One-size-fits-nearly-all, bendable, plastic lift arm for toilet flushers

Abstract

A toilet flusher in which the plastic lift arm normally hidden from view inside a toilet tank comprises a bi-concave segment readily bent by hand, allowing the toilet flusher to integrate well with a wide variety of flush mechanisms already found installed inside toilet tanks. Bending forces are concentrated along a line rather than at a point, so that the inadvertent cracking of the lift arm during on-site modification that sometimes occurs in lift arms having cruciform cross sections is much less likely to occur.

1 . A toilet flusher comprising a flush handle and a lift arm, said toilet flusher being adapted to transmit motion to said lift arm when said toilet flusher is attached to the water tank of a toilet and said flush handle is actuated by a person, said lift arm being made of plastic and comprising a bi-concave segment, and said lift arm being bendable by a force applied to said bi-concave segment.  
   
   
       2 . A toilet flusher as in  claim 1  wherein said force is applied by hand.  
   
   
       3 . A toilet flusher as in  claim 1  wherein said bi-concave segment has a least cross section, and wherein any other cross section of said bi-concave segment parallel to said least cross section has an area larger than the area of said least cross section.  
   
   
       4 . A toilet flusher as in  claim 1  wherein said bi-concave segment has two cylindrical surfaces.  
   
   
       5 . A toilet flusher as in  claim 4  wherein said two cylindrical surfaces have equal radii of curvature.  
   
   
       6 . A toilet flusher as in  claim 4  wherein one of the cylindrical surfaces is visually indistinguishable from a flat surface.  
   
   
       7 . A toilet flusher as in  claim 4  wherein said bi-concave segment has a thickness and said two cylindrical surfaces have parallel axes, and said thickness is equal to the perpendicular distance between said axes minus the sum of the radii of said two cylindrical surfaces.  
   
   
       8 . A toilet flusher comprising a flush handle and a lift arm, said toilet flusher being adapted to transmit motion to said lift arm when said toilet flusher is attached to the water tank of a toilet and said flush handle is actuated by a person, said lift arm being made of plastic and comprising a segment adapted for bending, and wherein said segment adapted for bending comprises a visual cue directing the application of a bending force.  
   
   
       9 . A toilet flusher as in  claim 8  in which said visual cue is a cupped region of said lift arm.  
   
   
       10 . A toilet flusher comprising a flush handle and a lift arm, said toilet flusher being adapted to transmit motion to said lift arm when said toilet flusher is attached to the water tank of a toilet and said flush handle is actuated by a person, said lift arm being made of plastic and comprising a segment adapted for bending, and wherein said segment adapted for bending comprises a tactile cue directing the application of a bending force.  
   
   
       11 . A toilet flusher as in  claim 10  in which said tactile cue is a cupped region of said lift arm.