adapted to initially engage pin 84 extending between walls 16 and 18 of support base 20 (better seen with reference to Fig. 1) when the vessel is first tilted. This retention means is sufficient for initial retention because of the lifting effect of the water in the cistern on the tilted vessel before a substantial amount of water has emptied from the vessel. As the water level in the cistern goes down, however, the increasing relative weight of the vessel is adapted to cause resilient hook 82 to disengage from pin 84. Even before said disengagement takes

49011/2 place, however, float 64 is adapted to function as said second retention means and is adapted in its downward arc upon the emptying of the cistern to engage a tilted vessel section and retains it in its tilted position as shown until the rising water in the refilling cistern lifts said float away from said section and allows said section to automatically return to its initial closed rest position.

In practice when flushing handle 78 is pulled in the direction of the arrow, lever 76 pivots around pivot point 86 and a section 88 of said lever serves to lift the actuating head 70 of the air leg ,, bell valve while the end 80 of said lever moves to give the vessel 2 (or the tiltable section thereof) a sufficient kick to dislodge it from its rest position and thereby cfeates a multidirectional opening for the rapid passage of water thereunder.

Referring to the above description with reference to Fig. 4 it will now be understood that the arrangement of the device is such that upon insertion of said device in said cistern and upon actuation of said first flush actuation means 72, 74 said vessel remains in its rest position and the flushing action mainly utilizes only the water enclosed in the vessel and the water contained in the cistern above the level of said opening 4 at the upper end of the vessel, while upon actuation of said second actuating means 78,76,88 and 80 said vessel is tilted and retained in its open position first by retaining means 82,84 float _י .

and then by retaining means 64 until after the completion of the flushing action, thereby allowing the rapid entrance of the water contained in the cistern under the lower edges of said vessel and out the water outlet of the cistern and substantially all the water contained in the cistern as well as the water enclosed in the vessel is utilized for the flushing action, ׳float . ,, whereafter said retaining means 64 are adapted to automatically release said vessel from its open position to enable its return to its initial closed rest position.

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It is to be noted that the function of the float as preferred retention means in the present embodiment is diametrically opposite from its use in prior art patents wherein the descent of the float during the flushing operation resulted in the closing of the openable port since in the present invention it is the ascent of the float after the flushing action has ceased and the cistern has begun to refill which results in the closing of the opening created when the vessel or a section thereof is.tilted.

It is worthwhile to note that the device as described with reference to the preferred embodiment illustrated in Fig. 4 was submitted for testing to the Israel Institute of Standards. Among the exceptional results achieved by the device according to present invention was the fact that in a set of ten complete flushes and a set of ten partial flushes the deviation in the amount of water discharged in each set was less than 0.1 liter while the Israel standard for allowable deviation is to.5 liter.

Similarly while the Israel standard requires a minimum discharge rate of 1.5 liter per sec. during the emptying of the initial 80% of water in the cistern the tilted vessel allowed a measured discharge rate of 1.67 liter per sec.

For these and other reasons the device according to the present Invention constitutes a major advance over prior art devices in reliability, simplicity and operation performance.

As stated hereinbefore devices of the present invention, with minor variations dictated by the existing flushing mechanism and structure of the cistern in which they are to be installed, can be adapted for installation in almost all types of existing flushing cisterns.

Thus, for example, a device according to the present invention ) could be adapted to operate in conjunction with a siphonic cistern of the type required for use in England and partially in use in Israel, by placing the vessel of the present device around the

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Intake or Inlet of the siphon in which case the term flushing mechanism and water outlet of the cistern as used herein is intended to refer to said siphon inlet.

Similarly the term partially surround as used herein with reference to the vessels of the present invention is intended to denote that the vessel does not have to, and in fact doesn't,, extend all the way up to the full height of an upright flushing mechanism which it surrounds, such as an air bell or suction cupvalve mechanism; need not completely surround a convoluted and horizontally extending flushing mechanism such as a siphon; and in fact can be a slotted vessel and therefor by definition not completely circumferentially surround the flushing mechanism.

Furthermore the vessel utilized in the devices of the present invention may be made of any material, although plastic is preferred and its superficies may be a cylinder of elliptical cross-section a truncated cone, a prism of square or rectangular cross-section or any other hollow gemetrical shape as well as incomplete geometric shapes such as slotted hollow tubes although for ease of manufacture vessels of substantially rectangular cross-section as already described are preferred.

As will be realized the actuating mechanism and retention means described with reference to the preferred embodiment illustrated in Fig. 4 are not the only means .useable with devices according to the, present invention and variations thereof will now be described with reference to Figures 5 and 6.

