The present invention relates to a sanitary toilet cover, having an annular seat portion dimensioned to cover a seat of the toilet and defining an opening.

The use of public toilets often represents a health risk, as such toilets are generally not disinfected after each user whereby various germs including bacteria, viruses and other organisms might be transmitted to the next user. A known solution is to cover the toilet seat with a protective cover, however such covers are limited in that they do not provide sufficient coverage to prevent the transmission of germs from surfaces other than the toilet seat surface.

US patent No. 8,418,273 B1 proposes a protective cover which covers both the top surface of a toilet seat and the left, right and front surface areas of the toilet bowl. By partly covering the outer surface of the toilet bowl the user's legs, especially small children's legs are separated from the potentially germ- infected toilet bowl.

However, the inventor has found that bodily contact is not the only way germs can be transmitted from the toilet to the user. Infections can also be spread by backsplash of urine from the inside surface of the toilet bowl or from backsplash of the water found in the toilet.

It is an object of the present invention to overcome the problems associated with the prior art. In particular, it is an object of the present invention to protect a user of a toilet against backsplash of urine and/or toilet water. These objects are achieved by a sanitary toilet cover having an annular seat portion dimensioned to cover a seat of a toilet and defining an opening. The toilet cover comprises:

- an inner skirt surrounding the opening and being configured to hang downwardly into a bowl of the toilet and at least partially cover an inner surface of the toilet bowl,

- an outer skirt provided on an outer periphery of the annular seat portion and being configured to hang downwardly and at least partially cover at least a front surface of the toilet bowl.

Preferably the inner skirt is formed as a bag.

Preferably the bag is provided with at least one outer pocket opening in the direction of the opening defined by the annular seat portion.

Preferably a tubular stripe is arranged on the outside of the bag and the pockets are formed by transversal and longitudinal sealing lines provided between the tubular stripe and the wall of the bag.

Preferably transversal passages are provided along the longitudinal sealing lines.

Preferably the bag comprises a water-soluble plastic material and the bag is dimensioned so as to extend into a water contained in the toilet bowl.

Preferably the plastic material comprises an electrostatic foil.

Preferably the whole toilet cover is made of a water-soluble plastic material which preferably comprises an electrostatic foil.

Preferably the annular seat portion, the inner skirt and the outer skirt are formed integrally.

Preferably the annular seat portion is provided with a lid cover portion, which is configured to at least partially cover a front surface of an open lid of the toilet. Preferably the lid cover portion also comprises a water-soluble electrostatic foil.

Preferably the annular seat portion is provided with a marking for positioning the annular cover portion.

Further details of the invention will be apparent from the accompanying figures and exemplary embodiments. Fig. 1 is a schematic perspective side view of a preferred embodiment of a sanitary toilet cover according to the invention arranged on an exemplary toilet.

Fig. 1a is a schematic perspective side view of an inner skirt of the sanitary toilet cover according to Fig. 1.

Fig. 2 is a schematic perspective front view of another preferred embodiment of a sanitary toilet cover according to the invention arranged on an exemplary toilet.

Fig. 2a is a schematic perspective side view of an inner skirt formed as a bag of the sanitary toilet cover according to Fig. 2.

Fig. 2b is a schematic perspective side view of the bag of Fig. 2a taken from the direction A.

Fig. 3 is a schematic top view of another preferred embodiment of a sanitary toilet cover according to the invention arranged on an exemplary toilet.

Fig. 3a is a schematic perspective side view of a bag of the sanitary toilet cover according to Fig. 3.

Fig. 4 is a schematic top view of another preferred embodiment of a sanitary toilet cover according to the invention arranged on an exemplary toilet.

Fig. 4a is a schematic perspective side view of a bag of the sanitary toilet cover according to Fig. 4.

