Method of and apparatus for reducing the risk of clogging and water overflow from water-based flushing-type toilet systems

Abstract

A method of and apparatus for reducing the risk of clogging and water overflow from water-based flushing-type toilet systems installed in residential and commercial environments, to help society by alleviating the creation of unsanitary conditions created by clogged, overflowing toilets, and reducing costly homeowner insurance claims for damage caused by water leaking into finished ceilings. The apparatus is realized in the form of a hand-operated device having a hand-held handle portion and a disposable water-dissolvable cutting tip tool component that is automatically ejected into a water flushing toilet bowl upon depressing a quick release button, after a single use during stool cutting operations, so that the used cutting tool component can rapidly dissolve in water in the toilet bowl with processed stool before water flushing operations are initiated.

1 - 2  (canceled) 
     
     
         3 . A hand-operated toilet tool for reducing the risk of clogging and water overflow from water-based flushing-type toilet systems, comprising:
 a hand-held handle portion extending into a distal portion for releasably mounting a water-dissolvable cutting tip portion adapted for chopping a stool deposited in a toilet bowel into smaller pieces, for flushing down the drain with a lower risk of clogging and water overflow; and   a cartridge like storage and dispensing container mountable on a toilet tank for storing and dispensing water-dissolvable cutting tip portions for releasable mounting on said distal portion of said hand-held handle portion.   
     
     
         4 . A hand-held toilet tool for reducing the risk of clogging and water overflow from water-based flushing-type toilet systems, comprising:
 a hand-held handle portion extending to a distal portion;   a water-dissolvable cutting tool tip releasably mounted at said distal portion, and adapted to break up any hard stools that might be deposited in the bottom of a water flushing toilet bowl before flushing, so that the smaller stool pieces can more easily flow along flow channel and flow pathway toward the drain pipe system of the building in which the toilet bowl system is installed;   a button-actuated gripping mechanism assembly that releasably grips the water-dissolvable cutting tool tip when mounted on said distal portion during cutting tip mounting operations; and   a quick release button provided on said hand-held handle portion and configured for releasing and ejecting said water-dissolvable cutting tool tip when mounted onto said distal portion into the toilet bowl with said stool pieces, when said quick release button is manually depressed.   
     
     
         5 . (canceled) 
     
     
         6 . The hand-held toilet tool of  claim 4 , wherein said button-actuated gripping mechanism assembly comprises an expandable gripper with a set of expandable fingers for gripping said water-dissolvable cutting tip mounted on said distal portion. 
     
     
         7 . (The hand-held toilet tool of  claim 4 , wherein said water-dissolvable cutting tool tip comprises a plurality of laser-drilled holes formed through the water-dissolvable material to enhance water dissolving reaction between water in the toilet bowl and said the water-dissolvable material used to construct said water-dissolvable cutting tool tip. 
     
     
         8 . (Amended). The hand-held toilet tool of  claim 4 , wherein said water-dissolvable cutting tool tip being releasably connected to the distal portion of said hand-held tool handle portion, wherein said button-actuated gripping mechanism is arranged to grip, lock, and mount the water-dissolvable cutting tip to the tool handle distal portion in a first mode of operation; and wherein said button-actuated gripping mechanism is being arranged to release, unlock, eject and dismount the cutting tip portion from the tool handle distal portion during cutting tip dismounting/ejection operations in a second mode of operation. 
     
     
         9 . The hand-held toilet tool of  claim 4 , wherein said water-dissolvable cutting tool tip comprises a substantially-planar water-dissolvable cutting tool tip adapted for insertion within a mounting head portion provided at said distal portion of said hand-held toilet tool, and wherein a set of gripping projections grab said substantially-planar water-dissolvable cutting tool tip component, and retain said substantially-planar water-dissolvable cutting tool tip component within said mounting head portion during use. 
     
     
         10 . The hand-held toilet tool of  claim 4 , wherein the water-dissolving cutting tip is fabricated with a corrugated surface construction to provide the added strength to the cutting tip so that it can and will transmit forces from the distal portion of the hand-held handle portion of the toilet tool, downwards towards the cutting tip portion itself during stool chopping/cutting operations within the toilet bowel region of a water-flushing toilet system, prior to the initiation of water flushing operations caused by the depression of the toilet handle. 
     
     
         11 . The hand-held toilet tool of  claim 4 , wherein the water-dissolving cutting tip comprises laser-drilled holes in the surfaces of the water-dissolvable cutting tip, and is infused with environmentally-safe bowl cleansing biochemicals (e.g. Potassium Oxalate Monohydrate) into bio-degradable and water-dissolvable materials during manufacture to provide water-disposable cutting tips for the toilet tool use that can also serve to self-clean toilet bowl surfaces each time the toilet tool is employed. 
     
