Telescopic Urinal Apparatus

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The disclosure relates to urinals and more particularly pertains to a new urinal for facilitating urination from a standing position.

The prior art discloses various urinals and other devices which facilitate urinating while standing. Many of these devices mount to or drain into a toilet bowl or toilet drain pipe. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 9,637,906 discloses a device which mounts to a rim of a toilet bowl and funnels urine into the toilet bowl from a standing user. The device has a funnel attached to a telescoping and pivotable tube which facilitates positioning of the funnel near a user's crotch. However, the prior art fails to describe such a device with a urine collection bowl adapted for surrounding a user's crotch to make use of the device by a woman easier.

An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a base. A column is mounted to the base and comprises an upper member and a bottom member. The upper member is slidably coupled to the lower member such that the column is telescopically extendable. The upper member is securable to the lower member at various positions to adjust a length of the column. A bowl is coupled to the column opposite the base. The bowl defines a cavity for collecting urine. A tube is mounted in the column and is in fluid communication with the cavity of the bowl at a top end thereof. The tube is open at a bottom end thereof and is configured to drain the urine away from the column through the bottom end.

There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.

The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure.

With reference now to the drawings, and in particular tothereof, a new urinal embodying the principles and concepts of an embodiment of the disclosure and generally designated by the reference numeralwill be described.

As best illustrated in, the urinal apparatusgenerally comprises a base. A columnis mounted to and extends upwardly from the base. The columncomprises an upper memberand a lower member. The upper memberis slidably coupled to the lower membersuch that the columnis telescopically extendable. The upper memberis securable to the lower membervia a clampto set the columnat different lengths. The clampcomprises a ring which is threadably coupled to the upper member. However, any suitable clampmeans may be used. The basehas a planar bottom surfacefor resting the baseon a support surface. The basemay be weighted with a heavy material or otherwise may be secured to the support surfacevia fasteners.

A bowlis coupled to the columnopposite the base. The bowldefines a cavityfor collecting urine. The bowlis shaped to accommodate male and female users. A rear portionof a rimof the bowlis positioned farther from the columnthan a front portionof the rim. The rimis also concave so that the bowlmay surround a crotch of a user. The bowlhas a width sufficient to fit between the legs of the user. As shaped, a female user may squat over the bowlsuch that the bowlis adjacent to and positioned to surround a crotch of the female user. A male user may stand at a distance from the bowland urinate such that the resultant urine stream enters the cavityof the bowlat an angle between a horizontal direction away from the male user and a downward direction away from the user.

A tubeis mounted in the columnwhich is include communication with the cavityof the bowlat a top endof the tube. The tubeis open at the bottom endthereof. The tubemay comprise a rigid or semi rigid material. The tubeis fixed to the upper memberof the columnand is movable with respect to the lower memberof the column. The tubeextends through a slotdefined by the lower memberwhich accommodates movement of the tubewith respect to the lower member. The tubehas a P-trap sectionat the bottom end. A P-trap is a shape of pipe or tubing known to the art which is so made to maintain a quantity of fluid in the pipe to block sewer gases from flowing into the room via the pipe. The pipe or tubing in a P-trap has a U-shaped portion for collecting the fluid followed by a generally horizontal portion. As fluid such as urine is added into the U-shaped portion opposite the generally horizontal portion, the fluid rises to a level wherein most of the fluid is allowed to drain through the horizontal portion toward a sewer, a septic tank, or other suitable destination. Some fluid is again retained in the P-trap, as not all of the fluid will rise from the U-shaped section.

A hoseis coupled to the bottom endof the tubewhich comprises a flexible material. The hoseis open at a distal endthereof with respect to the tube. With reference to, the distal endof the tubeattaches to a drain portat a base of a toiletwhich places the hosein fluid communication with a sewer line. The hosemay also drain directly into the sewer line, a septic tank, or the like in other embodiments. The hosehas external threadswhich mesh with internal threadof the drain port. In other embodiments, the hosemay have internal threads which mesh with external threads, or the hosemay attach via a hose clamp, a weldment, or other suitable attachment means to the toiletor other suitable drainage means.

In use, a height of the bowlabove the baseis set by adjusting the length of the column. The hoseis may bend to accommodate adjustment of the column. A user may then urinate into the bowl, which collects the urine and drains it through the tubeand the hoseto be taken to a sewer system, septic tank, or the like. The distal endof the hosemay be positioned to drain into the toiletinstead of attaching to the drain port.

With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure.

Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.