GB2103924A - Drain valve - Google Patents

Abstract

A drain valve mounted on a strainer (1) in the drain well (4) in the bottom of a kitchen sink, the drain valve comprising a sleeve (2) fixed vertically and substantially at the centre of the bottom plate (1B) of the strainer, a valve member (3) having a valve stem (32) slidably inserted into the sleeve, and a valve body (33) fixed at the lower end of the valve stem capable of moving up and down with the valve stem to open and close the drain port (5) provided at the bottom of the drain well of the kitchen sink. The drain valve is provided with a spring (28) urging the valve member upwards and a latch device (6) for latching the valve member in a closed position when the valve member is pushed down to close the drain port, the latch device having a release lever operable by hand to release the valve member from being latched in a closed position so as to allow the valve member to move upwards to open the drain port and remain in the open position. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Drain valve This invention relates to drain valves, more particularly to a drain valve mounted on a strainer that is placed in the drain well provided in the bottom of a kitchen sink, to open and close the drain port provided at the bottom of the drain well of the kitchen sink.

Kitchen sinks are usually provided with a drain well for collecting the waste water in the sink to be drained through a drain port provided in the bottom of the drain well. The drain port is usually provided with a drain valve which is mounted on a strainer placed in the drain well. Conventional drain valves comprise a valve stem slidably or fixedly mounted on the strainer, and a valve body fixed at the lower end of the valve stem for closing and opening the drain port. When the drain port is closed, the valve body is normally kept in the closed position by forcing a part of the valve body into the drain port to form a tight fit. However, when the drain port is opened by removing the valve body from the drain port, there is no appropriate means for keeping the valve body in an open position.

Therefore, it is the main object of this invention to provide an improved drain valve in which a latch device is provided to latch the valve member in a closed position, the latch device having a release lever operable by hand to release the valve member from being latched in the closed position so as to open the drain valve and keep the valve member in the open position by a spring.

The feature, construction and other objects will be more fuliy understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: Figs. 1 and 2 are longitudinal cross sectional views of conventional drain valves for kitchen sinks, showing their closed position.

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal cross sectional view of an embodiment of the improved drain valve according to this invention, showing its closed position.

Fig. 4 is a longitudinal cross sectional view of the embodiment of this invention shown in Fig. 3, showing its open position.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged, cross sectional view of the main portion of the embodiment of this invention as shown in Figs. 3 and 4.

Fig. 6 is an oblique, perspective view of the latch device employed in the embodiment of this invention.

Fig. 7 is a longitudinal, cross sectional view of a modified version of the improved drain valve of this invention.

In Fig. 1 there is shown a first type of conventional kitchen sink drain valve. In the drawing, 1' is a strainer having a cylindrical wall 1 A', a bottom plate 1 B' having a plurality of holes 1 D', a flared upper edge 1 C' to be supported by the upper, inner edge of the drain well 4; 2' is a sleeve fixedly mounted on the central portion of the bottom plate 1 B' of the strainer; 3' is a valve member having a valve stem 32' slidably inserted into sleeve 2', and a valve body 34' fixedly mounted onto the lower end of valve stem 32', and a knob 31' provided at the upper end of valve stem 32'; 5 is a drain port through which the water in the drain well 4 is to be drained and which is to be closed or opened by moving the valve body 34' respectively down or up therein or therefrom.To keep the drain port closed, the valve member 3' is pressed down to fit valve body 34' tightly into the drain port. To keep the drain port open, valve member 3' is raised until keys 35' provided at the upper portion of valve stem 32' are cleared of the upper edge of sleeve 2' and is rotated approximately 90 degrees so as to move keys 35' out of alignment with key slots 21' formed in the inner wall of sleeve 2' thus enabling valve member 3' to be supported in open position by sleeve 2'. However, in this arrangement the valve member raised and supported as described above may be moved to rotate by the turbulence of the draining water and keys 35' may be accidentally aligned with key slots 21', thus pulling the valve member 3' down to close the drain port undesirably.

In Fig. 2, there is shown a second type of conventional kitchen sink drain valve. In this type valve member 3" is fixedly mounted on bottom plate 1 B" of strainer 1", and is provided with a tongue 36" to be inserted into a hole 51 provided in a support member 52 in drain port 5. To open the drain port 5 valve member 3" is raised together with strainer 1", but there is no appropriate means to keep valve member 3" in an open position other than randomly laying valve member 3" with strainer 1" in drain well 4, with the possibility that water containing slug would flow around the strainer and clog the drain port.

The afore-said shortcomings can be eliminated by the improved drain valve of this invention to be described beiow.

As shown in Fig. 3, the improved drain valve of this invention comprises a sleeve 2 fixedly mounted onto a bottom plate 1 B of a strainer 1 having a cylindrical wall 1 A, strainer 1 being provided with an outwardly flared upper edge 1 C to be engaged with the upper edge of drain well 4 of a kitchen sink so as to supported the strainer in the drain well; a valve member 3 having a valve stem 32 slidably inserted into sleeve 2, a valve body 33 fixedly mounted to the lower end of valve stem 32, and a knob 31 provided at the top end of the valve stem 32; a spring 28 adapted to urge valve member 3 upwards; and a latch device 6.

Referring to Fig. 5, latch device comprises a latch lever 61 generally formed into a L-shape and is pivotally mounted on sleeve 2 with a hinge pin 26, said latch lever having an outer leg 61 A extending outwardly through an opening 27 formed in sleeve 2 and an inner leg 61 B extending and accommodated in a compartment 26 formed in sleeve 2. Latch lever 61 is further provided with a leaf spring 63 so formed as to urge latch lever 61 to rotate counterclockwise. A knob 64 is provided at the outer end of outer leg 61 A, and a hook 62 is formed at the inner end of inner leg 61 B, said hook 62 being urged by leaf spring 63 to resiliently abut the side surface of valve stem 32.

