US1020959A - Pressure-reducing valve. - Google Patents

Description

E. J. BEST. PRESSURE REDUCING VALVE.

APPLICATION FILED JULY '1, 1911.

1,020,959, Patented Mar. 26,1912.

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tmrrnn STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWIN J. BEST, OF ENSLEY, ALABAMA.

PRESSURE-REDUCING VALVE.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWIN J. Bns'r, a citizen of the United States, residing at Ensley, in the county of Jefferson and State of Alabama, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Pressure-Reducing Valves, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to pressure reducing valves and has for its object to produce a self contained valve structure capable of reducing an available high pressure to a steady lower pressure in the simplest positive manner and with the least possible number of parts.

I utilize an unbalanced regulating valve which automatically adjusts itself between the lower pressure and a counteracting force, such a spring or weight, which is susceptible of regulation to control the lower pressure. In this general type of valve I have devised many important improvements, such as the diagonal or elliptical arrangement of the ports across the line of flow of the steam through the valve casing; the novel shape of the valve with its small elliptical contact surface and its guide ex tension which insures a perfect alinement of the valve and its guide with a minimum of friction and packing; the provision of an elongated chamber in the valve member to receive the counterbalancing spring which is inclosed in the valve casing; the provision in the casing of a small fixed piston over which the guide extension of the valve works and which provides an easily packed alining guide through which an exhaust port passes to unbalance the valve; and the general self contained structure of the valve mechanism leaving no exposed parts which are likely to be injured or tampered with.

The foregoing and many other advantages are obtained from my invention which in its preferred embodiment comprises the details of construction and arrangement of parts which are illustrated in vertical sectional elevation in the drawings, it being understood, however, that various changes may be made in the construction and ar rangement of the parts by those skilled in the art to which my invention pertains without departing from its spirit and scope as defined in the appended claims.

Referring to the drawing the valve cas- Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed July 7, 1911.

Patented Mar. 26, 1912.

Serial No. 637,339.

ing 1. has a top plate 2, an inlet port 3 at one side adapted to be connected to the high pressure pipe line, and an outlet port 4t opposite to port 3 and adapted to be connected to the low pressure pipe line. \Vithin the casing is a valve member 5 comprising a central hollow sleeve portion connected to a piston (S which is guided in a bushing 7. This bushing at its upper end is flanged at S and rests upon and is centered and secured by an off set shoulder 9 at the upper end of the casing. The lower end of the buslr ing is secured in the diagonally disposed diaphragm 10 which bisects the valve chamber passing from the bottom of port 3 to the top of port at. The lower end of the bushing is out 01f substantially even with the underface of the diaphragm. I provide the bushing with an elliptical series of parts 11 which extend around the bushing parallel with and adjacent to the top surface of the diaphragm. The piston 6 has a narrow elliptical band or strip forming the valve face 12 which in its lowered position serves to close the ports ll. Above this inclined valve face the piston is externally reduced to minimize friction with the bushing.

The central hollow sleeve portion of the valve member extends nearly from top to bottom of the casing. This gives an extended spring chamber 12 closed at its upper end by a cap plate 13 which has lateral extensions that receive cap screws 14; which pass through openings in lugs 15, formed integral with the valve sleeve, and receive nuts 16 by which the cap plate can be drawn down tightly upon the top of the sleeve and against the top of a helical spring 17, the lower end of which has a movable seat 18 disposed in the lower end of chamber 12 and carried by an adjusting screw 19. The valve has at its bottom an extended cylindrieal end portion 20, formed by reducing hollow sleeve, and this portion 20 is adapted to slide over a stationary plunger 21, seated in the bottom of the casing and having a reduced threaded portion projecting below same and engaged by a nut 22 which draws a llange 23 on the plunger against the bottom of the casing and holds the plunger, which makes a pressure tight fit in the bottom opening in the casing, rigidly in position. The piston is hollow and internally threaded. to receive the screw 19 which passes up through the piston into the spring chamber. A nut 24: holds the screw- 19 in its adjusted positions. The spring chamber 12 is in communication with the atmosphere by formed by holes in the screw 19. The valve member is held from turning by a guide 26 formed by a vertical web in the casing wvhich engages in. a notch formed in a collar 27 on the valve. The valve is normally pressed by the spring 17 against the adjusting stop 28 formed by a screw inserted in a threaded opening in the plate 2. The web connecting the piston 6 to the valve member has large ports 29 therein which admit the pressure below the valve to the chamber above the valve. l/Vhen horizontally disposed it will drain itself through the out-let port 4.