     
         12 . The hand-held toilet tool of  claim 4 , wherein the water-dissolvable cutting tool tip is made from one or more sheets of water dissolvable biodegradable material that will substantially dissolve or disperse when brought into contact with water. 
     
     
         13 . The hand-held toilet tool of  claim 4 , wherein the water-dissolvable cutting tool tip is made from disposable sheet materials that may comprise: sprayed paper fiber; dissolvable paper; dissolvable cellulose; Papier Mache; degradable pulp board;
 dissolvable fabric and sheets created from the spraying of paper pulp onto a wire mesh shape or combinations thereof, to resemble the cutting tip portion.   
     
     
         14 . The hand-held toilet tool of  claim 4 , wherein the water-dissolvable cutting tool tip is made from a water dissolvable biodegradable organic food-grade material composed of materials which when dried have structural integrity to chop stools into pieces in a toilet bowl, yet will dissolve and disperse within less than 2 minutes or less for safe flushing down the toilet bowl. 
     
     
         15 . The hand-held toilet tool of  claim 4 , wherein the water-dissolvable cutting tool tip is made from a rapidly-soluble composition comprising a rapidly soluble, open matrix of a carbohydrate polymer that is formed into the desired shape of the disposable water-dissolvable cutting tool tip. 
     
     
         16 . A hand-held toilet tool for reducing the risk of clogging and water overflow from a water flushing toilet system, comprising:
 a hand-held handle portion extending to a distal portion having a mounting head portion with a narrow recess adapted to receive a substantially-planar water-dissolvable cutting tool tip portion inserted within said mounting recess and adapted for chopping a deposited stool into pieces in the bowl portion of said water flushing toilet system; and   a set of gripping projections for gripping said substantially-planar water-dissolvable cutting tool tip portion when said substantially-planar water-dissolvable cutting tool tip portion is inserted in said mounting recess, and ejecting said substantially-planar water-dissolvable cutting tool tip portion from said mounting recess in response to the depression of a release button on said hand-held handle portion, after completion of use of said substantially-planar water-dissolvable cutting tool tip portion.   
     
     
         17 . The hand-held toilet tool of  claim 16 , wherein the water-dissolving cutting tip component is fabricated with a corrugated surface construction to provide the added strength to the cutting tip component so that it can and will transmit forces from the distal portion of the hand-held handle portion of the toilet tool, downwards towards the cutting tip portion itself during stool chopping/cutting operations within the toilet bowel region of a water-flushing toilet system, prior to the initiation of water flushing operations caused by the depression of the toilet handle. 
     
     
         18 . The hand-held toilet tool of  claim 16 , wherein the water-dissolving cutting tip component comprises laser-drilled holes in the surfaces of the water-dissolvable cutting tip component, and is infused with environmentally-safe and bowl cleansing biochemicals (e.g. Potassium Oxalate Monohydrate) into bio-degradable and water-dissolvable materials during manufacture to provide disposable cutting tip portions for the toilet tool use that can also serve to self-clean toilet bowl surfaces each time the toilet tool of the present invention is employed. 
     
     
         19 . The hand-held toilet tool of  claim 16 , wherein the water-dissolvable cutting tool tip component is made from one or more sheets of water dissolvable biodegradable material that will substantially dissolve or disperse when brought into contact with water. 
     
     
         20 . The hand-held toilet tool of  claim 16 , wherein the water-dissolvable cutting tool tip component is made from disposable sheet materials that may comprise: sprayed paper fiber; dissolvable paper; dissolvable cellulose; Papier Mache; degradable pulp board; dissolvable fabric and sheets created from the spraying of paper pulp onto a wire mesh shape or combinations thereof, to resemble the cutting tip portion. 
     
     
         21 . The hand-held toilet tool of  claim 16 , wherein the water-dissolvable cutting tool tip component is made from a water dissolvable biodegradable organic food-grade material composed of materials which when dried have structural integrity to chop stools into pieces in a toilet bowl, but will dissolve and disperse within less than 2 minutes or less for safe flushing down the toilet bowl. 
     
     
         22 . The hand-held toilet tool of  claim 16 , wherein the water-dissolvable cutting tool tip component is made from a rapidly-soluble composition comprising a rapidly soluble, open matrix of a carbohydrate polymer that is formed into the desired shape of the disposable water-dissolvable/dispersible cutting tool tip component. 
     
     
         23 . The hand-held toilet tool of  claim 16 , wherein the water-dissolvable cutting tool tip component is made compositions formulated from flours having carbohydrate content which, when dried, have structural integrity to chop stools into pieces in a toilet bowl, yet dissolve and disperse in water within 2 minutes or less for safe flushing down the toilet bowl. 
     
     
         24 - 51 . (canceled)