JPH09292043A - Vibration sensing type automatic closing cock - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To automatically close a cock using a simple mechanism simultaneously with generation of shaking due to earthquake by constituting the cock so that a weight detached and falling from a pedestal by vibration is added to the other end of an arm and hence the cock is rotationally moved to the full closing position. SOLUTION: At first, a weight 7 is stationarily placed on a pedestal 5. At this time, a cock is in the full opening position, and in the general cock a lever 2 projectingly provided on a gas feed pipe 1 is positioned in parallel with the feed pipe. When shaking or vibration on a fixed level is generated by earthquake, the weight 7 falls from the pedestal 5, and begins a pendulum motion centering around the fitted position with a flexible object such as chain 8 on the other end of a balance arm 3. At this time, the position to which the load of the weight 7 is applied is transferred to the other end of an auxiliary arm 4, and hence the lever 2 is rotationally moved up to the full closing position. Namely, the lever 2 is rotationally moved from the opening position to the closing position simultaneously with generation of vibration, and hence supply of gas or the like can be stopped.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic stopcock that can automatically close a stopcock (cock) by detecting shaking / vibration caused by an earthquake or the like.

[0002]

Conventionally, stopcocks have been widely used for controlling the flow rate of a fluid supply line, but many stopcocks are manually or electrically controlled, and most of them are intended only for flow rate control. I can't find anything that can turn off the flow rate by sensing the vibration as shown in.

[0003]

In recent years, earthquakes have tended to occur frequently in Japan, and if a large earthquake occurs, the damage will be enormous. The largest secondary disaster associated with this earthquake is a fire. Particularly, the combustible gas supply path is regarded as dangerous, and it is desired to close the gas plug promptly when an earthquake occurs. However, it is difficult for a person to make a normal judgment in a tremor that is not normally experienced, and if it is possible to automatically close the gas tap by sensing the tremor of an earthquake, it is considered to be very useful in preventing this fire outbreak. . However, stopcocks conventionally used do not have an automatic closing function in such a case, and improvement thereof is desired. The present invention has been invented in order to solve the problems relating to the stopcock that has been conventionally used as described above, and it is possible to automatically close the stopcock by using a simple mechanism at the same time as the occurrence of shaking due to an earthquake. The purpose is to provide a vibration-sensitive stopcock that can be used.

[0004]

According to the present invention, as a means for solving the problems, the stopcock lever is rotated to the fully closed position by changing the weight load position. That is, a pedestal is provided on the upper surface of one end of a rod-shaped balance arm, and a weight is allowed to stand on the pedestal, and the other end of the balance arm is connected to the weight with a flexible object of an appropriate length to connect to the fluid supply pipe. When the provided stopcock lever is fully opened, the balance arm is fixed to the lever so that the balance arm is kept horizontal, and the weight weight that falls off the pedestal and falls due to vibration is added to the other end of the stopcock to fully open the stopcock. It is configured to rotate to the closed position. The present invention is a vibration-sensing self-closing stopcock having the above structure.

[0005]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION To use the present invention, a weight is left standing on a pedestal. At this time, the stopcock is in the fully open position, and in a typical stopcock, the lever protruding from the fluid supply pipe is in a position parallel to the supply pipe. When an earthquake occurs in this state and a certain level of shaking / vibration occurs,
The weight falls from the pedestal, starts a pendulum movement around the attachment position of a flexible object such as a chain located at the other end of the balance arm, and the swing width gradually decreases. At this time, the position where the weight load works moves to the other end of the arm,
The lever will be rotated to the fully closed position.
That is, since the lever rotates from the open position to the closed position with the occurrence of vibration, it is possible to stop the supply of gas or the like,
It is possible to prevent accidental fire. When the fluid is supplied again, the balance arm may be rotated to the initial position and the weight may be left stationary on the pedestal. According to the present invention, the state of the stopcock can be immediately grasped by visually checking the position of the weight and the balance arm, and there is no fear of malfunction due to power failure or the like because no electric system is used.

