1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of human waste disposal. More specifically the present invention relates to a portable toilet apparatus including an annular seat structure resting on seat elevating means, a waste collection sack mounting structure secured to and extending below the open middle of the annular seat structure and a waste collection sack having a closed sack lower end removably secured to the sack mounting structure and an open sack upper end removably secured with sack engagement structure at its upper end open edge along the annular seat structure inner circumference.
The seat elevating means preferably includes an annular bellows having a tubular accordion outer bellows side wall and a tubular accordion inner bellows side wall spaced inwardly from the outer bellows side wall, and an annular upper bellows wall and annular lower bellows wall integrally joined to the inner and outer bellows side walls to define an annular bellows interior space for releasibly trapping air. The bellows is sized in diameter so that the annular seat structure fits against and follows the entire annular upper bellows wall, and provides a yielding, resilient cushion effect when sat upon. The bellows is molded in its expanded mode so that its resilience biases the bellows to return to its expanded mode after being compressed. A valve port is provided in the lower bellows wall into which a bellows air valve is sealingly fitted.
The seat structure for this embodiment includes an annular seat channel member opening downwardly, the upper surface of which functions as the seat. The annular bellows upper end fits into the annular seat channel member so that the seat structure remains centered on the bellows. Two connection legs are integrally formed with the seat structure and extend downwardly from diametrically opposed points along the inner edge of the annular seat channel member to fit through the annular open middle of the bellows. One locking slot, or a longitudinally extending series of compression locking slots, is provided in each connection leg beginning near the leg lower end.
An annular bottom channel fits over the annular bellows lower end and includes two upwardly extending engaging arms which are preferably secured to the bottom channel inner circumference at diametrically opposed points. Each of these engaging arms has an inwardly extending engaging tab at its upper end which fits engagingly and removably into one of the locking slots in the corresponding, adjacent connection leg to hold the bellows in a state of full or partial compression such as for storage. A waste collection sack engagement structure removably secures the waste collection sacks to the annular seat structure inner circumference. A second embodiment is provided in which the seat elevating means is a plurality of seat legs, rather than an annular bellows.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There have long been portable toilets for use at construction and camping sites. These toilets have often been little more than large bowls requiring sanitary cleaning after each use, and being of an unyielding, fixed height inconvenient for many users.
Safety Central(trademark), has a website at www.safetycentral.com revealing a product referred to as Inflate-A-Potty #1070 which appears to be a portable toilet having an inflatable toilet bowl with essentially a conventional toilet seat resting on the inflatable bowl.
Booth-Cox, U.S. Pat. No. 4,759,086 issued on Jul. 26, 1988 discloses a disposable receptacle for bodily waste in which a flexible receptacle is fitted into a retaining vessel lined with cushion material.
Black, U.S. Pat. No. 3,643,266, issued on Feb. 22, 1972 teaches a portable waste receptacle including an upright cylindrical container having a removable funnel seated in the upper portion thereof, the funnel having an offset spout and a waste receiving bag fitted within the funnel and projecting through the spout, over a horizontal bar and into the bottom of the container.
Other prior toilet designs include Kuhn, U.S. Pat. No. 4,974,270 issued on Dec. 4, 1990 for a disposable bed pan; Stokes, U.S. Pat. No. 4,827,540, issued on May 9, 1989 for a combination bedpan cushion and waste bag; DeWitt, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,734,941, issued on Apr. 5, 1988 for a flushable urine conducting appliance; Paz, U.S. Pat. No. 4,509,215, issued on Apr. 9, 1985 for a disposable liner for a musical potty chair powered by a key wound spring mechanism; Yoshida, U.S. Pat. No. 4,360,932, issued on Nov. 30, 1982 for a urination disposal bag; Smith, U.S. Pat. No. 5,117,511, issued on June 2, 1992 for a liquid disposal automotive accessory; James, U.S. Pat. No. 3,400,409, issued on Sep. 10, 1968 for a disposable toilet kit; Spector, U.S. Pat. No. 3,772,711, issued on Nov. 20, 1973 for toilet with disposable receptacle; Waugh, U.S. Pat. No. 5,848,443, issued on Dec. 15, 1998 for a portable automobile urinal; O""Conner, U.S. Pat. No. 4,343,053, issued on Aug. 10, 1982 for disposable bedpan liner; Polk, U.S. Pat. No. 3,734,154, issued on May 22, 1973 for disposable bag with self-closing valve; Friesen, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,475,767, issued on Nov. 4, 1969 for a sanitary disposable receiver for liquid and solid materials, especially human wastes; Borse, U.S. Pat. No. 3,716,871, issued on Feb. 20, 1973 for a disposable urinal; Atkins, U.S. Pat. No. 3,742,523, issued on Jul. 3, 1973 for a disposable urinal; Mills, U.S. Pat. No. 3,992,729, issued on Nov. 23, 1976 for a carrier or support means for disposable bedpans; Potter, U.S. Pat. No. 4,312,085, issued on Jan. 26, 1982 for sanitary waste disposal packets; Royal, U.S. Pat. No. 5,224,223, issued on Jul. 6, 1993 for a disposable bedpan; Tafur, U.S. Pat. No. 4,937,890, issued on Jul. 3, 1990 for a flat folded disposable female urinary aid; Tjahaja, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,065,459 issued on Nov. 19, 1991 for a disposable portable urinal; and Scott, U.S. Pat. No. 5,329,644, issued on Jul. 19, 1994 for a disposable urine container.
