Mounting Member for One-Piece Toilet

The present invention relates to a mounting member for toilets, especially to a mounting member for installing a one-piece toilet on a toilet flange.

Generally, toilets are fixed by a wet installation or a dry installation. The wet installation has multiple shortcomings so that the dry installation is commonly used now. Refer to Taiwanese Pat. Pub. No. 356153, a fixing plate used for dry installation of the toilet is provided. First a fixing plate is mounted to a waste pipe on a floor. Then the floor is fixed by expansion bolts and the fixing plate is provided with bolts which are inserted through fixing holes on saddle-like area on left and right sides of the toilet to be threaded to nuts. Thereby the toilet is fixed on the fixing plate.

Refer to Taiwanese Pat. Pub. No. M448518, a device for fixing toilets is provided. The device improves the above fixing plate. Moreover, there are many other patent documents which provide a toilet flange or closet flange similar to the fixing plate mentioned above. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,421,036, U.S. Pat. No. 6,065,160, U.S. Pat. No. 6,634,034, and U.S. Pat. No. 8,281,421, all provide technical solutions for installing the toilet on the floor of buildings by dry installation.

According to the above technical documents, it can be understood clearly that these toilet flanges are applied to toilet plumbing for securing the toilet to the floor and connecting an outlet of the toilet to the waste pipe on the floor.

During typical installation, the above toilet flange is connected to the waste pipe by an axial pipe and also secured over the floor. A wax ring is filled into a gap between the toilet flange and a bottom of the toilet for sealing. A fixing hole is arranged at the saddle-like area on the left and the right sides of the toilet. The toilet is secured to the toilet flange by two bolts inserted through the fixing holes, instead of being directly secured to the floor.

However, a lot of one-piece toilets available now are not provided with the saddle-like area design for overall shape or aesthetic purposes. Thus the toilet is unable to be secured through the bolts on the toilet flange. A common way for securing the toilet is described below. The bolts connected to the toilet flange are mounted into installation slots on two sides of a bottom wall of the toilet first. Then each of the bolts is threaded to a nut pressed on an upper surface of the bottom wall for fastening and tightening. The shortcoming of such design is in that the nuts should be mounted into the toilet through the installation holes on two vertical walls at two lateral sides of the toilet for fastening while installing the nuts. In consideration of structural strength and aesthetics of the vertical walls of the toilet, shapes and sizes of the installation holes have certain limitations. Users often can use only two fingers such as thumb and index finger to install the bolts and the nuts so that assembly process is quite difficult and the bolts and the nuts are not tightened. After being used for a period of time, the bolts and the nuts are easy to loosen.

Furthermore, other accessories can also be used for securing the toilet. For example, two L-shaped brackets are used and a horizontal portion on the bottom of the L-shaped bracket is secured to the bolts on two sides of the toilet flange in advance. Then a vertical portion of the L-shaped bracket is provided with a plurality of securing holes. Thus installers insert the bolts through corresponding insertion holes on two vertical walls of the toilet and then insert the bolts into corresponding securing holes on the L-shaped brackets for securing the toilet to the toilet flange. Please refer to Chinese Utility Model Pat. No. CN203782847U, a mounting member for one-piece toilets is provided. The mounting member is the L-shaped bracket for installation and securing.

Although tools such as a slotted or Phillips screwdriver can be used to insert and connect the bolt to the L-shaped bracket by thread engagement instead of manual operation, the use of L-shaped bracket still has certain shortcomings. For example, during threading and tightening process, a joint between the horizontal portion and the vertical portion of the L-shaped bracket is easy to have flexible deformation under influence of external force. After a period of time, the joint is easy to lose its fastness due to elastic fatigue. Thus the toilet may come loose. Moreover, the vertical portion of the L-shaped bracket is provided with the plurality of securing holes. Yet the insertion holes on the vertical walls of the toilet are quite small. Together with the fact that there is still a distance between the vertical portion of the bracket and a vertical wall, installers area unable to thread the bolt with the assistance of eyes. They can only look for suitable securing holes by their operating feelings. Thus the installers usually need to try multiple times to find the suitable securing holes. The installation is not easy. If the fastening is performed without finding the suitable securing hole, pseudo fastening may occur and further cause loosening or shaking later.

Therefore, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a mounting member for one-piece toilets which makes installation of the toilet simple and easy and fastens the toilet on a toilet flange and a floor stably and firmly. Thereby loosening or shaking of the toilet will not occur while in use.

