Toto Ltd.

Masaaki Ito

Makoto Hayakawa

Koichi Hayashi

Mitsuyoshi Machida

Tomoyasu Ichiki

Masami Ando

Hirotaka Ishibashi

Atsushi Kitamura

Toshihiro Aoshima

Katsuhiro Kawakami

Satoshi Horiuchi

A sanitary ware comprises a sanitary ware body and a surface glaze layer provided on the sanitary ware body. The surface glaze layer has a center line average roughness Ra of less than 0.07 &mgr;m as measured with a stylus type surface roughness tester according to JIS B 0651-1996.

Sanitary ware and process for producing the same

Sanitary wares having a controlled surface are disclosed which are less likely to be stained or soiled and/or possess excellent gloss. The first sanitary ware comprises a sanitary ware body and a surface glaze layer provided on the sanitary ware body, wherein the surface glaze layer has a center line average roughness Ra of less than 0.07 &mgr;m. This sanitary ware is advantageous in that stains or soils are much less likely to be adhered to the surface thereof and, even when adhered to the surface thereof, can be removed by a weak water stream. The second sanitary ware comprises a sanitary ware body and a surface glaze layer provided on the sanitary ware body, wherein the surface glaze layer has a kurtosis Rku of less than 2.70. This sanitary ware advantageously possesses excellent surface gloss. The third sanitary ware comprises a sanitary ware body and a surface glaze layer provided on the sanitary ware body, wherein the surface of the surface glaze layer consists essentially of a vitreous component and is free from silica particles having a particle diameter of not less than 10 &mgr;m. This sanitary ware is advantageous in that stains or soils are less likely to be adhered to the surface thereof.

Disclosed is a sanitary ware which has a self-cleaning function for releasing carboxyl-containing greasy stains or soils, such as fatty acids, fatty esters, metallic soaps (scum of soaps), proteins, amino acids, bacteria, and fungi, and deposited stains or soils, such as water scale and urinary calculi. This sanitary ware comprises at least a sanitary ware body and a glaze layer as an outermost layer of the sanitary ware, a monovalent metal component and/or a metal component having a measure of the electronegativity based on Pouling's rule of not more than 1 being provided so as to be releasable evenly and continuously, over the whole surface of the glaze layer as the outermost layer, in such an amount large enough to impart a self-cleaning function for releasing stains or soils to the surface of the glaze layer as the outermost layer, the metal component being suppliable from the glaze layer as the outermost layer and/or the sanitary ware body to the whole surface of the outermost layer. The sanitary ware is advantageous in that stains or soils on the sanitary ware can be simply removed, for example, by running water without using any surfactant and without strongly scrubbing the surface of the sanitary ware by a scrubbing brush or a cleaning brush.

Sanitary earthen products

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Kitakyushu, Japan

Masaaki Ito