In operation, steam enters from the high pressure side, passes through the diagonal ring of ports 11 and fills the low pressure side of the casing and also passes up through the ports 29, and acts on the top of the valve member. The exhaust port 25 unbalances the valve by opening the interior of the valve chamber 12 to the atmosphere, but the spring 17 opposes the tendency of the low pressure to move the valve and tends to hold it against the stop 28. Vhen the pressure on the lower pressure side exceeds the desired maximum for which the spring 17 is set by means of the adjusting screw 19, the pressure on valve member 5 will overcome the resistance of this spring and will move the valve partially across the ports 11 so as to partly close or throttle the main steam passage through the diaphragm, thereby reducing the initial pressure to the required constant pressure. When the pressure on the low pressure side falls below the desired point, not having enough pressure to counteract the spring, the valve member will be actuated thereby by the spring and will open the main steam passage sufliciently to give the desired increase on the low pressure side. 3y means of the adjusting screw 19 the spring can be readily set for any desired reduction of pressure within the limits of the valve by causingthe valve member to throttle the steam in the manner described. The ports 11 being arranged parallel with the diaphragm 10 will allow the steam to pass with the least possible deflection from its original direction, in traversing the valve casing, thereby reducing the internal resistance of the valve.

It will be noted that the spring 17 is a relatively large and long spring. This is very advantageous, since the longer the spring and the greater the number of coils, the less will be the compression per coil member, thereby insuring the more perfect regulation. The spring is well housed and guided to. insure its best efficiency and is entirely contained within the casing.

an exhaust passage 25;

The valve member 5 is preferably made in one piece and of cast iron, while the bushing 7 is preferably of brass. This is desirable because the cast iron of the valve will have less expansion than the brass bushing, and binding will thereby be eliminated.

The valve is perfectly balanced by reason of the passages 29 since the steam pressure uniform allv around the valve inside the valve chamber.

This valve can be fitted for any pressure,

or any difference in pressures, and its direct action insures a minimum fluctuation ofthe pressure.

It will be obvious that the form of the valve, and the details and arrangement of its parts may be varied in many Ways without departing from the spirit and scope ofmy invention.

What I claim, is

1. In a valve of the character described, a valve casing having a passage therethrough, a valve member disposedv within said casing for controlling said passage and which comprises a hollow sleeve surrounded at an intermediate point by an annular valve face, a spring means in the casing which enters said sleeve and tends to move the valve member to open-said passage, means to admit the lower pressure in the casing above the valve member, and means to expose the valve to a pressure lower than the pressure in the casing to unbalance the valve and permit it to ing, means to expose the valve member to atmospheric pressure to unbalance it and permit it to move in opposition to said spring, and means operable fro-m the outside of the casing to adjust the spring tension, substantially as described.

3. In a pressure reducing valve, a casing having inlet and outlet port-s and ,a partition, which intercepts the flow of fluid through the casing, comprising an inclined,

diaphragm wall and a bushing having one or more ports disposed diagonally to the line of flow of the fluid and extending around the bushing, a valve member surrounded at an intermediate point by an inclined annular valve face which slides in the bushing and closes said port or ports, said valve member being automatically adjustable between the lower pressure in the casing and a force tending to open'the valve and having only its valve face in sliding contact with said bushing, and means to guide and center said valve member, substantially as described.

4. A pressure reducing valve mechanism comprising a casing having inlet and outlet ports separated by a diaphragm which divides the easing into high and low pressure sides, a cylindrical ported bushing seated in an opening in the diaphragm, a valve member exposed at each end to the lower pressure and comprising a central tubular sleeve and a ring valve face disposed substantially midway about said sleeve and which makes sliding contact with the bushing and is adapted to close the ports therein, a guide for said tubular sleeve, a spring which works in said sleeve and is surrounded by said valve which it tends to open a tension adjusting means for the spring which is operable from without the casing, and means to unbalance the valve member so that the lower pressure will tend to move the same to close the valve in opposition to said spring, substantially as described.

5. A pressure reducing valve mechanism comprising a valve casing having inlet and outlet ports separated by a ported diaphragm, a ported bushing seated in the easing and diaphragm and intersecting the high pressure end of the casing, a valve member disposed Wholly within said casing and exposed at both ends to the lower pressure and comprising a valve which makes a sliding fit in the bushing and a central hollow sleeve closed at one end, means to guide the other end of said sleeve, packing means to prevent leakage of pressure past said guide means into said sleeve, means to expose the interior of said sleeve to atmospheric pressure to unbalance said valve member, and adjustable spring means housed within the tubular sleeve and adapted to oppose the tendency of the valve to move responsive to its unbalanced condition, substantially as described.