In order to achieve the above object, a mounting member for one-piece toilets according to the present invention is used for securing the toilet around a toilet flange. The toilet includes an operation hole mounted to a vertical wall on each of two sides of the toilet, a bottom wall disposed on a bottom of the toilet, and a mounting slot penetrating each of two sides of the bottom wall. The toilet flange is fixed on the floor of a building.

The mounting member consists of two first bolts, a main body, and two second bolts. The two first bolts are mounted and limited in two grooves of the toilet flange correspondingly.

The main body includes two seat portions and two connection parts connected between the seat portions. The seat portion is composed of a connecting portion, an abutting portion, and a threaded hole. The connecting portion is for allowing the first bolt to insert through and fasten with. The abutting portion is abutting against an upper surface of the floor around the toilet flange. At least a part of the seat portion is moved upward to insert through the corresponding mounting slot of the toilet and the threaded hole is tilted with respect to the operation hole with a tilt angle between them.

Each of the second bolts is inserted through the corresponding operation hole of the toilet and fastened with the corresponding threaded hole by thread engagement so that the toilet is pressed and secured on the upper surface of the floor around the toilet flange.

Preferably, the connecting portion of the seat portion is provided with a through hole. The first bolt is provided with a bolt head and a bolt shaft connected to the bolt head. The bolt head is slid to be locked and limited in the groove of the toilet flange while the bolt shaft is moved upward to insert through the through hole of the connecting portion and engaged with a nut by threads for being fastened on the connecting portion.

Preferably, the seat portion is further provided with a locking slot. A nut is mounted and positioned in the locking slot with its rotation limited to form the threaded hole.

Preferably, the mounting member further includes two guiding sleeves each of which is provided with a positioning head, a guidance portion extending obliquely from the positioning head, a head positioning slot recessed to the inside of the positioning head, and a guiding hole formed inside the guidance portion and communicating with the head positioning slot. The guidance portion is inserted through the corresponding operation hole from an outer side into an inner side of the vertical wall of the toilet and the positioning head is mounted and positioned in the corresponding operation hole. The second bolt is provided with a bolt head and a bolt shaft connected to the bolt head. The bolt shaft is inserted through the head positioning slot and the guiding hole in turn and then aligned and threaded to the threaded hole of the seat portion under guidance of the guiding hole. The bolt head is stopped and limited in the head positioning slot.

Preferably, the positioning head of the guiding sleeve includes an insertion and mounting portion and a stopping edge extending from a side of an outer end of the insertion and mounting portion. The insertion and mounting portion is mounted and positioned in the operation hole while the stopping edge is stopped and limited by an outer wall surface of the vertical wall around the operation hole.

Preferably, an inner conical wall is disposed on the head positioning slot of the guiding sleeve and an outer conical wall is formed on the bolt head of the second bolt for abutting against the inner conical wall.

Preferably, an outer surface of the seat portion with respect to the guiding sleeve is provided with a tapered guide trough arranged concavely. The guide trough is communicating with the threaded hole and used for guiding a rear end of the bolt shaft of the second bolt to slide to the threaded hole and fasten with the threaded hole by thread engagement.

Preferably, a diameter of the guiding hole is gradually increased from one end of the guiding hole connected to the head positioning slot toward a distal end of the guiding hole for allowing the bolt shaft of the second bolt to be swung and moved a little bit after being inserted through the guiding hole.

Preferably, a guiding wall surface tapered upward is formed on an upper part of each of two opposite sides of the seat portion for allowing the corresponding mounting slot on the bottom wall of the toilet to be mounted around the seat portion.

Preferably, the connection parts of the main body are integrally connected to two opposite sides of the respective seat portions at positions close to the bottom of the seat portion and located at a periphery of the toilet flange.

Preferably, the mounting member further includes two covers each of which is mounted outside the positioning head of the guiding sleeve for sealing the head positioning slot of the positioning head.

The seat portions of the mounting member can be synchronously installed on the toilet flange in advance. During installation, the respective mounting slots on the bottom of the toilet are aligned with and mounted to the two opposite seat portions of the mounting member correspondingly. Then the second bolts are directly inserted though the operation holes of the toilet or the guiding sleeves pre-installed at the operation holes to be guided and aligned with the threaded holes of the seat portions smoothly. Next installers only need to use common tools such as slotted or Phillips screwdriver to operate and rotate the respective second bolts for fastening the second bolts with the threaded holes of the seat portions by thread engagement quickly and smoothly. Thereby the toilet is pressed and fastened onto the floor easily. The whole installation is quite easy and fast.

The operation hole only needs to be designed to allow the second bolt or the long guiding sleeve to insert through. Thus the operation hole can be designed to have a smaller hole size to ensure aesthetic appeal and structure strength of the vertical walls of the toilet.