It is thus an object of the present invention to provide a portable toilet apparatus which can be reduced in overall size for compact storage, suitable for use at construction sites, camping sites and during severe storms which interrupt receipt of running water.
It is another object of the present invention to provide such an apparatus which provides a resilient cushion effect when sat upon and which is adjustable in height to meet the needs of the individual user.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide such an apparatus which includes a bellows which is expanded to its full extent by its resilience rather than by blowing air into the bellows.
It is finally an object of the present invention to provide such an apparatus which is lightweight, durable and inexpensive to manufacture.
The present invention accomplishes the above-stated objectives, as well as others, as may be determined by a fair reading and interpretation of the entire specification.
A portable toilet apparatus, including a seat elevating structure; an annular seat structure having an open middle and resting on the seat elevating structure, and including a sack securing mechanism; and a waste collection sack having a closed sack lower end and an open sack upper end removably secured to the annular seat structure with a waste collection sack engagement structure.
The seat elevating structure preferably includes an annular bellows having a tubular accordion outer bellows side wall and a tubular accordion inner bellows side wall spaced inwardly from the outer bellows side wall, and an annular upper bellows wall and annular lower bellows wall integrally joined to the inner and outer bellows side walls to define an annular bellows interior space for releasibly trapping air, the upper bellows wall being sized to fit and fitting within the annular seat structure and providing a yielding, resilient cushion effect when the annular seat structure is sat upon. The annular bellows preferably has an expanded mode and has one or more compressed modes, and is molded from resilient material in its expanded mode, so that the resilience of the resilient material biases the bellows to return to its expanded mode after the annular bellows is compressed, the annular bellows additionally including a valve port and a bellows air valve sealingly fitted into the valve port. The seat structure preferably includes an annular seat channel member opening downwardly and having an upper surface, and wherein the annular bellows has an annular bellows upper end fitting into the annular seat channel member so that the seat structure remains centered on the bellows. The annular bellows preferably has a bellows open middle; and the apparatus preferably additionally includes two engaging legs connected to the seat structure and extending downwardly from the annular seat channel member and fitting through the bellows open middle, each engaging leg having at least one compression locking slot. The engaging legs optionally each have a longitudinally extending series of compression locking slots. The apparatus optionally additionally includes a gap in a portion of the channel member to expose an area of the annular bellows.
The apparatus preferably additionally includes a toilet paper roll mounting structure secured to the seat structure. The toilet paper roll mounting structure preferably includes two parallel and spaced apart spindle mounting flanges including spindle end engaging structure; and a telescoping toilet paper retaining spindle releasibly extending between and to opposing the spindle end engaging structure. The annular bellows preferably has a lower end, the apparatus additionally including annular bottom channel fitting over the lower end of the annular bellows and including two upwardly extending engaging arms secured to the bottom channel, each engaging arm having an inner circumferential wall and having an engaging tab for fitting engagingly and removably into one of the compression locking slots, so that the engaging tabs of the engaging arms register with and are fitted into corresponding the locking slots to hold the annular bellows in a compressed mode. The apparatus preferably additionally includes a quantity of scent releasing material within the annular bellows interior space for releasing scent with discharged air when the valve is open and the annular bellows is compressed.
The waste collection sack engagement structure preferably includes an annular sack engaging groove in the seat structure into which the opening edge of the waste collection sack is fitted and wedged into the engaging groove by subsequent insertion of the bottom channel inner circumferential wall into sack engaging groove.
The apparatus preferably still additionally includes a waste collection sack mounting structure secured to and extending below the open middle of the annular seat structure. The waste collection sack mounting structure preferably includes the two engaging legs, where each engaging leg includes a sack spindle engaging structure opening toward the sack spindle engaging structure in the opposing engaging leg; and a spring-loaded, telescoping sack spindle having two sack spindle ends releasibly fitting into the opposing sack spindle engaging structure.
The apparatus preferably includes a roll of waste collection sacks interconnected in series along perforated lines fitted around the sack spindle, so that the outermost sack on the roll of waste collection sacks may be deployed and its opening edge secured along and within the annular sack engaging groove wherein it is wedged into place and thereby removably secured by subsequent insertion of the bottom channel inner circumferential wall into sack engaging groove and wherein the roll of waste collection sacks anchors the given deployed sack lower end relative to the waste collection sack mounting structure.
The seat elevating structure preferably includes several seat legs, each seat leg having a leg upper end and a leg lower end; and a series of seat leg mounting structures joined to the seat structure. The seat leg mounting structures preferably include blocks of seat material and extend downwardly within the seat annular channel, each block having a downwardly opening and generally upright seat leg bore sized to receive a leg upper end, and the seat leg upper ends are sized in diameter to fit snugly and removably into any leg bore. The apparatus preferably additionally includes a floor abutment cap fitted engagingly over each leg lower end.
The apparatus preferably additionally includes an annular seat cover sized to substantially match the size of the annular seat structure and resting on top of the annular seat structure. The apparatus preferably is formed of plastic.