Toilet!

Kickstarter ,social media is the platform that you’re going to want if anything gets moving today is through social media hundreds of millions of people at your fingertips
 
How did an invention thread turn into all the weird containers we pee in?..... Solo cup here. :)
 
I have a patent submission pending on a product I have cooked up over the past 2 years. Most of that time was pondering it, but been working on prototypes for almost a year. What is it? Since you guys are boaters you have probably used marine toilets. They are generally shallow bowls. Often tight quarters. I lived on a boat in the summers for 4 years, and have spent lots of time on them otherwise. Now I have a big diesel pusher RV and deal with similar toilets in it.

When peeing in these shallow toilets it is common for pee to splash back out from hitting the bowl or even water in the bowl, and also common for pee to splatter off the rim when drops hit it. If you've ever pee'd in bare feet or flipflops you'll know the feeling. While it is most pronounced on shallow bowl toilets, it is very common in household and commercial toilets. We've all seen those puddles of pee in front of a public toilet.

This has driven me crazy for years and I have wondered why there is no innovation to stop this in toilets. Companies have created pee mats that sit on the floor to absorb the pee that makes it out, but nothing to stop it in the first place. So I created the Tinkle Topper.

It is basically a device that goes between the existing toilet seat and rim of the bowl. At first glance it seems convoluted, but it really isn't, and once you use one you'll not want to pee in a toilet without one. It basically has a fin structure that can absorb an errant blasts or drops of pee, they get absorbed and directed back into the bowl. It also overhangs the inside of the bowl just about the same amount as the seat does, so it catches almost anything that would try to splash back out of the toilet. If you have the seat down and are sitting on the toilet you would not even know it is there. It will not get in the way of any sitting operations.

It really works well. I have lots of them in use from light duty to commercial. The floor around the toilet stays practically 100% dry. No drops, no puddles, no mess. The toilet itself stays nearly 100% clean. No pee on the rim, or running down the side of the bowl. Most importantly, no pee on the person peeing. Even my biggest naysayers have come full circle and think they are awesome.

I have 2 boys, and my RV at the end of the weekend would be a disaster in the bathroom. But now it is literally darn near as clean at the end of the weekend as it was when we started.

The Tinkle Topper will have a replaceable "fin" layer made of a scented pliable material similar to what urinal screens are made out of. I am thinking we'd sell a 5-pack of these for $25 and would last a year. The base is made out of antimicrobial plastic. I think we'd sell it for $30.

I am so pumped about these things. But do realize it is trying to solve a problem that many people probably don't even acknowledge. Some people ask me where I have been their whole life when they see it the first time, and some say it is the dumbest thing ever. The ones that don't like it, that I have made use it have truly come around to liking it. So figuring out how best to present or sell this is going to be my biggest challenge.

I have an engineering company right now redesigning it to make it suitable for injection molding. I am putting this info out here for you all for a couple of reasons. First, because every time I present it to a bigger group I learn more about people's initial reactions to it which will ultimately help me to craft a better sales presentation when the time comes. And second because I don't know diddly squat about manufacturing and launching a product that could potentially have 100's of million in revenue in shot order. I figured there might be some people here that may have some experience with that, or know somebody that might want to know about this. I'll figure things out eventually on my own, but am open to any sort of strategic partners that can get this thing going faster than I could.

Here are some images of it.

View attachment 63855 View attachment 63856 View attachment 63857 View attachment 63858
Interesting idea! google: "One Million Cups". It is a shark tank like organization that is in multiple cities, is free, and was started by the Kaufmann foundation for facilitating entrepreneurship . You present your idea, you get free exposure, help/advice, and potential funding. You get whatever you need. Ive attended multiple meetings and always find it helpful and informative. Experts are strictly there to help, at whatever level you need. Presentations are by entrepreneurs that have only an idea, or businesses that are fully fleshed out and are simply looking to expand.
 
Here is a cross section. The version suitable for injection molding will be a little different.
View attachment 63876

If you've got cad models available google a company called Proto Labs (Proto Mold). They can generate quotes for both the parts and the tools directly from your cad geometry. For injection mold this will generally be quick-turn tooling (AL, not steel) with generally loose tolernances. They can also provide 3D printing which might (should?) be interesting to someone trying to prove a concept or test a market.

