NZ199032A - Tap jumper with o-ring seal - Google Patents

Description

\ 99032.

NEW ZEALAND PATENTS ACT 1953 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION AFTER PROVISIONAL NO. 199032 DATED; 23 November 1981 IMPROVEMENTS IN OR RELATING TO SEALS I, ARTHUR MALCOLM BENNETT, a citizen of the United Kingdom of 19 Saddleback Rise, Hurrays Bay, Auckland, New Zealand, do hereby declare the invention for which I pray that a patent may be granted to us and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement: Followed by Page la 199032 - la -DESCRIPTION 1 TITLE: VALVE SEAL This invention relates to valves, and has particular application to valve members for use within valves such as faucets, screw down valves and the like, for liquids or gases.

Hitherto, valves for fluid control have generally utilised replaceable annular washers of a hard but somewhat resilient material, such as red fibre nylon, rubber or the like, adapted to seal against a ridged valve seat. Such washers deteriorate in use, and require higher and higher torque to effect a seal, so that the ridged seat cuts into the face of 10 the washer. This is a problem with larger valves, as valve spanners are often used to exert high torque to close off the valve as the washer deteriorates. This often damages the valve stem threads or valve body, as well as seriously damaging the washer, and often exacerbates the problem.

In seeking to overcome this problem, many attempts have been made to mount an "0" ring in a cage, to effect a seal.

Examples of such "0" ring seals are shown in the following patents: UxS.P. 2,417,494 U.S.P. 2,658,716 U.S.P. 2,678,187 U.S.P. 2,894,718 U.S.P. 2,971,090 U.S.P. 3,198,481 20 U.S.P. 3,612,479 U.S.P. 3,996,965 U.K.P. 884,529 U.S.P. 2417494 and U.S.P. 2678187 teach the use of an "0" ring as the main sealing element clamped in the face of a valve member by means of a screw and a clamping member.

In the two U.S. Patents first mentioned, the "0" ring is allowed to 25 protrude from the sealing face of the valve member. In U.K. Patent 884529, the "0" ring is held within a cavity, of such size that the "0" ring is maintained within the cavity and does not protrude therefrom. This suffers from the disadvantage that dirt may be trapped within the cavity creating damage to the "0" ring with consequent risk of loss of 30 seal.

NEW ZEALAND - 3 OCT 1984 PATENT OFFICE 19^032 SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of this invention to provide an improved valve member which obviates the disadvantages of the conventional flat washer arrangement.

In one aspect, the invention provides a valve member Including a body having a seal holding face, a cavity in said seal holding face, a toroidal resilient sealing member positioned in said cavity and having a portion protruding from said seal holding face, a wedge member adapted to hold said 5 toroidal sealing member in place, said wedge member 10 being connected to said body by internal securing means (as herein defined), whereby said sealing member is squeezed between said body and said wedge member.

In this specification, the expression "internal securing means" as applied to a valve member means any securing means which is not 15 accessible to the fluid passageway in the valve. Accordingly, 1t excludes such arrangements as screws or bolts around which the fluid must flow, as in U.S.P. 2,678,187 referred to above, for example, but includes such things as snap-fit or pop-fit arrangements, internally threaded members, frictionally held members, glued or welded members.

Other aspects of this invention, which should be considered in all its novel aspects, will become apparent from the following description which is given by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 illustrates a schematic view of a faucet, and a preferred valve 25 member.

Figure 2 is a cross section through a first valve member, having a snap-fit connection between a wedge member and the body of the valve member.

Figure 3 shows an alternative valve member in which the wedge member has a blind aperture connected to a threaded spigot protruding through the 30 body of the valve member. . / #v * 1'J J99032. 1 Figure k illustrates a valve member suitable for connection to a valve having a non-rising spindle arrangement.

Figure 5 illustrates an alternative snap-fit connection between the wedge member and body of the valve member.

Turning now to Figure 1, a conventional faucet 10 is illustrated schematically, and contains a valve member 13 in the form of a jumper, which rests in the end of a vertically movable spindle 1^ to thus close off communication between an Inlet 11 and an outlet 12. The valve member 13 has a sealing face 15 adapted to seal 10 against a flat seat 16.

Protruding from the sealing face of the valve member is a resilient toroidal sealing member in the form of a resilient "0" ring, which is trapped in the valve member. This "0" ring, is held in place by a central wedge member 17 in such a fashion that the "0" ring is 15 squeezed between the peripheral sides of a cavity in the body, and the edge of the wedge member thereby minimising the risk of liquid entering the cavity from the sealing face. The wedge member 17 is attached to the body of the valve member by internal securing means, for example it may be glued, or welded to the internal face 20 of the cavity within the body in the case of a plastics material, or connected thereto by an appropriate snap-fit fastener, or threaded fastener as shown in the following drawings.

Figure 2 illustrates a valve member 20 having a cavity 21 with an undercut peripheral side wall 22, and a recess 23 adapted to receive 25 a barbed end 24- of a snap-fit wedging member 25. The body of the valve member, and the wedging member are preferably formed of a plastics material e.g. nylon or acetyl, which is sufficiently hard to form a secure cage for a resilient "0" ring 26, but yet on the other hand enables the barbed end of the wedge member to snap-fit 30 into the recessed 23. 199Q3& 1 The wedge member 25 preferably has sloping sides 28, which slope at approximately 20° to the central axis of the rearwardly facing spill 30 of the valve member. By this means, a resilient "0" ring 26 can be held in place within a cavity 21, with the frusto-conical 5 wedge member 25 squeezing the "0" ring against the undercut peri pheral side wall 22, so that the "0" ring is squeezed and partly protrudes from the main sealing face 31 of the valve member. By suitably shaping the peripheral side wall, it is possible to leave a relieving portion within the cavity 21 between the "0" ring and 10 the wedge member 25.

