The present application relates generally to the field of toilets. More specifically, the present application relates to improved systems and methods for installing a toilet (e.g., coupling the toilet to a trap assembly and/or mounting the toilet to the floor).
There is an increasing demand from consumers for toilets having bases or pedestals with smooth exterior surfaces, in part due to their improved aesthetics and cleanability. These toilets with smooth exterior surfaces may include pedestal side walls (or portions thereof) that are spaced a distance outward from the internal trapway of the toilet (hereinafter referred to as “skirted toilets”). In other words, the skirted feature of the toilet is created by the pedestal having a wall with a smooth exterior surface for aesthetic purposes and an interior surface that is separated by a gap (e.g., open space) from the external surfaces of the passageway (e.g., trap passageway). Many conventional non-skirted toilets have pedestals that include externally visible fasteners, indentations or voids (e.g., voids that outline the functional features, such as the trapway, contained within the toilet to transfer the water and waste), and other features that it may be desirable to eliminate for aesthetic and other purposes.
One challenge associated with skirted toilets relates to the manner in which such toilets must be mounted or coupled to the trap assembly and/or to the floor to prevent rotating, twisting, or rocking of the toilet during the user experience. For conventional toilets, a typical mounting method involves inserting a fastener through a horizontal portion (e.g., flange) of the toilet base or pedestal directly into the closet flange, the soil pipe, and/or the floor (i.e., the fastener is arranged perpendicular to the surface of the floor). In skirted toilets, however, such a configuration may not be appropriate or desirable because of the design of the skirted portion (e.g., there may not be a surface of the skirt that is parallel to the floor that would allow a fastener to be driven directly through the toilet and into the closet flange and/or the floor). It would be advantageous to provide a simple and secure method and system for mounting or coupling a skirted toilet to the trap, soil pipe, and/or the floor without having functional issues (e.g., leaking) and/or aesthetic issues (e.g., large openings requiring additional vitreous plastic covers or patches).
Additionally, there is a need to provide a more secure coupling between the toilet and the closet flange and/or the soil pipe, in order to improve the stability of the toilet, such as during use of the toilet, as well as, to reduce the likelihood of leaking, such as between the toilet and the drain pipe (or soil pipe or sanitary sewer system). Current skirted toilet couplings (or installation mountings) only provide either a horizontal force or a vertical force, but not both, to secure the toilet to the soil pipe. It would be advantageous to be able to couple the toilet to the soil pipe in a manner that provides both horizontal and vertical clamping forces to more securely couple the toilet and to reduce the likelihood of leaking, while simultaneously minimizing the aesthetic impact of the coupling (or fastening) system.