Toilet Plunger with Disposable Sheathing

The present invention relates to a plunger with a recessed cavity for anchoring a plastic baglike protective disposable cover for a more hygienic toilet maintenance. The invention has two elements, a recess in the inside of the plunger bulb, and a disposable plastic covering which is anchored in the recess within the plunger bulb.

Toilet plungers are a necessary part of bathroom maintenance, and they generally comprise of a hollow rubber, resin or plastic cup, with some having a flange. The cup and the flange is designed to create an air pocket around a drain opening of a toilet or a sink. The cup is deployed at the end of a wooden handle and is used to clear a blocked toilet drain. The rubber cup faces downward, away from the handle, with the opening to the concave cup facing the drain opening. During the operation, the cup is inserted into the toilet bowl or the sink basin in a vertical position with the cup facing the drain opening. The vertical orientation of the cup with the opening in the direction of the drain enables the cup to trap a pocket of air the drain opening, and in presence of water, above the water immediately surrounding the drain opening. The plunger stick is then repeatedly pushed into the drain and released, thus creating pumping strokes that are intended to create a resonance which is used to promote dislodgement of the blockage inside the pipe with reciprocating flow of the water.

Unfortunately, a blockage in a toilet, sink, shower or bathtub is generally discovered after it has been used, when flow of refuse water down the drain is noticeably slow or non-existent. At that point any organic material and sewage that was intended to be flushed away with the refuse water is already present inside the toilet bowl or sink. Which means that the plunger will be in a very intimate association with the organic matter and other muck found in the toilet bowl or sink during the plunging operation. Therefore, at the end of a plunging operation, the individual operating the plunger must clean and disinfect the sections of the plunger that were exposed to the sewage. Traditionally, a plunger would have to be washed in a bathtub or a sink necessitating another round of cleaning and disinfecting of the facilities used to wash the plunger.

Therefore, what is needed is a way to wrap a plunger with a disposable covering, which securely mounts around the plunger cup with minimal effort and contact, and does not interfere with the plunging operation. At the end of such an operation, the wrap is removed and discarded with no further cleanup required.

The disclosed apparatus is comprised of two portions. The first portion is a plunger cup having a concave sidewall. The top central point of the sidewall contains an opening to securely house a proximate end of a plunger handle. The inner side of the concave sidewall, opens into the concave cavity of the plunger cup and comprises a recess that is configured to accept a first end of the second portion.

The second portion is preferably waterproof and very malleable, such as a bag or a sheath made from plastic, rubber or another form of polymer or resin. The second portion is easily deployable onto the first portion prior to the plunging operation and is securely held within the recess of the inner sidewall. The second portion is then easily removable from the first portion after plunging operation, preferably in a single jerking or tugging motion. The second portion comprises a dense first end, that is fashioned into a knot or a plug that is configured to be housed inside the recess of the first portion. The rest of the second end comprises a skirt, which is designed to extend downward past the rim of the plunger cup and terminates in an edge. Just prior to performing the plunging, but after deploying the second portion, a user handling the device drapes the skirt and the edge over the outside of the sidewall and extends it over a length of the plunger handle for the entire length of the second portion.

The edge is not exposed to the excrement as it preferably extends up to the place along the length of the handle where a user would normally be clasping the section of the plunger handle during operation. A user clasps the edge of the skirt and the handle of the plunger, preventing the skirt from slipping off of the plunger handle. Alternatively, the skirt may be held up using a string clamp or an elastic band. On completing the plunging operation, the edge is released and permitted to return into a downward position. Then, preferably while still clasping the edge. a user pulls on the skirt to dislodge the dense first end out of the recess within the plunger cup and deposits the second portion into refuse or into a cleaning solution without coming into contact with second portion or requiring any additional cleanup steps.

It is therefore the object of the disclosed device to create a plunger apparatus that requires very little cleanup.

It is another object of the disclosed invention to create a plunger apparatus having a disposable second portion, which eliminates the need to disinfect the plunger apparatus between each use.

It is still another object of the disclosed invention to create an easily cleanable plunger apparatus that deploys very easily and quickly, and demobilizes in a two motion maneuver comprising of orienting the edge downward and then pulling on the edge to dislodge the dense first end.

It is still another object of the disclosed invention to provide a plunger apparatus that offers the ability to unclog blocked drains without soiling user's hands or exposing skin to the excrement and other refuse present in the cup while it is clogged.

The preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings. Identical elements in the various figures are identified with the same reference numerals.

disclose a plunger device comprising a first portion. The first portionis preferably a flexible cup formed by a curved sidewall. The topof the sidewallhaving a first socketthat is configured to secure one end of a plunger handle (). The bottomof the sidewallhaving a flange. The sidewallforms an inner cavityhaving an opening. The inner cavityis concave to better trap an air pocket above a toilet drain which is then used to agitate the water inside the drain in press and release reciprocating motions. The sidewallis shown having a flange. The flangeis shown having a tapered skirt section, which is favored in some settings. However, the disclosed cup forming the first portionwill work just as well with a flangethat does not have a tapered skirt sectionas in the embodiment shown in, or even with a sidewall featuring a bellows style plurality of folds.