The complete latch device is shown in Fig. 6.

Valve stem 32 is provided with an annular groove 36 at a suitable distance from the upper end so that when the valve stem 32 is pushed down to close the drain port the groove 36 is engaged with hook 62 and thereby valve stem 32 is latched in a closed position, as shown in Fig. 3.

Valve stem 32 is further provided with a shank portion 37 (Fig. 5) having a smaller diameter, over which a coil spring 28 is installed. The lower end of spring 28 is retained by a flange integrally formed with sleeve 2, so that valve member 3 is always urged towards by spring 28.

In the preferred embodiment as described above the valve body 33 is made of suitable disc shaped elastic material such as rubber having an outer diameter substantially larger than the inner diameter of the drain port, so as to cover the upper portion of the drain port. When valve member 3 is pushed down to cover drain port 5 with valve body 33. the surface of the bottom side of valve body 33 abuts the surface of the bottom of the drain well around drain port 5. As soon as water is supplied into the sink and flows into the drain well, the weight of the water acts on the back side of valve body 33 and makes the contact watertight without the need of additional force being otherwise applied.The elasticity of the valve body renders close adhesion of the valve body 33 to the surface of the bottom of the drain well around the drain port to assure the watertightness of the contact engagement.

However, valve body 33 as described above may be replaced by one having a conical, side surface as shown in Fig. 7. In this arrangement the valve body 34 is adapted to fit into drain port 5, rather than to "cover" it.

Valve member 3 can be raised to open drain port 5, with either type of valve body 33 or 34 from the closed position by pressing down knob 64 of latch device 6. As soon as knob 64 is pressed down, latch lever 61 is caused to rotate clockwise thus causing hook 62 to move out of engagement with groove 36, allowing valve member 3 to be pushed to move upwards by spring 28 and to be kept accordingly in open position.

In the preferred embodiment strainer 1 as shown in Figs. 3 and 4 is provided with resilient holding members 11 around the outer periphery of cylindrical wall 1 A to resiliently and frictionally engage with the inner side wall of the drain well, so as to frictionally secure the strainer in place to prevent undesirable movement of the strainer when operating the drain valve. Resilient holding member 11 may be rubber, plastic or metallic pieces fixedly mounted onto the strainer, or a tongue cut and formed from the strainer's cylindrical wall material.

The improved drain valve of this invention has been described and illustrated taking an application to the kitchen sinks by way of example, however, it is to be understood that the improved drain valve of this invention can equally be used in other application such as bathing basins or washbasins. Furthermore, it is also to be understood that the construction and arrangement of the improved drain valve of this invention may be modified without departing from the principles and scope as defined in the appended claims.

Claims (13)

1. A drain valve for opening and closing the drain port of a vessel having a drain well provided in the botton thereof, comprising a straining member having a strainer plate with a plurality of openings therethrough and adapted to be located in the drain well in spaced manner above the bottom of the latter, a valve member having a valve stem slidably supported relative to the strainer plate and a valve body at one end of the valve stem and adapted to close and open the drain port on engagement with and disengagement from the drain port by sliding movement of the valve stem in the strainer plate displacing the valve body respectively towards and away from the strainer plate, biasing means tending to displace the valve body towards the strainer plate and into its open condition, and latch means arranged to secure the valve member in a position in which the valve body is spaced away from the strainer plate and out of its open condition, the valve body in said position being adapted to close the drain port and the latch means being manually operable to release the valve member whereby the drain port is opened as the valve body is displaced out of said position by the biasing means.

2. A drain valve according to claim 1 wherein said latch means comprises a latch lever pivotally mounted relative to the strainer plate, said latch lever having one end formed into a hook and the opposite end being manually operable, and wherein there is provided a spring member adapted to urge said hook to abut the side surface of said valve stem; said valve stem being provided with a latch surface which is engageable by the hook when the valve member is in said closed position, and said hook being disengageable from the latch surface on actuation of said opposite end against the bias of the spring member.

3. A drain valve according to claim 1 or claim 2 wherein said valve body is made of elastic material in a disc shape having an outside diameter substantially larger than the inside diameter of said drain port.

4. A drain valve according to claim 1 or claim 2 wherein said valve body is made of elastic material having a conical surface capable of fitting into the drain port to close the drain port.

5. A drain valve according to any one of the preceding claims wherein said biasing means is a helical spring mounted around the valve stem.

6. A drain valve according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the straining member is provided with resilient holding means for frictionally securement in the drain well, said resilient holding means being adapted to engage with the inner side wall of the drain well.

7. A drain valve according to claim 6 wherein the straining member comprises a peripheral wall upstanding from the strainer plate and said resilient holding means comprises a plurality of elastic members fixedly provided around said peripheral wall.

8. A drain valve according to claim 6 or 7 wherein the straining member comprises a peripheral wall upstanding from the strainer plate and said resilient holding means comprises a plurality of metallic pieces fixedly provided around said peripheral wall.

9. A drain valve according to any one of claims 6 to 8 wherein the straining member comprises a peripheral wall upstanding from the strainer plate and said resilient holding means comprises a plurality of tongue members each cut and formed by the material of said peripheral wall.

10. A drain valve according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the valve stem is slidable through a sleeve secured relative to the strainer plate.

11. A drain valve according to claim 10 wherein the biasing means is provided within the sleeve.

12. A drain valve substantially as herein described with reference to FIGURES 3 to 6 of the accompanying drawings.

13. A drain valve according to claim 12 and modified substantially as herein described with reference to FIGURE 7 of the accompanying drawings.