Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
This invention relates to an improved check valve~
Check valves are well known. Generally they comprise a valve
body having an inlet and an outlet with a valve closure member
pivotably mounted within the valve. The valve is usually mounted
in a line with the inlet and outlet aligned horizontally although
some check valves are designed to have the inlet and outlet
aligned at any angle between the horizontal and vertical. The
closure member is adapted to seat on a valve seat within the
valve body to close the inlet preventing reverse flow through the
valve in the direction from the outlet to the inlet. The pivot
for the closure member lS usually located above the valve seat.
The closure member can swing about the pivo-t, away from the valve
seat, to open the inlet, allowing flow through the valve from
the inlet to the outlet. Examples of check valves of the above
general type are shown in the following U.S. patents: 79,527;
846,317; 849,466; 922,262; 3,075,547; 3,144,045; 3,366,137 and
4,039,004.
The known che~k valves have several disadvantages
however. The majority of the known valves have a top opening in
the valve body for inserting the closure member into the valve
from the top of the valve. Patents 79,527; 846,317 and 3,144,045
are representative of such valves. Such an opening however must
be large enough to allow the valve closure member to be inserted.
Thus a large closure cap is needed for the top opening. The cap
and supporting boss in the valve body increase the weight of the
valve and add to its manufacturing cost.
Many of the known check valves also employ pivot pins
to pivotably mount the closure member above the valve seat.
Patents 3,075,547 and 3,366,137 are representative of such valves.
The use of pivot pins however generally requires another drilling
operation in the housing for insertion of a pivot pin. Another
machining operation increases the cost of assembly.
L2(~
All known check valves are made so that the valve
closure members are mounted solely for pivoting movement toward
or away from the valve seat This makes it difficult to properly
seat the valve closure member on the valve seat since an exact
fit, and an exact mounting, is required. Close tolerances
must be employed in the manufacture of the valve to provide the
necessary fit, and no simple adjustment can be made to compen-
sate for wear. In some cases resilient seats are provided to
assist in compensating for manufacturing tolerances.
It is a purpose of the present invention to provide an
improved check valve which provides good seating of the valve
closure member on the valve seat without the requirement of low
manufacturing tolerances or a resilient seat and which mini-
mi2es wear affecting the seat.
It is another purpose of thle present invention to pro-
vide an improved check valve in which the valve closure member
can be inserted through the outlet of the valve body without re-
quiring a large top opening, thereby reducing weight and cost of
tha valve.
In accordance with the present invention, the improved
check valve is providad with a simple valve closure member mount-
ing whereby the valve closure member is merely suspended from
support means and loosely retained on the support means by a
small vertical restraining pin. The closure member pivots on
the support means, about the vertical restraining pin, to open
the valve. When the vertical pin is raised from a slot in the
valve closure member, the valve closure member can be easily
moved off the support means and removed from the valve body
through the outlet of the valve.
The slot in the valve closure member for receiving the
restraining pin is elongated and positioned therein so that when
the valve closure member is seated on the valve face in the valve
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the pin is not located at either end of the slot. This permits
the valve closure member to move both linearly and curvilinearly
when opening or closing the inlet and thus permits good seating
of the valve closure member on the valve seat, wnile at the same
time accommodating wear.
The invention is particularly directed toward a check
valve having a valve body defining a chamber therein, an inlet
in the valve body to the chamber and an outlet in the valve body
from the chamber. The inlet has a valve seat in the chamber and
a valve closure member is provided within the chamber for seat-
ing on the valve seat to close the inlet. Means are provided
for mounting the closure member above the valve seat so it can
move with both linear and curvilinear movement away from the
valve seat to open the inlet.
In a preferred embodiment, the means for mounting the
closure member includes mounting surfaces within the valve body
above the valve seat, and mounting members on a top portion of
the valve closure member. The valve closure member is suspended
by the mounting members from the mounting surfaces. A slot is
provided in the top portion of the valve closure member, and a
removable restraining pin extends down from the valve body into
the slot adapted to retain the valve closure member on the mount-
ing surfaces.