If you go with injection molding those tools are going to be a bit spendy, particularly if domestic. Say $50k-60k each for the two full-seat size molds plus a touch more for the other small bits and pieces not shown (if any). Save 50% off that if you decide to source in China, then pay 25% more for the parts due to current tariffs :).

You'll probably want to make sure you are granted the utility patent before investing in tooling.

If this were my pending patent I'd be angling to secure the defensible patent, prove the concept with 100 +/- 3D printed samples, quantify the market and then sell/license the idea to an existing toilet (or toilet seat) manufacturer. The dirty part you don't see on Shark Tank is the (sometimes) overwhelming costs associated with managing global supply chains, regulatory compliance and liability. Particularly on consumer items.

And on liability. Imagine the scenario where your five-thousandth customer has a drunken rager at his house, passes out happily next to his wonderful wife and then, hours later, wakes up in the middle of the night to take an urgent half-drunken poop. He unwittingly throws both the toilet lid and toilet seat up and sits directly on your Tinkle Topper. He's a big guy, though he has been cutting out the gluten as a new years resolution, but this does not prevent his tookus from breaking the fins on the Tinkle Topper sending two shards of PCABS directly into his money maker. Wife wakes up to half-drunken screams, finds husband on floor of bathroom wondering why his toilet bit him in the ass, paramedics are called and every lawyer within a 100 mile radius wakes up from a slumber, not knowing why, but having that feeling of something good happening nearby. Queue the $200Million lawsuit for pain, suffering and an innocent mans tookus modeling career left in ruins as a result of a maliciously designed product.

If you do go on shark tank be prepared for someone to ask "why wouldn't I just have my sons and husband sit down whilst peeing and save the money". ha. It takes a real man to admit his mother forced him to sit while peeing while growing up...I think....:):):)
 
I have had some people tell me they sit to pee. Poor fellas. But most stand. have you seen that thing called a Squatty Potty? They sold something like 32 Million $ of them in 2016, i think they are still growing. And it does NOTHING. To simulate the same posture it generates all you need to do is lean forward! My Tinkle Topper does actually keep pee off the pee'er and off the floor, so if they can sell that much of the Squatty Potty, especially since the concept is unpatentable and they have dozens of competitors, imagine what I can sell of this thing!

Great advice in your post. I already have about 20 out in the wild. People have been using them from almost a half year to just a few weeks. It works as intended for all of them.

I had a patent attorney that specializes in products like this write this one up. I am happy to send it to you. It was written up as a full patent but only sent in as a provisional. It takes some 3 years for a patent to get reviewed so it has to be in a patent pending status for a while. There has never been anything submitted even sortof close to this, so the patent we will get will be very broad.

I will check out Proto Labs. Where I am at now is trying to find a partner that makes sanitary devices like urinal screens to adopt this and take it through to production. Simultaneously I am doing the steps to produce it myself in case nobody bites. I am also trying to get it in front of toilet seat makers to see if I could license it to them, then they could incorporate it into some of their own seats. It could literally sit under the seat as a modular component.

Thanks for the tip on insurance. I hate insurance.
 
When out on the fishing boat and there are other boats in the area, we call it.......Bucket and Chuckit........
On a serious note. That looks like a good invention to me. I’d give it a shot.......
 
We need a tinkle topper for buckets now... they definitely splash back :)
 
Genius! .........The PeePee Pal.........The Puddle Eliminator.........Urine Luck.

If I never have to straddle the dreaded yellow puddle again, I will be forever grateful.
 
I stand to shake a person's hand, I stand for the national anthem, and by God I stand to urinate.
Along with other things, I clean the toilets on the boat. To make that easier on myself I sometimes sit. I know it isn't a manly thing to do but when things get rough and you're standing in the head, shoulders banging side to side against the walls it's hard to aim Mr Wiggly.
 
To make that easier on myself I sometimes sit.
Okay there is no reason to give up your man card on a forum...none of us can see... plus if you get everyone sitting Jim won't sell an Tinkle Toppers. :)
 
Never tried sitting in the boat throne, but in that shallow little bowl I’d be concerned about splashing it all over my butt if I sat.
 

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