Flush water volume regulator, flush water tank apparatus comprising said flush water volume regulator, and flush toilet comprising said flush water tank

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9689155-B2
Application number	US-201414472787-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 29, 2014
Priority date	Sep 24, 2013
Publication date	Jun 27, 2017
Grant date	Jun 27, 2017

Abstract

A flush water volume regulator is provided, capable of constraining the occurrence of a buoyancy force acting on a water reservoir, whereby flush water in the water reservoir can be circulated with flush water in a flush water tank outside the water reservoir. The flush water volume regulator 38 of the invention has a water reservoir, being a water reservoir 40 disposed inside this flush water tank 16 , capable of storing a predetermined amount of flush water, on which an opening 40 a through which flush water within water reservoir 40 and flush water outside water reservoir 40 can pass, and an opening-closing valve 42 for opening 40 a during the standby state before starting a flush and for blocking opening 40 a or reducing the opening surface area of opening 40 a when the water level inside flush water tank 16 is dropping after starting a flush.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A flush water volume regulator capable of regulating a volume of flush water discharged from a flush water tank apparatus to a toilet, the flush water volume regulator being disposed on the flush water tank apparatus,
the flush water tank apparatus including:
a water supply apparatus configured to supply flush water into a flush water tank from a water source for flushing the toilet; and
a discharge valve apparatus configured to open and close a discharge flow path communicating with the toilet, the discharge valve apparatus being disposed on a bottom surface of the flush water tank,

the flush water volume regulator comprising:
a water reservoir disposed inside the flush water tank and capable of storing a predetermined quantity of flush water, the water reservoir including an opening through which the flush water in the water reservoir and the flush water outside the water reservoir can flow; and
an opening-closing valve configured to release the opening in a standby state prior to starting a flushing of the toilet, and the opening-closing valve being configured to block off the opening or to reduce an opening surface area of the opening when a flush water level in the flush water tank is dropping after the flushing of the toilet is started,
wherein a small hole is formed in the opening-closing valve such that an inside of the water reservoir and an outside of the water reservoir communicate with each other by the small hole while the opening-closing valve closes the opening of the water reservoir.

2. The flush water volume regulator of claim 1 , wherein the opening is formed in a bottom surface of the water reservoir.

3. The flush water volume regulator of claim 1 , wherein the opening surface area includes an opening surface area (A1) of the opening in the water reservoir such that a rise speed of the flush water level in the flush water tank outside the water reservoir becomes the same as a rise speed of a flush water level in the water reservoir.

4. The flush water volume regulator of claim 1 , wherein the opening surface area includes an opening surface area (A1) of the opening in the water reservoir and an opening surface area (A2) between the opening-closing valve and a bottom surface of the water reservoir such that the opening surface area (A1) is larger than the opening surface area (A2) when the opening-closing valve releases the opening.

5. The flush water volume regulator of claim 1 , wherein the opening-closing valve includes a member with a specific gravity lighter than water.

6. The flush water volume regulator of claim 1 , wherein a top edge of a side surface of the water reservoir is positioned a predetermined distance above an expected full water level inside the flush water tank in the standby state before the flushing of the toilet is started, and a bottom edge of the side surface of the water reservoir is positioned a predetermined distance below an expected dead water level of the flush water inside the flush water tank immediately after completion of the flushing of the toilet.

7. The flush water volume regulator of claim 1 , wherein the water reservoir includes a load support member for supporting a load of the water reservoir at a position of the center of gravity on a bottom surface of the water reservoir.

Assignees

• Toto Ltd

Inventors

• Shinohara Koki
• Tanimoto Hideki
• Chen Jing
• Oogami Takashi
• Shiraishi Masateru

Classifications

• E03D1/34 Primary

  Flushing valves for outlets; Arrangement of outlet valves · CPC title

• E03D1/142 Primary

  in cisterns with flushing valves · CPC title