The invention will now be described in detail having
reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of one embodiment of
the check valve according to the present invention.
Fig. 2 is an end elevational view of the check valve
shown in Fig. 1 from the outlet side.
Fig. 3 is an eDd elevational view of tho check valve
shown in Fig. 1 from the inlet side.
Fig. 4 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the
check valve shown in Fig. l.
Fig. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 5-5
of Fig. 4.
Fig. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 6-6
Of Fig. 4.
Fig. 7 is a perspec-tive view of the valve closure
member and restraining pin, and
Fig. 8 is a cross-sectional view of the support of the
valve closure member taken along line 8-8 of Fig. 6.
The check valve of the present invention has a valve
body lO defining an interior chamber ll. An inlet 12 leads into
the chamber 11 from one side of the valve body lO and an outlet
13 leads out of the chamber 11 from the other side of the valve
body 10. The inlet 12 and outlet 13 are axially aligned along a
longitudinal axis and both have interior pipe threads 14. In
the embodiment shown the inlet 12 and outlet 13 have the same
diameters. The inlet 12 has a circular valve seat 15 where it
enters the chamber 11. The valve seat 15 is in a substantially
perpendicular plane to the longitudinal axis o~ the inlet 12 and
outlet 13.
A valve closure member 16 is mounted within the
chamber ll. The closure member 16 has a main support plate 17,
and a closure disc 18. The closure disc 18 is fastened at its
center by a pin 20 to the lower end of the bottom portion of the
support plate 17. The center pin 20 is a sliding fit in a hole
in the support plate 17 to provide some axial movement between
the disc 18 and the support plate 17. The closure disc 18 has a
circular seating face 21, opposite support plate 17 which rests
against valve seat 15 to close the inlet 12.
The valve closure member 16 is mounted within the
chamber 11 above the valve seat 15 so that it can move with
both linear and curvilinear movement away from the valve seat 15
~ :~4~
to open the inle~ 12. The mounting means include a pair o~ flat,
spaced apart support surfaces 22, 23 above the valve seat 15
within the chamber 11 as shown in Figs. 4 and 5. The support
surfaces 22, 23 are spaced apart and extend substantially hori-
zontally and perpendicular to the direction of flow through the
valveO The support surfaces 22, 23 are formed by a pair of
shoulders 24, extending inwardly into chamber 11 formed inte-
grally with the side walls of the valve body 10 above the valve
seat 15. The upper surfaces of the shoulders 24, form the flat
support surfaces 22, 23. The valve body 10 has thickened por-
tions 25 up-stream of the flat support surfaces 22, ~3 to
essentially eliminate the twisting action of the closure member
16 resting on the support surfaces 22, 23.
The main support plate 17 of the valve closure member
16 is suspended from the support surfaces 22, 23. The top
portion 26 o~ support plate 17 is extended at an angle to the
lower portion of the support plate 17 terminating in a flat
cross-bar plate 27. The cross-bar plate 27 has mounting members
in the ~orm of flat pivot arms 28, 29 extending from each side
to form a continuation of flat cross-bar 27. As may be seen in
Figs. 7 and 8, the top portion 26 joins the flat cross bar plate
27 at its approximate center by means of a notch cut in the cross
bar plate 27. The flat pivot arms 2~, 29 are less than half the
width of the cross bar plate 27 extending on the notched side of
the piate 27. The flat pivot arms 28, 29 rest on top of support
surfaces 22J 23 respectively to suspend the closure member 16
therefrom. The angle at which the top portion 26 of support plate
17 extands is such as to generally locate face 21 of disc 18 on
the valve seat 15 beneath pivot arms 28, 29.