Fig. 1 schematically illustrates a first preferred embodiment of a sanitary toilet cover 10 according to the invention, which is arranged on an exemplary toilet 100. The toilet cover 10 has an annular seat portion 12, which is dimensioned to cover a seat 1 2 of the toilet 100 and defines an opening 14, which overlies an opening 114 of a bowl 116 of the toilet 100. An inner skirt 16 surrounds the opening 14 of the annular seat portion 12 and it is configured to hang downwardly into the toilet bowl 116. The length of the inner skirt 16 is dimensioned so as to at least partially cover an inner surface of the toilet bowl 116 when depending from the annular seat portion 12 resting on the toilet seat 112. The inner skirt 16 preferably extends all around the opening 14 of the annular seat portion 12 in order to cover a portion of the inner surface of the toilet bowl 116 around the whole perimeter of the opening 114 of the toilet 100. According to the present invention the inner skirt 16 is formed as a tube as depicted in Fig. 1a. An advantage of the inner skirt 16 is that it prevents any backsplash of urine from the covered inner surface of the toilet bowl 116 during use.

The toilet cover 10 further comprises an outer skirt 18 provided along an outer periphery of the annular seat portion 12 opposite the opening 14. The outer skirt 18 is configured to hang downwardly and at least partially cover at least a front surface 118 of the toilet bowl 116 as can be seen in Fig. 1. The outer skirt 18 preferably partially covers the left and right side of the toilet bowl 116 as well.

The annular seat portion 12 is advantageously also provided with a lid cover portion 20, which is configured to at least partially cover a front surface 120a of an open lid 120 of the toilet 100 as depicted in Fig. 1. The lid cover portion 20 protects the clothes of the user which could otherwise come in contact with the front surface 120a of the toilet lid 120 that may also be germ- infected or otherwise unclean.

The annular seat portion 12 may preferably be provided with a marking 22 for positioning the annular cover portion 12. The marking 22 may for example be a stripe which is to be placed on the rear end of the toilet seat 112 on the axis of symmetry as illustrated in Fig. 1. Any other positioning marking 22 can be provided as well instead of or in addition to the depicted marking 22. It is also possible to provide the upper surface of the annular seat portion 12 or any other visible surface of the toilet cover 10, in particular the lid cover portion 22 with other kind of text matter and/or graphics such as trade mark, directions for use, advertisements, ornamentation, etc.

The toilet cover 10 preferably comprises a plastic material that dissolves in water whereby the toilet cover 10 can be simply thrown into the toilet 100 after use and flushed down. Such water soluble plastic foils are commercially available, e.g. from MonoSol LLC.

The toilet cover 10 may comprise other materials as well that dissolve in water. For example the annular seat portion may comprise a thin padding layer in addition to a plastic layer, whereby the plastic layer keeps any moisture away from the user, while the padding layer ensures comfort when the user is seated thereon. The padding layer may be made of tissue paper or other water-soluble material. The padding layer may be on either side of the plastic layer. The layers may be attached to each other by water-soluble glue.

Other parts of the toilet cover 10 may also comprise other water dissoluble materials than plastic. For example the lid cover portion 22 may carry a paper advertisement attached to it.

In addition to being water-soluble or alternatively, the toilet cover 10 as a whole is preferably biodegradable. Suitable synthetic polymers are for example synthetic polycaprolactone and other polyesters and aromatic-aliphatic esters.

The plastic material of the toilet cover 10 preferably comprises an electrostatic foil, which adheres to the surface of the toilet 00, in particular to the top surface of the toilet seat 112, to the inner and outer surface of the toilet bowl 116 and to the front surface 120a of the toilet lid 120. Such electrostatic and at the same time water-soluble foils are commercially available, e.g. from MonoSol LLC. The advantage of such electrostatic foils is that no additional fixing means are required to keep the toilet cover 10 in its use position. A further advantage of the electrostatic foil that the electrostatic property facilitates folding of the toilet cover 10, whereby the toilet cover 10 is easily packed into a small sized compact package (not shown), that can be carried in a purse or wallet. The folded size of the toilet cover 10 made of a thin plastic electrostatic foil does not exceed the size of a regular condom, thus in a similar package it can be easily sold from existing vending machines. Yet another advantage of the electrostatic foil is that the outer skirt 18 does not stand away from the toilet bowl 116, instead it automatically adheres to the bowl 116 following its shape, whereby the user's naked leg does not touch the outer skirt 18 in the normal sitting position, which could be uncomfortable for the user. The inner skirt 16 also automatically adheres to the inside wall of the toilet bowl 116 whereby the user does not need to manually adjust the inner skirt 16 inside the toilet bowl 116 which would be inconvenient for the user. Alternatively, adhesive tapes 23 can be provided at least on the annular seat portion 12 and the lid cover portion 20 on the side facing the toilet seat 112 and the toilet lid 120 respectively. The adhesive tape 23 is preferably also water-soluble and/or biodegradable. Any other fixing means may be used as well to affix the toilet cover 10 to the toilet 100.

