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Royal flush
By CHASE SQUIRES, Times Staff Writer TRILBY -- In 1998, John Velasco woke in the night with a vision. Toilets. But not just ordinary toilets. These were toilets of destiny: toilets that flushed themselves -- and, steady yourself now -- toilets that remember to put down the seat! And the vision is not just for the rich. No. The future, Velasco said, should be for everyone -- abundant and affordable. Last week, Velasco's vision became U.S. Patent No. 6,374,429: the "jonnyflush." "I see one of these in every house in America," he said. "I see them in hotels, service stations, everywhere. I could see production at 150-million." Whoa. One hundred and fifty million commodes, and no one forgets to flush. Velasco's device looks simple. All a homeowner would do is attach a small box to the bottom of the toilet seat -- Velasco says most will simply buy the seat with the device attached -- then hook a chain to the flush handle. Sitting on the seat cocks a spring inside the device, and standing triggers the flush. For men, lifting the seat will also set a timer that will flush the toilet and automatically lower the seat. It's different from the electronic flushing devices that are found in stadiums and airports in that any toilet can be retrofitted, and the device is cheap and easy to connect, Velasco said. The design work was demanding, he said. There were hours of grinding balsa wood and plastic. Velasco fabricated his own parts, researched flusher tensions, studied bathroom visit frequency and combed the Internet. Working from his home north of Trilby by the Withlacoochee River, just inside Hernando County, Velasco studied the septic sciences, created schematics, ran cost analysis numbers and tested principles. He thought of virtually everything. The seat timer is fully adjustable, it even has a cleaning mode that leaves the seat up indefinitely. The trigger can be cocked by someone as light as 30 pounds. The flusher can be temporarily disconnected in seconds. The toilet can still be flushed manually. When he was ready, he hired a Washington, D.C., patent attorney. "Why did I do this? Why didn't I give up? This is my future," said Velasco, who at 56 is retired from his computer programming and management career. "I'm living off my retirement right now. I'm going to need something else." His wife of 36 years, Linda, said she stood by her man, despite the buzz of tools and the piles of paperwork. "It was crazy," she said. "We had sawdust all over. But I knew it was a good idea. If you're married this long, you support him." Velasco said his work is far from over. He sent his one working model to a Georgia manufacturer, which will create a dozen more to use as display models. He plans to seek investors or those who can help him market or produce his invention. Options include selling the patent outright, licensing the invention to a producer, maintaining some control but farming out production and distribution, or, finally, finding investors and setting up the entire operation, from production to distribution. He's open to suggestions, he said. His number's in the book.
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