After being installed, the seat portions keep pressing against the bottom wall of the toilet. The second bolts fastened to the seat portions can also apply a downward force to the toilet effectively. Thus the bottom wall of the toilet is forced to press against the corresponding floor tightly. The toilet is installed securely and loosening or shaking of the toilet can be avoided effectively.

The design of the covers not only seals the head positioning slot of the positioning head effectively but also prevents foreign objects, contaminants, or clean water outside from entering the head positioning slot. Thus it is ensured that the second bolt assembled on the head positioning slot will not be obstructed by the foreign objects and contaminants or get rusty due to in contact with the clean water, which are not good for the following detachment, maintenance, or replacement.

Please refer to the following embodiments with detailed description, related figures and reference signs.

As shown inand, a first embodiment of a mounting memberfor arranging a one-piece toiletaround a toilet flangeis provided. The toiletincludes a vertical wallformed on each of two sides of the toiletand provided with an operation holea bottom walldisposed on a bottom of the toilet, and a mounting slotpenetrating each of two sides of the bottom wallThe toilet flangeis fixed on a floorof a building.

As shown inand, the toilet flangeincludes a pipea circular projecting rimon a top of the pipeand two closed curved groovessymmetrically arranged at the circular projecting rimin a circumferential direction. The toilet flangeis installed and fixed on a floorof a building by the circular projecting rimThe circular projecting rimis further provided with two radial linear notchesformed on a circumference and arranged symmetrically.

As shown in, a mounting memberof this embodiment consists of two first bolts, a main body, and two second bolts.

The first boltsare selectively mounted and limited in the two curved groovesor the two linear notchesof the toilet flange. In this embodiment, the first boltsare mounted and limited in the curved grooves

As shown inand, the main bodyincludes two seat portionsand two connection partsconnected between the seat portions. Each of the seat portionsis composed of a connecting portion, an abutting portion, and a threaded hole. The connecting portionis for allowing the first boltto insert through and fasten with while the abutting portionis abutting against an upper surface of the flooraround the toilet flange. As shown in,and, at least a part of the seat portionis moved upward to insert through the corresponding mounting slotof the toiletand the threaded holeis tilted with respect to the operation holewith a tilt angle between them.

Each of the second boltsis inserted through the corresponding operation holeof the toiletand fastened with the corresponding threaded holeby thread engagement so that the toiletis pressed and fixed on the upper surface of the flooraround the toilet flange.

In this embodiment, the connecting portionof the seat portionis provided with a through hole. The first boltis provided with a bolt headand a bolt shaftconnected to the bolt head. The bolt headis slid to be locked and limited in the curved grooveof the toilet flangewhile the bolt shaftis inserted through the through holeof the connecting portionand engaged with a nutby threads to be fastened on the connecting portion.

In this embodiment, as shown inand, the seat portionis further provided with a locking slot. A nutis mounted and positioned in the locking slotwith its rotation limited to form the threaded holeof the seat portion. The nutis removably mounted in the locking slotof the seat portion, but not limited. The nutcan also be directly embedded inside the seat portionin advance.

In this embodiment, as shown inand, the mounting memberfurther includes two guiding sleeveseach of which is provided with a positioning head, a guidance portionextending obliquely from the positioning head, a head positioning slotrecessed to the inside of the positioning head, and a guiding holeformed inside the guidance portionand communicating with the head positioning slot. As shown in, the guidance portionis inserted through the corresponding operation holefrom an outer side into an inner side of the vertical wallof the toiletand the positioning headis mounted and positioned in the corresponding operation holeThe second boltis provided with a bolt headand a bolt shaftconnected to the bolt head. The bolt shaftis inserted through the head positioning slotand the guiding holeof the guiding sleevein turn and then aligned and threaded to the threaded holeof the seat portionunder guidance of the guiding hole. The bolt headis stopped and limited in the head positioning slot.

It is easy to understand that the guiding sleevein this embodiment not only works as a lining, like gaskets, but also for guiding the second boltto be aligned with the threaded holeaccurately and quickly.

Moreover, as shown inand, the positioning headof the guiding sleeveincludes an insertion and mounting portionand a stopping edgeextending from a side of an outer end of the insertion and mounting portion. The insertion and mounting portionis mounted and positioned in the operation holewhile the stopping edgeis stopped and limited by an outer wall surface of the vertical wallaround the operation hole

Furthermore, an inner conical wallis disposed on the head positioning slotof the guiding sleeveand an outer conical wallis formed on the bolt headof the second boltfor abutting against the inner conical wall. Thus it is ensured that the bolt headis tightly-pressed against and positioned in the head positioning slotstably and firmly.