6. A pressure reducing valve mechanism comprising a valve casing having inlet and outlet ports separated by a diagonal ported diaphragm, a bushing seated pressure tight in the opening in said diaphragm, a circumferential series of ports in the bushing arranged in a plane disposed diagonally to the fluids flow, an unbalanced valve member exposed above and below to the lower pressure and comprising an elliptical valve "face disposed in a plane parallel with the plane of said ports in the bushing and which is in sliding engagement with said bushing and adapted to control the flow of fluid through the ports therein, means on both sides of said diaphragm to center said valve member and an adjustable force tending to open the valve against the lower pressure which imbalances it, substantially as described.

7. A pressure reducing valve mechanism comprising a valve casing having inlet and outlet ports separated by a diagonal ported diaphragm, a bushing seated pressure tight at one end in the casing and at the other end in the opening in said diaphragm, a diagonally arranged series of ports in the bushing disposed substantially parallel with and on the high pressure side of the diaphragm, a valve member disposed wholly within said casing comprising a diagonally disposed ottset elliptical valve face which alone is in Sliding engagement with said bushing and adapted to control the flow of fluid through the ports therein, an adjustable force tending to open the valve, means to expose said valve member above to the lower pressure in the valve casing and below to the atmosphere to unbalance it and counteract said force tending to open the valve, and guide means to hold the valve member against rotation.

8. A pressure reducing valve mechanism comprising a valve casing having a ported partition therein, a valve which controls the port opening in said partition, said valve being connected to an intermediate point of a tubular sleeve, a spring housed within the sleeve, means to regulate the tension of said spring, and means utilizing the lower pressure in said casing to unbalance the valve against the tendency of said spring to open it, substantially as described.

9. In a pressure reducing valve mechanism, a valve casing having a passage therethrough and a diaphragm dividing it into high and low pressure compartments, an open ended bushing which is disposed across the high pressure compartment and is seated in a port in said diaphragm, a valve member seated within the bushing and having openings which admit the low pressure through the valve and bushing into the valve casing above the valve member, a tubular sleeve in said casing connected to the valve and extending through the port in the diaphragm, guide means to receive the lower open end of the sleeve and close the same against the internal pressure in the casing, a spring housed in said sleeve, an adjustable seat for the spring, means operable from without the casing to adjust the tension of said spring, and means to unbalance said valve and cause it to be urged by the internal pressure against the action of said spring, substantially as described.

10. In a pressure reducing valve, a valve casing and a valve member wholly contained within the casing and comprising a tubular sleeve and an unbalanced piston.

valve, a ported partition wall in which the valve moves, said piston being exposed above and below to the low pressure, a spring chamber movable with the valve and open at one end, a fixed guide for the valve which enters and closes theopenend of said chamber, a spring housed in said chamber, and an exhaust passage for the spring chamber which leads through said guide, said valve being automatically adjustable be tween the lower pressure in the casing and a force tending to open the valve, substantially as described.

11. A pressure reducing valve comprising a casing having inlet and outlet ports, a partition separating said ports and having an annular ported valve seat therein, an unbalanced valve member which moves in said annular seat and comprises a spring housing and a piston having an off set narrow annular valve face, a guide in the casing which receives and guides one end of said housing, means to introduce atmospheric pressure in said spring housing to unbalance the valve member, and spring means in said housing which tend to'move the valve against the unbalancing valve pressure to open the ports in the bushing, substantially as described.

12. A pressure reducing valve mechanism comprising a valve casing having a passage therethrough, a ported diaphragm and a bushing seated therein which divide the easing into high and low pressure compartments, a valve member within the casing comprising a valve face which slides in the bushing and has a tubular extension, means in the casing to guide the lower end of said extension and exclude the casing pressure from entering same, means to unbalance the valve member and cause the lower pressure to tend to close it, a coiled spring housed in the tubular extension, and a member which passes up through said guide means and is adapted toadjust the tension of said spring, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

EDWIN J. BEST.

Witnesses Norrie VVELSI-I, R. D. JOHNSTON, Jr.

Copies of this patent'may be obtained for five cents each, by, addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

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