Figure 3 shows an alternative arrangement in which a valve member 32 has a cage 33, and "0" ring 34 within a cavity 35 in the cage, and held in place by a central wedge member 36. Holding the central wedge member 36 in place is a removable spill 37, having 15 a threaded spigot 38 extending through an aperture 39 in the rear of the cage, and into engagement with a corresponding threaded recess 40 within the wedge member 36. By this means, the spill 37 can be unscrewed from the valve member 36 to replace the "0" ring if required. In addition, if a different size of spill is 20 required to fit a particular faucet, then the spill can be removed and replaced by a spill of a different diameter, enabling economies to be achieved in stock holding, by forming jumpers for faucets, having common cages and wedge members, but forming spills of different diameters, to enable jumpers of the required dimensions 25 to be assembled when required. For example, different manufact urers produce £" standard jumpers with either £" or 3/16" diameter spills.

The valve member of Figure 3 is preferably formed of metal, such as bronze, monel or stainless steel, whilst the "0" ring can be 30 formed of a resilient material such as rubber or viton.

Figure 4- shows a valve member 45 having a metal cage 46, a resilient "0" ring 47, and a wedge member 48 formed of a relatively hard plastics material such as nylon or acetyl, ^99032 1 adapted to engage with a barbed spigot 49 of a non-rising spindle member 50. By providing the barbed spigot 49 of metal, it will bite into and engage with the plastics wedge 48. Thus the barbed spigot 49 is of a harder material than the wedge 48, whilst the 5 wedge 48 is of a harder material than the resilient "0" ring 47. s The non-rising spindle member 40 can be of prismatic shape, e.g. a hexagon, and adapted to fit within a corresponding prismatic recess in a faucet body, so that rotation of a threaded spindle within the prismatic member 50 will enable the spindle to rotate 10 without rising, but will affect upwards or downwards movement of the prismatic member 50 thereby moving the valve member towards or away from a valve seat.

Figure 5 illustrates an alternative snap-fit arrangement in which a valve member 54 has a barbed central spigot 55 adapted to inter-15 engage with a corresponding recess 56 within a central wedging member 57. The body 58 of the valve member is conveniently formed as a jumper having a central spill 59, integral therewith, and the body 58 may be formed of metal or plastics with an appropriate recess 60 in the sealing face thereof.

The central wedging member 57 is conveniently formed of a plastics material which is harder than the resilient "0" ring 61, yet is resilient enough to snap over the central barb 55. A suitable material for the wedging member 57 is acetyl or nylon, or other plastics material.

Whilst the valve member of this invention can be used with a conventional ridged seat, it is preferred that it is used in combination with a flat seat. A flat seat is cheaper to produce than a ridged seat. Moreover, the protruding nature of the resilient "0" ring against a flat seat, will tend to minimise underwater shock, 30 when used in marine valves, and will assist in minimising noise of the valve in operation. This is advantageous in naval use, where the presence of the proturding resilient "0" ring will tend to 199032- 1 minimise valve chatter, and hence minimise valve noise from reciprocating pumping machinery. The valve members of this invention have been tested over a wide range of pressures, and it is believed that the configuration of the central wedge member 5 and the provision of internal securing means, enables the "0" ring to be securely held in place with minimal risk of pressure build up within the cavity which would otherwise tend to cause the "0" ring to pop out of the cavity as the valve was opened.

Finally, it will be appreciated that various alterations or modi-10 fications may be made to the foregoing without departing from the scope of this invention as exemplified by the following claims.

Claims (10)

- 7 - 199032: WHAT I CLAIM IS

1. A valve member including a body having a seal holding face, a cavity in said seal holding face, a toroidal resilient sealing member positioned in said cavity and having a portion protruding from said seal holding face, a wedge member adapted to hold said 5 toroidal sealing member in place, said wedge member being connected to said body by internal securing means (as herein defined), whereby said sealing member is squeezed between said body and said wedge member.

2. A valve member as claimed in claim 1, wherein said wedge 10 member is frusto-conical and fits within said toroidal sealing member.

3. A valve member as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, wherein said internal securing means includes a projection on said wedge member adapted to engage a corresponding recess or aperture within 15 said body.

4. A valve member as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, wherein said internal securing means Includes a recess within said wedge member adapted to engage a corresponding projection within said body. 20

5. A valve member as claimed in claim 4, wherein said projection has a screw thread adapted to mate with an internal screw thread within said recess.

6. A valve member as claimed in claim 3 or claim 4, wherein said projection has a rib or ribs adapted to engage said recess. 25

7. A valve member as claimed in any preceding cl^im, having a spindle protruding from the rear thereof.

8. A valve member as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the toroidal sealing member is an "0" ring and said cavity has an NEW ZEALAND - 3 OCT 1934 PATENT OFFICE 193032 - a - undercut peripheral* lip to assist the wedge member to hold the "0" ring in place.

9. A valve member, substantially as herein described with reference to any one of the accompanying drawings.

10. A valve having a flat seat in combination with a valve member as claimed in any preceding claim. ZYZEBA BENNETT LIMITED By their Attorney JAMES W PIPER & CO