JUVENILE BATHROOM SYSTEM

• US 20150082532A1
• Filed: 09/25/2014
• Published: 03/26/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/25/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dorel Juvenile Group, Inc. (Dorel Industries Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Cosco Management Incorporated (Dorel Industries Incorporated)
• Inventors: Marsden, Andrew W., Pina, Lynn
• Granted Patent: US 9,936,843 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 4/483
• CPC Class Codes: A47K 11/06 Chamber-pots bed pans or other sanitary devices for bed-ridden persons A61G9/00; Throw-away urinals for non-bedridden persons; Chamber-pots for children, also with signalling means, e.g. with a music box, or the like

Abstract

A child potty includes an elevated seat pad for seating a child and a waste collector associated with the seat pad. A platform can lie above the child potty to elevate a child above a floor underlying the child potty.

Claims

1. A juvenile bathroom system comprising

a child potty formed to include a waste-collection chamber and adapted to set on a floor away from a toilet and

a footstool including a shell formed to include a downwardly opening potty-storage chamber sized to receive the child potty therein and adapted to set on a floor when the child potty is stored in the potty-storage chamber and a first potty-retainer tab coupled to the shell and arranged to extend into a first tab-receiver channel formed in the child potty when the child potty is stored in the potty-storage chamber to retain the child potty in a stationary position in the potty-storage chamber formed in the shell of the footstool without impeding use of the footstool to elevate children or caregivers above the floor.

2. The juvenile bathroom system of claim 1, wherein the child potty includes a waste-collection bowl formed to include the waste-collection chamber and a bowl-support frame coupled to the waste-collection bowl and arranged to extend around the waste-collection chamber and the bowl-support frame is formed to include the first tab-receiver channel.

3. The juvenile bathroom system of claim 2, wherein the bowl-support frame includes a seat pad coupled to the waste-collection bowl and arranged to extend around a top aperture opening into the waste-collection chamber formed in the waste-collection bowl and a pad-support rim arranged to elevate the seat pad above a floor underlying the child potty to locate the waste-collection bowl therebetween and the pad-support rim is formed to include the first tab-receiver channel.

4. The juvenile bathroom system of claim 3, wherein the shell includes a horizontal child-support platform arranged to overlie and lie in close proximity to the seat pad to cover the top aperture opening into the waste-collection chamber when the child potty is retained in the potty-storage chamber formed in the shell and a platform-elevation side wall coupled to the child-support platform and arranged to extend downwardly from the child-support platform and to surround the waste-collection bowl and the first potty-retainer tab is coupled to the platform-elevation side wall and arranged to extend into the first tab-receiver channel formed in the bowl-support frame of the child potty when the child potty is retained in the potty-storage chamber formed in the footstool.

5. The juvenile bathroom system of claim 3, wherein the pad-support rim is made of an elastic deformable material having a normal undeformed first shape in which the first potty-retainer tab carried on the pad-support rim is arranged to extend into the first tab-receiver channel formed in the bowl-support frame to retain the child potty in the stationary position in the potty-storage chamber formed in the shell of the footstool and a temporarily deformed second shape generated in response to application of an external squeezing force to the pad-support rim in which the first potty-retainer tab carried on the pad-support rim is withdrawn from the first tab-receiver channel formed in the bowl-support frame to free the footstool to be separated from the child potty.

6. The juvenile bathroom system of claim 5, wherein the child potty further includes a urine deflector coupled to the waste-collection bowl and arranged to deflect a stream of urine into the waste-collection chamber, the platform-elevation side wall of the shell of the footstool includes a front side portion aligned in confronting registry with the urine deflector and arranged to lie in spaced-apart relation to a front face of the pad-support rim to define a gap therebetween when the pad-support rim assumes the normal undeformed shape, a rear side portion arranged to lie in spaced-apart relation to the front side portion to locate the waste-collection bowl therebetween and in closely confronting relation to a rear face of the pad-support rim, and a first side portion arranged to extend between the front and rear side portions and configured to have an inner surface facing toward a first side face of the pad-support rim, the first side face of the pad-support rim is formed to include the tab-receiver channel, and the first potty-retainer tab is coupled to the inner surface of the first side portion of the platform-elevation side wall of the footstool to move therewith to withdraw the first potty-retainer tab from the first tab-receiver channel during elastic deformation of the pad-support rim to change the pad-support rim from the normal undeformed first shape to the temporarily deformed second shape.

