Urinal splash guard employing flexible bristles

Abstract

A mat or other object for attenuating reflective spray during use of a urinal comprises a urine impingement region that includes a plurality of upstanding, flexible bristles. In one embodiment, each of the bristles: has an appropriate thickness and flexibility configured to flex when struck by a typical stream of urine, wherein adjacent bristles are separated from one another by a distance such that the typical stream of urine contacting a bristle and causing it to flex will also contact at least two adjacent bristles and cause them to flex as well; has a thickness and a height, wherein the thickness of each is less than one fifth of its height, and further wherein each bristle has at least three adjacent bristles within a distance of two times its thickness from it; is elongated, and the bristles are configured densely enough that an imaginary circle having a radius equal to a stream of urine's mean radius, centered on a given bristle, and drawn on the upper surface will include at least three other bristles within its boundary; or any combination of these. In some embodiments, the plurality of bristles that compose a urine retention region has an ordered arrangement, while in others plurality of bristles has a disordered arrangement.

1 - 24 . (canceled) 
     
     
         25 . A splash attenuating urinal guard, comprising a base having an upper surface including a urine impingement region comprising a plurality of upstanding bristle elements, and a plurality of drain holes through the base, the upstanding bristle elements being substantially parallel, the bristle elements being configured so that at least three bristle elements flex to dissipate a substantial portion of the kinetic energy of a stream of urine when the urine impingement region is contacted by a stream of urine from a user of the urinal. 
     
     
         26 . The splash attenuating urinal guard according to  claim 25  wherein the bristle elements are at least five times taller than they are thick. 
     
     
         27 . The splash attenuating urinal guard according to  claim 26  wherein each bristle element has at least three adjacent bristles within a distance of two times its thickness. 
     
     
         28 . The splash attenuating urinal guard according to  claim 25  wherein each bristle element has at least three adjacent bristles within a distance of two times its thickness. 
     
     
         29 . A splash attenuating urinal guard, comprising a base having an upper surface including a urine impingement region comprising a plurality of upstanding bristles, and a plurality of drain holes through the base, the upstanding bristles being substantially parallel, wherein the bristles have a thickness, flexibility, and spacing such that a stream of urine sufficient to make a bristle flex contacts at least two adjacent bristles. 
     
     
         30 . A splash attenuating urinal guard, comprising a base having an upper surface including a urine impingement region comprising a plurality of upstanding bristles at least five times taller than they are thick, arranged so that each bristle has at least three adjacent bristles within a distance of two times its thickness, and a plurality of drain holes through the base, the upstanding bristles being substantially parallel, the bristles being configured so that a urine stream sufficient to make a bristle flex, also contacts and makes at least two adjacent bristles flex, break up a stream of urine when the urine impingement region is contacted by the stream of urine from a user of the urinal.