GB792202A - Disconnectable pipe-union equipped with a control valve - Google Patents

Abstract

792,202. Pipe couplings. WILSON GAS METERS Ltd., G. May 11, 1956 [July 29, 1955], No. 21936/55. Class 99(1). In a pipe coupling wherein one of the coupling elements 15 includes a control valve 17 which must be operated to a closed condition before the elements are disconnected, that element is provided with a member 24 which, as the elements are disconnected, isfr eed to be biased for a surface of the member to engage a coacting surface of the valve to hold the latter in the closed position thereof, the bias being one which also causes interengageable surfaces of the member and the other element to hold the elements in the coupled position. As shown, the element 11 is provided with a conical or partspherical recess 12 for reception of the nose 16 of the element 15 which has a rotatable plugvalve 17 including a disc 20 and parallel lugs 21 between which is pivoted a valve-operating lever 23. The sleeve 24 has an intermediate portion 26 of square cross-section and an end flange 25 provided with parallel flat surfaces that co-operate with similar surfaces on the element 15 whereby relative sliding, but not rotation, between those two parts is permitted ; the sleeve is biased to the left as seen in the Figures by a spring 29 and has diametricallyopposite cam slots 27 engageable by radial pins 28 of the element 11. An opening 31, having a tooth 32 and a recess 33, formed in the sleeve accommodates the disc 20 which has a tooth 34 and a recess 35 ; when the elements are in the uncoupled condition and the valve is in the closed position, the tooth 34 is engaged in the recess 33 as shown in Fig. 4, thereby preventing rotation of the valve. The elements are coupled by engaging the nose 16 in the recess 12 and the pins 28 in the slots 27, rotation of the flange 14 on the element 11 causing the pins to act on the cam surfaces 27a of the slots whereby the sleeve is drawn to the right as seen in Fig. 4 ; the tooth 34 is freed from the recess 33 to enable the valve to be turned to the " on " position. Steps 36, 37 on the disc 20 coact with opposite sides of the tooth 32 to limit movement of the lever 23 between the " on " and " off " positions of the valve. The lever 23 has a right-angled notch which engages over the edge of the portion 26 of the sleeve in the closed position of the valve.