Toilet lid alarm and method

• US 5,594,423 A
• Filed: 07/06/1995
• Issued: 01/14/1997
• Est. Priority Date: 07/06/1995
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Kenneth H. East
• Original Assignee: Kenneth H. East
• Inventors: East, Kenneth H.
• Primary Examiner(s): Swarthout, Brent A.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Lee, Benjamin C.
• Application Number:
  US08/498,564
• Time in Patent Office: 558 Days
• Field of Search: 340/686, 340/689, 340/527, 340/540, 4/661
• US Class Current: 340/545.6
• CPC Class Codes: A47K 13/24 Parts or details not covered in, or of interest apart from, groups A47K13/02 - A47K13/22, e.g. devices imparting a swinging or vibrating motion to the seats
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/02 Alarms for ensuring the safety of persons

Abstract

A battery operated, self-contained toilet lid alarm system for alerting adults in a household with small children that a toilet lid is open and thus presenting a danger of drowning or serious injury to the children utilizes a time delay switch contained in a housing (A) to deactivate the alarm for selected periods of time allowing the system to reactivate itself after the delay is over emitting a noise to alert adults within the vicinity of the toilet, even when the toilet lid is only partially open.

Claims

1. A toilet lid alarm comprising:

a housing;

means carried by the housing for securing said housing to a surface of said lid;

a receptacle for a battery carried by said housing;

an alarm device powered by said battery for supplying an audible signal carried by said housing;

a position operated switch carried by said housing actuating said alarm device when said toilet lid is raised through a predetermined angle;

a switch actuator on said housing for controlling and deactivating said position operated switch; and

a time delay after deactivating said position operated switch, so that said position operated switch is reactivated after said time delay;

whereby an audible signal is given indicating that the lid has been raised.

2. The structure set forth in claim 1 wherein said position operated switch is gravity actuated.