7. The juvenile bathroom system of claim 6, wherein the platform-elevation side wall of the shell of the footstool further includes a second side portion arranged to extend between the front and rear side portions and lie in spaced-apart relation to the first side portion to locate the waste-collection bowl therebetween, the second side portion is formed to include a second tab-receiver channel, and the footstool further includes a second potty-retainer tab arranged to extend into the second tab-receiver channel formed in the second side portion of the platform-elevation side wall of the shell to retain the child potty in the stationary position in the potty-storage chamber formed in the shell of the footstool when the pad-support rim is arranged to assume the normal undeformed shape, and the second potty-retainer tab is coupled to an inner surface of the second side portion of the pad-support rim of the shell to move therewith to withdraw the second potty-retainer tab from the second tab-receiver channel during elastic deformation of the pad-support rim to change the pad-support rim from the normal undeformed first shape to the temporarily deformed second shape.

8. The juvenile bathroom system of claim 6, wherein the shell of the footstool is made of a transparent material to provide means for viewing an orientation of the child potty retained in the potty-storage chamber formed in the shell without inverting the shell of the footstool to peer into the potty-storage chamber formed therein through a bottom aperture opening into the potty-storage chamber.

9. The juvenile bathroom system of claim 2, wherein the shell includes a horizontal child-support platform arranged to cover the waste-collection chamber when the child potty is retained in the child-potty chamber formed in the shell and a platform-elevation side wall arranged to surround the waste-collection bowl and the first potty-retainer tab is coupled to the platform-elevation side wall.

10. The juvenile bathroom system of claim 9, wherein the bowl-support frame is formed to include a second tab-receiver channel and the footstool includes a second potty-retainer tab coupled to the shell and arranged to extend into the second tab-receiver channel formed in the bowl-support frame of the child when the child potty is stored in the potty-storage chamber to retain the child potty in the stationary position therein.

11. The juvenile bathroom system of claim 10, wherein the shell includes an inner surface facing toward the child potty when the child potty is retained in the potty-storage chamber formed in the shell and each of the first and second potty-retainer tabs is cantilevered to the inner surface of the shell and arranged to extend inwardly toward the child potty.

12. The juvenile bathroom system of claim 11, wherein each of the first and second potty-retainer tabs extends along a common reference line.

13. The juvenile bathroom system of claim 9, wherein the platform-elevation side wall is made of an elastic deformable material having a normal undeformed shape in which the first potty-retainer tab carried on the platform-elevation side wall is arranged to extend into the first retainer-tab channel to retain the child potty in the stationary position in the potty-storage chamber and a temporarily deformed second shape in which the first potty-retainer tab carried on the platform-elevation side wall is withdrawn from the first tab-receiver to free the footstool to be separated from the child potty.

14. The juvenile bathroom system of claim 13, wherein the child potty further includes a urine deflector coupled to the waste-collection bowl and arranged to deflect a stream of urine into the waste-collection chamber, the platform-elevation side wall of the shell of the footstool includes a front side portion aligned in confronting registry with the urine deflector and arranged to lie in spaced-apart relation to a front face of the platform-elevation side wall to define a gap therebetween when the platform-elevation side wall assumes the normal undeformed shape, a rear side portion arranged to lie in spaced-apart relation to the front side portion to locate the waste-collection bowl therebetween and in closely confronting relation to a rear face of the platform-elevation side wall, and a first side portion arranged to extend between the front and rear side portions and configured to have an inner surface facing toward a first side face of the platform-elevation side wall, the first side face of the platform-elevation side wall is formed to include the tab-receiver channel, and the first potty-retainer tab is coupled to the inner surface of the first side portion of the platform-elevation side wall of the footstool to move therewith to withdraw the first potty-retainer tab from the first tab-receiver channel during elastic deformation of the platform-elevation side wall to change the platform-elevation side wall from the normal undeformed first shape to the temporarily deformed second shape.

