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A Toilet Seat Designed for the Eventual Reality Our Bodies Face

Bemis Manufacturing's Clean Shield elevated toilet seat

By Rain Noe - March 31, 2022

in Object Culture

If you've ever sustained a rib or back injury, then tried to use a toilet, you've experienced how a commonplace task can become embarrassingly difficult. Those recovering from surgery may find the same, and a segment of our population lives with, or ages into, permanent mobility issues that render standard toilets difficult to use.

Bemis Manufacturing's Clean Shield is an elevated toilet seat designed with this population in mind. This more substantial toilet seat sits three inches higher than normal, making it easier to get on and off of.

The inside of the seat is designed to contain, well, collateral damage for when things don't go as planned:

"Our innovative 'reverse funnel' shield design keeps everything in the bowl," the company writes. "When needed, the glossy surface is easy to clean."

The design of the hinges allows the seat to still be flipped up, despite the size increase.

The seat has been tested to bear 1,000 pounds in weight, Furthermore, optional support arms with ADA-compliant 1.5" handle diameters can be attached.

Each arm is rated for 350 pounds, and careful design attention to their attachment points means "uneven pressure can be applied to the arms and the seat will not loosen, ever," the company says.

Function having been accomplished, I'd like to see a little more design attention paid on the aesthetic front, just to make the seat blend in better with a standard toilet.

Perhaps that's impossible given the design constraints, and this is just a look we'll have to get used to. After all, assuming we live long enough, all of us will eventually need a toilet seat like this.

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Zach W

2 years ago

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Hundreds of these toilet seat designs already exist. I see no improvement here......

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Lenora Yuen

2 years ago

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Does it support bidet

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Lenora Yuen

2 years ago

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Does this design accommodate a bidet?

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Ilan Max

2 years ago

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In the same mindset of existing designs, why raise the seat up but keep the basin lower down? I imagine the ease of installation makes this reasoning ideal. I wonder about the long term durability of those two connection points.

An alternative I've seen is cheesily named "Toilevator". It's been developed by a rehab hospital in Toronto and sold online. Durability-wise, this will last longer and cause less mess (due to less drop height).
Also, grab handles should ideally be wall mounted, so I'm with Zach here.

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