Invention not just a flush in the pan

Joseph Safuto has had his head in a toilet for the last six years. And it is finally paying off.

The Glendale businessman has invested $30,000 into his Pureflush toilet seat, which uses a simple filtering mechanism to remove bacteria and other germs that are expelled into the air with each toilet flush.

His unorthodox idea was good enough to get him spot on the ABC-TV Channel 7 show “American Inventor.” While he wasn’t chosen as one of the four finalists who vied for $1 million ? the prize went to Janusz Liberkowski for his “spherical safety seat” for infants ? Safuto did get to the final rounds and received $50,000 from the show’s producers to test and market his product.

A professional magician by training, Safuto first started looking into ways to reduce germs in the home after his mother died of heart disease in 1999.

“I happened to stumble upon a lot of data about how the elderly, children and people with compromised immune systems are more prone to colds, the flu and other diseases,” said Safuto, who recently moved to Sylmar after living in Glendale for many years.

“And in my research I found out about toilet aerosol, the micro-droplets that are sprayed into the air every time you flush, which land on toothbrushes, combs and other objects in the bathroom.”

The research, Safuto said, shows that toilet aerosol can reach as far away as 15 feet from the toilet.

“And if someone is sick in your family, up to 30% of their waste can contain the bacteria [that is making them sick],” he said. “That bacteria is spread through the aerosol effect.”

After doing a patent search and finding nothing on the market designed to lessen or eliminate toilet aerosol, Safuto got to work. He hired a team of design engineers to help him design a prototype, while his wife, Jennifer Safuto, helped come up with the look and feel of the device.

The result is an unimposing contraption that looks much like a traditional toilet seat. It has a rubber gasket that helps seal the seat as it rests on the rim of the toilet, and the pressure generated by each flush forces air through an interchangeable, carbon-based filter cartridge mounted in the seat lid. The filters ? available in a variety of scents such as grapefruit and eucalyptus ? remove the harmful microbes and expel the clean air through a vent at the rear of the seat.

“It’s simple; you just take the old seat off, screw on the new one and that is all you have to do,” Joseph Safuto said. “As long as the seat is closed when you flush, the filter will do the rest.”

While there are many sources of contamination in and out of the home ? some studies show some office desks are filthier than a toilet ? the Safutos’ product could help prevent disease in certain circumstances, said Dr. Tom Hatfield, chairman of the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health at Cal State Northridge.

“For people with suppressed immune systems, it certainly seems like a good product and something to look into,” Hatfield said.

But not only those susceptible to illness could benefit from the invention, Hatfield said. He noted a study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control that showed one in three Americans suffer from a food-related illnesses, many of which result from contamination by fecal matter.

“I would welcome these types of products, which are relatively low in cost and that you can bring into your own home,” said Hatfield of the Pureflush toilet seat, which Joseph Safuto plans to market for about $50 to $60.

“All too often we end up spending lots of money on things that might be beneficial, but on a negligible level. But at $50 or $60, this is not something that is going to break someone’s bank.”