Larry David of Curb Your Enthusiasm first became famous in the 1990s, when he and Jerry Seinfeld created the Seinfeld television series. However, David has been in comedy, in one way or another, since the 1980s. Before Seinfeld, he got his big break and claim to fame as a writer for Saturday Night Live.
Now David is trying to grab the limelight again but in an entirely new and very unexpected industry: urinals. Why he chose urinals is not totally clear. However, he has indicated to associates that he thinks urinals could be more hygienic and serve their purpose more effectively. Consequently, he took the initiative and developed two re-imagine urinals, one for men and one for women.
PHOTO: TWITTER
The Pee Cube
For men, he created the Pee Cube. Because we know he is a comedian at heart, he says the thought behind the Pee Cube was to make using a urinal more hygienic as well as ensure urinating in a public restroom is "easy-peasy."
More about how "easy peasy" the urinal is will be discussed later. But for now, let us just see how it works:
· The user enters a "structure," as David calls it. Essentially, this is made up of partitions on either side of the urinal, enclosing it, and offering more privacy.
· As the user enters the structure, he steps onto two large foot petals on the floor.
· Stepping onto the foot petals signals a trap door to open and the Pee Cube urinal comes to life.
· But that's not all. The sensors move the urinal up or down - based on the crotch height of the user.
· When the user steps off the petals, the trap door closes, and the urinal automatically flushes.
That's the gist of it, and what we can say for sure, it's different.
Prayer "Toilets" for Women
Now, for women, he has created what has been described as a "prayer toilet." These look like an elongated toilet. But instead of backing into the toilet to use the device, a woman walks forward, stands, and faces the wall. This allows her to seize a grab bar on the wall. Holding the grab bar, she bends her knees, essentially kneeling into the urinal to begin using it.
Now that we know a bit more about this two urinals, what has been the feedback? Unfortunately, not all that good.
After evaluating them, Tim Schroeder, president of a major American bathroom fixture company, reported that "Larry David should stick to comedy."
Why the sour grapes?
For starters, one of the goals of the Pee Cube was enhanced hygiene, protecting the user's shoes from urine and spray when the urinal is flushed. Based on observation, however, the Pee Cube failed. Visually, urine and spray could be seen collecting on the user's shoes.
As to the sensor-controlled height adjustments - one of the key features of the Pee Cub - Schroeder referred to it as "just a gimmick. It just turns what should be an extremely easy fixture [into] a complicated one."
Our critic goes on to suggest that the height adjustment system should be scrapped, and that the urinal should not be a traditional flush urinal. Instead "I suspect it should be waterless." This would make it more hygienic because there is no flushing with a waterless urinals, eliminating the urine-coated spray produced by flush urinals.
As to the women's urinals, apparently David's idea is not so far-fetched. There are products like this in Europe today. However, there is no grab bar because most restrooms in Europe are as touchless as possible. Instead, the user "just kind of straddles the elongated toilet," says Schroeder. "It's a great product, but… these [prayer toilet] fixtures have just not caught on in North America" nor does he expect them to.
As a result, our critic says that not only should David stick to comedy, but for the most part, his urinal ideas have "little merit. They're just a little half-assed."
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