The top portionof the inner cavitycontains a second socket. The walldefining the second socketis preferably above the flange, so as not to interfere with the plunging operation. The sidewalldefines the first socketthat houses an end of a plunger handle (), while the sidewalldefines the second socketthat houses the second portion (). In the embodiment shown, the first socketand second socketare adjacent and in a stacked configuration with each other, with the first socket extending from the upper surface, with the openingof the second socketopening into the inner cavity. While the stacked configuration of the first and second sockets (and) is shown, either the first or second sockets (and) may be disposed anywhere along the upper surfaceor inner cavity.

further describe the second portion. The second portioncomprises the first endand the second end. The first endcontains a stiff part. The stiff partmay be a knot, a bulb, or an insert member. The stiff partis designed to be coupled with the first portionby achieving a snug fit within the second socket. Further shown inis the first endthe second end. Separating the first and second end is expandable skirtwhich terminates with an edge.

demonstrates the operation of the disclosed plunging apparatus. The stiff portionis deployed within the second socket. At this point, the skirtand the edgewould be hanging down and protruding from within the inner cavity. The user would then grasp the edgeand pull it upward, in the process enveloping the inner surfaceof the inner cavity, the outer surfaceof the sidewalland substantially the entire length of the plunger handle.

diagrams a fully deployed first and second portionsand, respectively. The material from which the second portionis made is preferably waterproof and made as a think film so as not to interfere in a suction achieved by the flange.

In detail, the assembly and demobilization of the device preferably involve no more than two steps each. To assemble the device, a user inserts the stiff portion, preferably a knot or a plug, into the openingof the second socket. The openingis partially blocked by a plurality of converging flexible flaps. When the knotis pushed against the converging flexible flaps, they spread apart, allowing the knot to pass through into the second socket. Once the knotis through the opening, the converging flexible flapsresume their shape around the narrow neckThus, the second portionis now coupled with the first portion. The user then pulls the edgeover the handletoward the distal end. The inner surfaceof the cavitywould be covered by the outer surfaceof the skirt.

After the plunging operation, the first step would be to release the edge, to allow it to drop downward, exposing the handleand the cup. Then, by clasping the inner surfaceof the second portionpulling or shacking the plunger in the direction, to dislodge the stiff connector. Notably, only the inner surfaceof the skirt becomes soiled during a plunging operation, while the outer surfaceremains clean. Thus, a user is not exposed to any fluids, food refuse or other muck present in a toilet bowl or sink during the demobilization process.

demonstrates another embodiment of the first portioncomprising the cupcoupled with a handlethrough the first socket. The second socketis formed along the inner cavitythat is defined by the sidewall. The flangeis featured without the secondary skirt second (). The openingof the second socketcontains a plurality of flexible flapspartially blocking the openingbetween the converging flexible flaps.

The inner cavityis shown in the plan view diagram shown in. Shown are the cup, the flange, the secondary skirt, having a secondary flangearound the opening. The second socketcontains an opening, which is partially closed by plurality of flexible converging flapspartially blocking the open space. The stiff portionof the second portioncan thus be depressed into the opening, causing the flapsto spread and then lock behind the thicker stiff portion. To decouple the second portionfrom the first portion, the knot is pulled out, which causes the converging flexible flapsto spread outwardly to permit the knotto be removed. Threading, peg and socket or a snug connection with the openingcan be used as an alternative to the converging flexible flaps.

Although this invention has been described with a certain degree of particularity, it is to be understood that the present disclosure has been made only by way of illustration and that numerous changes in the details of construction and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and the scope of the invention. While various inventive aspects, concepts and features of the inventions may be described and illustrated herein as embodied in combination in the exemplary embodiments, these various aspects, concepts, and features may be used in many alternative embodiments, either individually or in various combinations and sub-combinations thereof. Unless expressly excluded herein all such combinations and sub-combinations are intended to be within the scope of the present inventions. Still further, while various alternative embodiments as to the various aspects, concepts, and features of the inventions—such as alternative materials, structures, configurations, methods, devices and components, alternatives as to form, fit and function, and so on—may be described herein, such descriptions are not intended to be a complete or exhaustive list of available alternative embodiments, whether presently known or later developed. Those skilled in the art may readily adopt one or more of the inventive aspects, concepts or features into additional embodiments and uses within the scope of the present inventions even if such embodiments are not expressly disclosed herein. Additionally, even though some features, concepts or aspects of the inventions may be described herein as being a preferred arrangement or method, such description is not intended to suggest that such feature is required or necessary unless expressly so stated. Still further, exemplary or representative values and ranges may be included to assist in understanding the present disclosure, however, such values and ranges are not to be construed in a limiting sense and are intended to be critical values or ranges only if so expressly stated. Parameters identified as “approximate” or “about” a specified value are intended to include both the specified value and values within 10% of the specified value, unless expressly stated otherwise. Further, it is to be understood that the drawings accompanying the present disclosure may, but need not, be to scale, and therefore may be understood as teaching various ratios and proportions evident in the drawings. Moreover, while various aspects, features and concepts may be expressly identified herein as being inventive or forming part of an invention, such identification is not intended to be exclusive, but rather there may be inventive aspects, concepts and features that are fully described herein without being expressly identified as such or as part of a specific invention, the inventions instead being set forth in the appended claims, as currently written or as amended or added in the future. Descriptions of exemplary methods or processes are not limited to inclusion of all steps as being required in all cases, nor is the order that the steps are presented to be construed as required or necessary unless expressly so stated.