15. The juvenile bathroom system of claim 9, wherein the shell of the footstool is made of a transparent material to provide means for viewing an orientation of the child potty retained in the potty-storage chamber formed in the shell without inverting the shell of the footstool to peer into the potty-storage chamber formed therein through a bottom aperture opening into the potty-storage chamber.

16. The juvenile bathroom system of claim 1, wherein the shell includes a horizontal child-support platform arranged to cover the waste-collection chamber when the child potty is retained in the child-potty chamber formed in the shell and a platform-elevation side wall arranged to surround the waste-collection chamber and the first potty-retainer tab is coupled to the platform-elevation side wall.

17. The juvenile bathroom system of claim 1, wherein the child potty is formed to include a second tab-receiver channel and the footstool includes a second potty-retainer tab coupled to the shell and arranged to extend into the second tab-receiver channel formed in the child potty when the child potty is stored in the potty-storage chamber to retain the child potty in the stationary position therein.

18. A juvenile bathroom system comprises

a child potty adapted to set on a floor away from a toilet so that it can be used easily by a young child during toilet training,

a footstool adapted to set on a floor and formed to include a downwardly opening potty-storage chamber that is sized to receive and store the child potty therein during use of the footstool to elevate a child above the floor, wherein the footstool includes a shell formed to include the downwardly opening potty-storage chamber, the shell includes a horizontal child-support platform and a downwardly extending platform-elevation side wall coupled to a perimeter edge of the child-support platform, and the footstool also includes a potty-retainer tab coupled to the shell and arranged to extend into a tab-receiver channel formed in the child potty when the child potty is deposited into the potty-storage chamber formed in the shell to retain the child potty in a stationary position on the footstool.

19. The juvenile bathroom system of claim 18, wherein the side wall of the shell includes an inner surface bounding the potty-storage chamber and surrounding a child potty stored therein and the potty-retainer tab is cantilevered to the inner surface of the side wall of the shell.

20. The juvenile bathroom system of claim 19, wherein the shell is made of an elastic deformable plastics material and a portion of the side wall is arranged to lie in spaced-apart relation to the child potty when the child potty is stored in the potty-storage chamber formed in the shell, the potty-retainer tab is arranged to extend into the tab-receiver channel to anchor the footstool to the stored child potty, the side portion of the shell side wall that carries the potty-retainer tab is configured and arranged to deform in response to application of a squeezing force to opposite front and rear portions of the shell side wall by a caregiver sufficient to cause the potty-retainer tab to move outwardly away from the child potty to a disengaged position that is withdrawn from the tab-receiver channel formed in the child potty to release the child potty from the footstool so that the footstool can be lifted upwardly leaving the juvenile potty in a stationary position on the floor.

21. The juvenile bathroom system of claim 20, wherein the shell side wall includes a right side portion extending between the front and rear side portions and carrying a right-side potty-retainer tab and a left side portion also extending between the front and rear side portions to lie in laterally spaced-apart relation to the right side portion and carrying a left-side potty-retainer tab, the front side portion is moved inwardly toward the child potty and the shell side wall is deformed and changes shape when the caregiver applies a squeezing force to the front and rear side walls to cause the left side and right side portions to move away from one another and from the child potty located therebetween to cause a first potty-retainer tab cantilevered to the right side portion to disengage a companion first tab-receiver channel formed in one side of the child potty and to cause a second potty-retainer tab coupled to the left side portion to disengage a companion second tab-receiver channel formed in a second side of the child potty to release the child potty so that it can be removed from the potty-storage chamber formed in the footstool.