The main support plate 17 is retained on the support
surfaces 22, 23 by a restraining pin 30 which fits into a slot
31 formed in the upper portion 26 of support plate 17. The pin
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~.~.9,U4~
30 projects down into the chamber from one end of a bolt 32
which has a lower portion 32A larger in diameter than the re-
straining pin 30 to restrain the closure member 16 from rising
up, thus causing the disc 18 to seat above the valve seat and
not seal. The lower portion 32A also may in one embodiment act
as a stop so that when the closure member 16 is pivoted to the
open position, the top portion 26 comes to rest against the edge
of the lower portion 32A instead of the center pin 20 resting
against the inside surface of the valve body 10 as shown in Fig.
4. The bolt 32 is screwed into a threaded bore 33 formed in a
boss 34 at the top of the valve body 10 above shoulders 24.
When the bolt 32 is screwed into bore 33 the pin 30 projects
down into chamber 11 between shoulders 24, 25 and into the slot
31. The slot 31 e~tends in the top portion 26 of the support
plate 17 in ths longitudinal direction of the valve, perpendicu-
lar to the valve seat 15, and has rounded ends. The slot 31
extends generally from where the top portion 26 of support plate
17 meets the cross-bar 27 to about half-way down the length of
the top portion 26. The top rounded end of the slot 31 is
generally perpendicular to the flat surface of the cross-bar 27
and the lower end is generally perpendicular to the flat surface
of the top portion 26 as shown in Fig. 8. The top rounded end
of slot 31 is generally aligned with the upstream sides 35, 36
of the pivot arms 28, 29. The bottom edges of these sides 35,
36 form the pivot line for the valve closure member 16 as will
be described.
Assembly of the valve is very simple. With the bolt
32 removed, the valve closure member 16 is simply inserted into
the chamber 11 through outlet 13. The closure member 16 is
hung by its pivot arms 28, 29 from the top of shoulders 22, 23
with disc 18 seated against valve seat 15. Bolt 32 is then
screwed into bore 33 to locate its pin 30 loosely within slot
O
31. When the check valve is closed, with disc 18 ~lush against
seat 15, the pin 30 is located within slot 31 spaced a short
distance away from the top end o~ the slot 31.
When the valve is to be opened, the closure member 16
slides a short distance along -the support surfaces 22, 23 to-
ward the outlet 13 until the top end-of the slot 31 abuts pin
30. Pin 30 then initiates pivoting of the closure member, on -
its continued movement, about the pivot line at the bottom
edges of pivot arm sides 35, 36 on the support surfaces 22, 23.
Thus the valve closure member 16 has both linear and curvilinear
movement when it opens and closes. This motion provides
excellent seating of the valve while accommodating generous
tolerances in fit in mounting the closure member. In addition,
the elongated slot 31 accommodates for some wear between the
valve seat 15 and disc face 21. Axial movement also occurs when
the center pin 20 supporting the disc 18 slides in the hole in
the support plate 17. Thus there are provided two provisions
fo~ axial movement ~or the disc 18.
Locating the sides 35, 36 of the pivot arms 28, 29 in
general alignment with the top rounded end of the slot 31 mini-
mizes wear on pin 30 as the valve closure member 16 pivots about
the bottom edges o~ the arms 28, 29 while restrained from
further linear movement by the pin 30.
The cross-bar plate 27 is sized to fit loosely between
the shoulders 2~, as the closure member 16 pivots. The sides
of the cross-bar plate 27 are slightly tapered to facilitate
movement between the shoulders 24. The cross-bar plate 27 helps
maintain the closure member 16 centered during pivoting movement.
In another embodiment, the closure member need not use
narrow pivot arms 28, 29. Instead, the cross bar plate can be
rectanguiar without -the two pivot arms. The closure member
then pivots on the back edge of the cross bar plate This con-
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figuration is suitable for valves having only infrequent usebecause wear occurs as the rounded end of the slot of the
support plate moves up the pin. In the configuration shown,
there is little or no sliding movement between the support plate
and the pin, so wear does not become a problem.
