GB2282761A - Urinal - Google Patents

Abstract

A portable urinal (10) comprises a single continuous chamber which is blow moulded from high temperature resistant plastics material such as polypropylene which is translucent after moulding. The chamber defines a body (11) and a hollow tubular handle (12), both ends of the handle merging smoothly with the body. The urinal has two capacity scales (17, 15) provided at right-angles to measure the capacity of the contents when the urinal is horizontal or vertical respectively. The urinal is intended for re-use, and can be washed and sterilised using apparatus to relevant British and E.C. standards, but is light, economical of materials and moulding time, and devoid of crevices to trap soiling. <IMAGE>

Description

URINAL This invention relates to a portable urinal particularly intended for use by male patients, including those in a supine position.

In devising the invention, it has been a particular objective to provide a more suitable and user friendly urinal than has hitherto been available and to improve the caring provisions for a rapidly increasing population of males aged over sixty who form a large percentage of the users for this type of product.

Current hygiene requirements, particularly for hospital and institutional use, require the cleaning process of urinals to include a high temperature cycle with a minimum of 80 C and extending to 1350C for sterilisation. British Standard 3215, 199X and similar E.C. directives are relevant.

Portable urinals have been made in ceramic or glass materials but these were not capable of sterilisation. Such urinals are heavy, very expensive and somewhat fragile.

As a result of these problems, disposable fibre urinals are used but it is expensive to continue replacing these products after a single use and they are also somewhat unsatisfactory due to distortion and occasional leakage and rough texture which may irritate the users skin.

Disposal is by means of maceration so that the disposal apparatus also has a substantial cost. Macerated hospital waste is not accepted in most E.C. countries, with the U.K. as the main exception.

The present invention is concerned with a further type of urinal made of a plastics material which is capable of repeated use including frequent cleansing and sterilisation at high temperature.

Urinals of the type concerned are presently made by blow moulding using softened plastics extruded material, blow moulded between a pair of dies which are pinched together to seal the peripheral seam of the urine container body and to form an integral handle sealed off from the body at both ends.

To ensure that the urinal and integrated handle has adequate rigidity and substance for long-service life, sufficient plastics material of a suitable grade must be moulded into all sections/parts of the item. This makes moulding slow and relatively expensive and may increase the opacity of the urinal. This in turn makes it more difficult for a nurse to measure the volume of urine passed, in accordance with good nursing practice.

The use of thick heavy duty plastics material for blow moulding makes the residence time of the moulding in the tool comparatively long and the moulding costs are increased.

Since it is essential to clean and sterilise the urinal in a machine, it must be formed in such a manner that it permits free circulation of cleaning water, steam and vapour, so that cleaning and disinfection is performed to an acceptable standard and sterilisation can be carried out if required. No soil retaining crevices are permitted on the inside of the urinal.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a new or improved portable urinal which overcomes or reduces some or all of the disadvantages of prior urinals.

According to the invention there is provided a portable urinal comprising a single continuous chamber defining a body and a hollow tubular handle, both ends of the handle merging smoothly with the body.

The urinal may be blow moulded from high temperature resistant plastics material. The plastics material may comprise polypropylene. Preferably, the plastics material is translucent after moulding.

The urinal may have a capacity scale provided thereon.

Preferably two such scales are provided at right-angles to measure the capacity of the contents when the urinal is held either horizontally or vertically.

The tubular handle may have a cross-sectional dimension of more than one quarter of the cross-sectional dimension of the body of the urinal. It is preferably of the order of one third to one half of the cross-sectional dimension of the urinal.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described in more detail by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawing in which, Figure 1 is a side elevational view of the urinal, Figure 2 is a sectional view of the urinal on a line AA of Figure 1, Figure 3 is a plan view of the urinal of Figure 1, and Figure 4 is a view in the direction of arrow 4 in Figure 3.

A urinal generally indicated at 10 has a body portion 11 and an integrally formed hollow handle portion 12 which merges smoothly at each of its ends with the body portion 11. The urinal has an enlarged mouth 13 having a rolled or rounded rim 14 for patient comfort. A calibrated scale 15 is provided extending parallel to the base 16 of the body 11 and a further calibrated scale 17 extends upwardly at right-angles to the base 16. The expression "base" refers to the base in use of the urinal. However, the end wall 18 of the urinal is flat so that the urinal can be stood on end with the mouth 13 then being directed more or less upwardly.

The base 16 is broad and flattened as seen in Figure 2 so as to make the urinal stable in use. The handle has a large transverse dimension 19 which is preferably at least one quarter of the transverse dimension 20 of the body 11 and is preferably between one third and one half.

It will be seen that the urinal is manufactured as one continuous chamber with the handle 12 integral with the body 11 so as to be capable of very efficient cleansing in any conventional modern washer disinfector machine. In such a machine, the mouth 13 can be placed downwardly and water jets surge into the body 10. The conformation of the urinal causes the water to cascade vigorously over the entire interior surface of the urinal including that of the handle portion 12 giving speedy removal of soiling and very efficient cleansing.

The design also facilitates the easy ingress of high temperature steam and subsequent vacuum pulsing as used in modern autoclaves for sterilisation procedures.

The urinal is preferably made from polypropylene which is unaffected by boiling water and most cleaning chemicals. The maximum cleaning temperature is approximately 1350C. Since the polypropylene material does not need to be pinched together to form a solid handle, and since the strength of the handle 12 derives largely from its tubular structure, the material could be relatively thin. This means that it can be moulded rapidly using high speed blow moulding machinery, requires less plastics material than previous urinals of the type concerned and reaches sterilisation temperature more rapidly. Additionally, the plastics material is translucent so that the nurse can very easily see the contents and read the scales 15 and 17. The nurse can also readily detect any discolouration for example.The large opening 13 is intended both to facilitate use for recumbent users and to enlarge the entrance available for washing liquid.

The large cross-section 19 of the handle has the additional advantage that it provides an excellent grip for even a fairly infirm user. This is an important feature to allow the patient some measure of independence if possible.

The urinal meets all the current and proposed sterilisation standards including sterilisation up to 1350C and offers improved cleaning performance with a modern washer disinfector because it provides a larger impingement area against which the water jet can work and maintains a high flow of water over all the interior surfaces throughout cleaning.

Although the urinal illustrated is intended for male use, by proper adaptation of the shape of the opening 13, the advantages of the invention may also be obtainable in urinals for female use.

Claims (9)

CLAIMS:

1. A portable urinal comprising a single continuous chamber defining a body and a hollow tubular handle, both ends of the handle merging smoothly with the body.

2. A portable urinal according to claim 1 which is blow moulded from high temperature resistant plastics material.

3. A portable urinal according to claim 2 wherein the plastics material comprises polypropylene.

4. A portable urinal according to claim 2 or claim 3 wherein the plastics material is translucent after moulding.

5. A portable urinal according to any preceding claim and having a capacity scale provided thereon.

6. A portable urinal according to claim 5 wherein two such capacity scales are provided at right-angles to measure the capacity of the contents when the urinal is horizontal or vertical respectively.

7. A portable urinal according to any preceding claim wherein the tubular handle has a cross-sectional dimension of more than one quarter of the cross-sectional dimension of the body of the urinal.

8. A portable urinal according to claim 7 wherein the cross-sectional dimension of the tubular handle is between one third and one half of the cross-sectional dimension of the urinal.

9. A portable urinal substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.