Hinge mechanism for supporting the seat or the seat lid of a toilet bowl

Claim 1

A hinge mechanism for supporting the seat of the seat lid of a toilet bowl, comprising: a case mounted on the toilet bowl; a hinge shaft having a longitudinal axis supported for rotation and axial sliding movement in the case and having one end fixedly connected to the base end of the seat or the seat lid of the toilet bowl; a fluidic damping mechanism provided with valves and interposed between the case and the hinge shaft; the valves comprising: at least two vanes projecting radially from the hinge shaft and received in a fluid chamber formed within the case, each vane provided with a radial groove radially extending from an end of the vane toward the longitudinal axis of the hinge shaft, each radial groove having at least two side walls; a plurality of slots, each slot formed through one of the at least two side walls of each radial groove; a plurality of recesses, one recess formed adacent an edge of each of the other of the side walls of the radial grooves; a plurality of valve elements, one valve element located in each groove for opening and closing each slot; and a partition wall in the case, the partition wall having a plurality of circular grooves in a side surface of the partition wall, the circular grooves in sliding contact with the ends of the vanes; and a resilient means for axially biasing the hinge shaft in one direction.