The annular seat portion 12, the inner skirt 16 and the outer skirt 18 are preferably formed integrally, preferably from a single plastic foil for example by vacuum thermoforming the plastic foil into the desired shape by stretching the heated foil over a mould using vacuum. The lid cover portion 20 may also be integral with the other parts of the toilet cover 10, for example, if the outer skirt 18 does not extend all the way to the rear end of the annular seat portion 12 the lid cover portion 20 can be integrally connected to the rear periphery of the annular seat portion 12.

Alternatively some or all parts of the toilet cover 10 (the annular seat portion 12, the inner skirt 16, the outer skirt 18 and the lid cover portion 20) may be made separately and may, for example, be welded to each other or glued to each other with a water-soluble glue.

The foil of the toilet cover 10 is illustrated in all the figures as being transparent (whereby the toilet 10 is visible underneath the toilet cover 10, however the toilet cover 10 may comprise a non-transparent or opaque material or a non-transparent or opaque film or coating or painting.

Figs. 2 and 2a illustrate a second preferred embodiment of the present invention. For the sake of simplicity corresponding parts are indicated with the same reference numerals as in Fig. 1. The sanitary toilet cover 10 according to the second embodiment differs from the first embodiment in that the inner skirt 16 is formed as a bag 16'. The bag 16' may be formed for example by sealing the lower edge of the tubular inner skirt 16, e.g. by plastic welding, such as to create a transversal sealing line 30 as shown in Figs. 2a and 2b. The bag 16' may also be formed integrally with the annular seat portion 12 for example by thermoforming a plastic foil into the desired shape.

The advantage of the bag 16' is that it prevents any backsplash of the water filling the lower part of the toilet bowl 116 during use. The bag 16' is preferably also made of a plastic material that dissolves in water and the bag is dimensioned so as to extend into a water contained in the toilet bowl 116, whereby the bag 16' starts to dissolve even during use, which helps to flush down the urine and stool collected in the bag 16 ^* .

According to a third embodiment illustrated in Figs. 3 and 3a the bag 16' is provided with a plurality of outer pockets 24 facing the inner wall of the toilet bowl 116 when the toilet cover 10 is arranged on the toilet 100. The pockets 24 are provided in order to help flush down the toilet cover 10 as will be explained latter on.

The pockets 24 are open at their top, i.e. the pockets' 24 openings are facing the direction of the opening 14 defined by the annular seat portion 12, whereas the pockets' 24 bottoms 28 are sealed. According to the embodiment of Fig. 3a the pockets 24 are formed by sealing the tubular inner skirt 16 along a cross section such as to create the transversal sealing line 30 e.g. by plastic welding, folding back the tubular stripe 16a below the transversal sealing line 30, and providing longitudinal sealing lines 32 between the folded back stripe 16a and the wall of the bag 16', which longitudinal sealing lines 32 are preferably substantially parallel with a longitudinal axis t of the bag 16' in order to create longitudinal pockets 24.

The longitudinal sealing lines 32 can be evenly spaced in order to obtain similar sized pockets 24. The longitudinal sealing lines 32 need not be continuous, or need not extend to the transversal sealing lines 32, instead one or more transversal passages 34 may be provided along one or more but preferably all longitudinal sealing lines 32 by not welding the tubular stripe 16a to the wall of the bag 16' at the location of the transversal passages 34. The transversal passages 34 of the pockets 24 facilitate the filling of the pockets 24 with the flushing water.