Referring now to Fig. 5 there is illustrated a device according to the present invention installed in a standard cistern of the type described with reference to figure 4 and like numbers have been used to refer to like parts already discussed with reference to said previous Figure. It is to be noted that while in the cistern described in Fig. 4 the water inlet and valve mechanism 62 were situated to the left of the cistern with the float lever

66 and float 64 extending to the right, the presently described device is adapted for insertion in standard cisterns wherein the water inlet and valve mechanism 62 are situated to the right of the cistern with the float lever 66 and float 64 extending to the left. .

In effect the only difference between the present embodiment and the one previously described is with regard to the retaining means which are specifically adapted for use with air-bell type flush mechanism and a cistern having a right-handed' water inlet.

Referring to Fig. 5 it can be seen that said first retaining means comprises at least one arm 90 extending upwardly from said vessel and having a flange 92 depending therefrom extending in the direction of said air bell and adapted upon the pivoting of said tiltable section to pivot therewith and extend into the space between the actuating head 70 of the air-bell and the lid 54 of the cistern. The arrangement is such that upon the lifting of the actuating head 70 which In fact takes place after the tilting of vessel 2, since in practice leg 80 of lever 76 displaces the tiltable section of said vessel before section 88 of said lever has traversed the distance necessary to lift actuating head 70, said head 70. is adapted to press against said flange 92 thereby initially forcing said tilted vessel section to remain in its open position. '

Furthermore as shown in the present embodiment said float lever 66 is provided with a hook 94 positioned so as to be adapted, during the downward arc ascribed by the float 64 upon the emptying of the cistern during the flushing action, to engage the upper lip of tilted wall 10 of said vessel and to retain it in its tilted position, as shown, until the rising water in the refilling cistern lifts said float away from said section and allows said section to automatically return to its initial closed rest position.

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With reference to the embodiment which will be described hereinafter in greater detail with specific reference to Fig. 6, the device to be described constitutes a less preferred but workable embodiment of the present invention, which does not involve the use of a dual actuation means to replace the regular flush actuating means of said cistern.

Furthermore while the retention means described hereinafter are adapted to automatically retain the vessel or a section thereof in its tilted position, said retention means are not adapted to automatically release said section from its tilted position after the termination of the flushing action and instead will retain the tilted vessel section in its displaced position to allow repeated full or heavy flushes until manually released whereafter said vessel will permit only partial flushes until the retention means are reactivated. Thus this embodiment envisages the use of a selector which when used in combination with a vessel according to the present invention preselects the type of flush achieved upon actuation of the regular fliish actuation means of the cistern.

Referring now to Fig. 6 for simplicity sake non-relevant parts were not shown and parts already discussed with reference to Figures 4 and 5 have been given like numbers. The cistern 53 shown comprises a mechanism for actuating the flushing mechanism as standardly found in such cisterns comprising a flushing handle 100 linked to a flushing lever 102 adapted to lift the actuating head 70 of the air-bell valve.

The device shown further comprises a combined tilting and retention mechanism or selector which mechanism comprises a lever 104 coupled at one end to a harde 105 and having its other end 106 extending adjacent a tiltable section of said vessel and adapted to push thereagainst and effect the pivotal

49011/2 displacement thereof, said lever further being provided with retention means 108 adapted to engage and automatically retain said tiltable section in its tilted position, until released, by interengagement with complementary retention means 110 provided on side 26 of said vessel.

Referring to the above description with reference to Fig. 6 1t will now be understood that the arrangement of the device is such that upon insertion of said device in said cistern and upon actuation of said flush actuation means 100,102 the vessel (or the tiltable section thereof) remains in its rest position and the flushing action mainly utilizes only the water enclosed וו the vessel and the water contained in the cistern above the level of opening 4 at the upper end of the vessel, while upon actuation of the selector 105 from position A to position B shown in broken lines said vessel is tilted to form an opening facing more than one wall of the cistern and retained in its open position by retaining means 108, 110 until after the completion of the flushing action, whereby the actuation of the flushing mechanism 68,70 results in the rapid entrance of the water contained in the cistern under the lower edges of said vessel and out the water outlet 56 of the cistern wherein the Inward flow of water from the walls of said cistern towards said water outlet under said e±!es is multidirectional and substantially all the water contained in the cistern as well as the water enclosed in the vessel is utilized for the flushing action, whereafter said retaining means 108,110 are adapted to release said section from its tilted position to enable its return to its initial closed rest position, whenever the user chooses to do so by moving selector 105 back to position A.

While particular preferred embodiments of the invention have been described arid shown in the drawings, it will be evident

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to those skilled in the art that the present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. The present embodiments are therefore to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the Invention being indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description, and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are therefore intended to be embraced therein.