As shown in, an outer surface of the seat portionwith respect to the guiding sleeveis provided with a tapered guide trougharranged concavely. The guide troughis communicating with the threaded holeand used for guiding a rear end of the bolt shaftof the second boltto slide to the threaded holeand fasten with the threaded holeby thread engagement.

In this embodiment, as shown in, a diameter of the guiding holeis gradually increased from one end of the guiding holeconnected to the head positioning slottoward a distal end (the other end) of the guiding hole. Thus the bolt shaftof the second boltis allowed to be swung and moved a little bit after being inserted through the guiding hole. Thereby the connection rod portioncan be guided and slid to the threaded holesmoothly for thread engagement. This means the above design allows a larger assembly tolerance and thus assembly failure will not occur or difficulty in assembly can be eliminated.

As shown inand, a guiding wall surfacetapered upward gradually is formed on an upper part of each of two opposite sides of the seat portion. Thus the corresponding mounting sloton the bottom wallof the toiletcan be quickly guided and mounted around the seat portionduring assembly.

In this embodiment, the connection partsof the main bodyare integrally connected to two opposite sides of the respective seat portionsat positions close to the bottom of the seat portionand located at a periphery of the toilet flange. It is easy to understand that the positions of the two seat portionswith respect to each other are maintained stably and accurately by the design of the connection parts. The two seat portionsare not allowed to be moved freely. Moreover, the two seat portionscan be synchronously positioned on the toilet flange. Not only installation of the seat portionsand the toilet flangeis more accurate and fast, the seat portionscan be fastened on two opposite positions of the toilet flangeaccurately and symmetrically. This helps the following assembly and installation of the toilet.

As shown inand, in this embodiment, the mounting memberfurther includes two coverseach of which is mounted outside the positioning headof the guiding sleevefor sealing the head positioning slotof the positioning headand preventing foreign objects, contaminants, or clean water outside from entering the head positioning slot. Thus it is ensured that the second boltassembled on the head positioning slotwill not be obstructed by the foreign objects and contaminants or get rusty due to in contact with the clean water, which are not good for the following detachment, maintenance, or replacement.

As shown inand, it should be noted that an upper surface of the circular projecting rimof the toilet flangeis at a higher level than an upper surface of the floor. Yet in actual installation and construction, some toilet flangesare installed at different levels according to different on-site conditions. For example, they are disposed on the same level. Moreover, the upper surface of the flooris arranged with decorative surface materials, such as tiles, with different heights. Thus there is an interval between a lower surface of the connecting portionof the seat portionof the main bodyand the upper surface of the circular projecting rimof the toilet flangein this embodiment. In order to ensure firmness of the assembly, a preload nut is threaded to the first boltand pressed against the upper surface of the circular projecting rim. The preload nut can be mounted in the interval. At the same time, the connection partsof the main bodyalso provide a certain support for the structure to ensure the connecting portionshas sufficient strength to withstand a locking and pressing force of the nutunder the condition that the interval is formed, without having dent or deformation. Thereby the assembly is firm enough.

In summary, the mounting memberfor the one-piece toiletaccording to the present invention has the following advantages and features.

First of all, the seat portionsof the main bodyof the mounting membercan be synchronously installed on the toilet flangein advance. During installation, the respective mounting slotson the bottom of the toiletare aligned with and mounted to the two opposite seat portionsof the mounting membercorrespondingly. Then the second boltsare directly inserted though the operation holesor the guiding sleevespre-installed at the operation holesto be guided and aligned with the threaded holesof the seat portionssmoothly. Next installers only need to use common tools such as slotted or Phillips screwdriver to operate and rotate the respective second boltsfor fastening the second boltswith the threaded holesof the seat portionsby thread engagement quickly and smoothly. Thereby the toiletis pressed and fastened onto the flooreasily. The whole installation is quite easy and fast.

Moreover, the operation holeonly needs to be designed to allow the second boltor the long guiding sleeveto insert through. Thus the operation holecan be designed to have a smaller hole size to ensure aesthetic appeal and structure strength of the vertical wallsof the toilet.

After being installed, the main bodykeeps pressing against the floor. The second boltsfastened to the seat portionsof the main bodycan also apply a downward force to the toileteffectively. Thus the bottom wallof the toiletis forced to press against the corresponding floortightly. The toiletis installed securely and loosening or shaking of the toiletcan be avoided effectively.