The transversal and the longitudinal sealing lines 30, 32 defining the pockets 24 are visible in the top view of Fig. 3 as well. A lower opening 122 of the toilet 100 leading to a sewage system can also be seen under the transparent bag 16' of the toilet cover 10. Figs. 4 and 4a illustrate a fourth preferred embodiment of the invention, wherein the bottom 28 of the outer pockets 24 are spaced from the transversal sealing line 30. Such pockets 24 may be formed for example by pulling a separate foil stripe 16a' over the bag 16' and welding the lower edge of the stripe 16a' to the wall of the bag 16' such as to create a second annular transversal sealing line 36. After this, longitudinal sealing lines 32 are provided preferably parallel with the longitudinal axis t of the bag 16' in order to create the pockets 24 opening in the direction of the opening 14 defined by the annular seat portion 12. The longitudinal sealing lines 32 can be broken to provide transversal passages 34 between one or more but preferably all pockets 24.

This type of pocket-construction is also easily provided on a bag 16' that is formed integrally with the annular seat portion 12 for example by thermoforming. In such case there is no transversal sealing line 30 only the annular transversal sealing line 36 defining the bottoms 28 of the pockets 28.

The use of the toilet cover 10 according to the invention will now be described with reference to the figures.

The user first places the sanitary toilet cover 10 over the toilet 100 such that the annular seat portion 12 overlies the toilet seat 112, the inner skirt 16 or bag 16' depends therefrom into the toilet bowl 116, while the outer skirt 18 depends from the annular seat portion 12 externally covering part of the bowl 116 from the outside but at least the front surface 18 of the bowl. If the toilet cover 10 is provided with the positioning marking 22, then the marking 22 helps the user to position the toilet cover 10. In case the toilet cover 10 is also provided with the lid cover portion 20 then the lid cover portion 20 is lifted to a vertical position to overlie at least a part of the front surface 120a of the lid 120. If the toilet cover 10 comprises an electrostatic foil then the toilet cover 10 automatically adheres to the toilet 100 and takes its form. Otherwise the adhesive tapes 23 (or any other fixing means) can be used to affix the toilet cover 10 to the toilet 100. After this the user can start using the toilet 100 without having to fear bodily contact with any parts of the potentially germ- infected surfaces of the toilet 100. After use, the user removes any fixing means (e.g. the adhesive tapes 23) if there are any. In case the toilet cover 10 is made of an electrostatic foil for adhering the toilet cover 10 to the toilet then there is no need to remove any fixing means whereby disposing of the toilet cover 10 is rendered substantially more convenient. The user then folds up the depending outer skirt 18 and folds down the lid cover portion 20 (if any). If the inner skirt 16 is not formed as a bag 16' then it is generally necessary to drop the outer skirt 18 and lid cover portion 20 into the toilet bowl 116, after which the toilet 100 can be flushed and the flushing water entrains the toilet cover 10, which will dissolve in the water.

If the inner skirt 16 is formed as a bag 16' it extends preferably into the water contained in the toilet bowl 116, whereby it starts to dissolve even before the whole toilet cover 10 is made ready for flushing away. Thus, the contents (urine and/or stool and/or toilet paper and/or other sanitary objects) of the bag 16' start to get released even before the whole toilet cover 10 is flushed down facilitating dispensing of the toilet cover 10 and the contents of the bag 16'.

If the inner skirt 16 is formed as a bag 16' and there are outer pockets 24 provided around the bag 16' facing the inside of the toilet bowl 116, then when the toilet 100 is flushed the bags 16' fill with water through their upwardly facing openings 26 and the flushing water can entrain the toilet cover 10 even if the user did not drop the outer skirt 18 and the lid cover portions 20 into the toilet bowl. If the outer pockets 24 are provided with transversal passage 34 between them then the passages 34 ensure that the flushing water fills the pockets 24 around the bag 16' evenly even if the water does not enter the toilet bowl 116 evenly around its opening 114.

Various modifications to the above disclosed embodiments will be apparent to a person skilled in the art without departing from the scope of protection determined by the attached claims.