[0006]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below. In the figure, 1 is a gas supply pipe, and 2 is a lever rotatably provided within a certain angle range with respect to this gas supply pipe. When the lever is parallel to this supply pipe, the pipeline is opened. The valve element (not shown) is located at a predetermined position in the pipe so that it closes when it is at the right angle position, and the valve element rotates with the movement of the lever. A balance arm 3 is provided at a right angle position to the lever, and its central portion is fixed to the lever. Reference numeral 4 denotes an auxiliary arm, which is a rod body fixed to the upper surface of the right end of the balance arm at a right angle. Reference numeral 5 denotes a pedestal, which has a substantially disc shape, and a recessed portion which is recessed stepwise is formed inside thereof, and is fixed to the upper surface of the left end of the balance arm. Reference numeral 6 denotes a weight guard, which is a curved plate body having an upper part formed in a hemispherical shape, and is fixed to a position on the upper surface of the pedestal from the back surface.
Reference numeral 7 is a main weight, which has a substantially columnar shape and is placed in the recess of the pedestal. A fixed ring is provided on the central upper surface of the main weight, and a similar fixed ring is provided near the upper end of the auxiliary arm, and a chain 8 connects between both fixed rings. Reference numeral 9 is a subweight, which is lighter than the main weight and is suspended by a chain 10 near the right end of the balance arm via a fixed ring. A small cylindrical stopper 11 is provided on the surface of the gas supply pipe so as to project at a position where it contacts the upper left surface of the lever when the lever is opened.

Although the function of the present invention has been described above, in this example, the auxiliary arm and the sub weight are used to enhance the function. In addition, a weight guard is provided on the pedestal to regulate the falling direction of the main weight to ensure the reliability of operation. That is, with the occurrence of an earthquake, the main weight falls apart from the pedestal, but this fall reduces the load on the left side of the balance arm, and conversely increases the load on the right side of the arm because the weight of the main weight is added to the end of the auxiliary arm. To do. Further, since a sub-weight that is lighter than the main weight is suspended at the right end of the balance arm, the balance arm and the lever start to rotate in the closing direction due to the load of the sub-weight when the main weight falls. Then, as shown in FIG. 4, when both weight loads are applied, a larger turning force acts, and the arm rotates to the fully closed position shown in FIG. In this state, the turning force by the sub weight disappears, but the turning force by the main weight always works by the action of the auxiliary arm to hold the lever in the closed position, and the supply pipe line is cut off. The weight guard is provided for the case where the main weight falls from the rear part of the pedestal and the chain is caught by the lever, which prevents movement of the weight load position to the auxiliary arm and prevents normal functioning. In addition, since the upper part of the weight guard is shaped so as to cover the main weight, it is possible to prevent the weight from jumping backward even when the weight jumps and bounces due to vibration, and to lead to normal operation. Further, in this example, the stopper limits the turning range of the lever to prevent damage to the stopcock valve body. In this example, a chain is used as the flexible body, but a string or the like may be used. As described above, the present invention has features such as reliability of operation, easiness of visual inspection, and easiness of reset, and can be applied to fluid pipelines such as water and oil in addition to gas pipelines. Is something that can be done.

[0008]

According to the present invention, it is possible to obtain an automatic closing stopcock mechanism having a simple structure in which a stopcock lever can be rotated to a closed position by moving a weight when an earthquake occurs. Further, since the present invention can visually recognize the operating state and uses gravity as its operating source, it is possible to provide a useful article that is free from the risk of breakdown and is greatly useful in preventing secondary disasters.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a left side view of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory view of a rotating state of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory view of a rotation position when the stopcock of the present invention is closed.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged plan view of an essential part of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged front view of an essential part of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is an enlarged left side view of essential parts of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Gas Supply Pipe 2 Lever 3 Balance Arm 4 Auxiliary Arm 5 Pedestal 6 Weight Guard 7 Main Weight 8 Chain 9 Subweight 10 Chain 11 Stopper

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A pedestal is provided on an upper surface of one end of a rod-shaped balance arm, a weight is allowed to stand on the pedestal, and the other end of the balance arm is connected to the weight by a flexible object having an appropriate length. By fixing the arm to the lever so that the horizontal position of the balance arm is maintained when the stopcock lever provided in the supply pipe is fully opened, and the weight weight that is separated from the pedestal and dropped due to vibration is added to the other end of the arm, A vibration-sensitive self-closing stopcock characterized in that the stopcock is configured to rotate to a fully closed position.