US2843920A - Methods of finishing valve bodies - Google Patents

Description

July 22, 1958 J, sw -rz ET AL 2,843,920

METHQDS OF FINISHING VALVE BODIES Filed Feb. 24, 1954 1 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. JAMES J. SWARTZ BY /RVl/V6 H. RUSSELL 'Mmm ATTORNEYS y 1958 J. J. SWARTZ ET AL 2,843,920

DS F F LIING VALVE BODIES Filed Feb. 24, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. JAMES J SWARTZ Vl/VG' H. RUSSELL A T TORNE Y8 United States Patent METHODS OF FINISHING VALVE BODIES James J. Swartz, Berwyn, and Irving H. Russell, Oak Park, Ill., assignors to Sloan Valve Company, Chicago, 111., a corporation of Illinois Application February 24, 1954, Serial No. 412,154

2 Claims. (Cl. 29--157.1)

This invention relates in general to valves, but more particularly to the economic and rapid production of valve bodies having irregular shaped body contours, and the principal object of the invention resides in the production of valve bodies requiring no grinding or polishing operations before being plated.

Another object of the invention is to produce a cylindrical valve body having projections extending from the side walls thereof and in which the wall surface of the body is made smooth by a milling cutter tool in a single operation while the valve body is rotated for only a partial revolution on its axis.

Valve bodies such as those used for brass flush valves on water closets are cylindrical in shape and hollow, having a top opening which in the finished product is provided with a closing cover, and a lower outlet opening connectible to a tailpiece leading to a water closet. There is also provided on the valve body a side projecting portion for the attachment of the inlet water supply pipe and an operating handle projection and opening usually placed directly opposite the inlet opening of the valve body. Such bodies require a finished wall surface which must be extremely smooth suitable for the application of a high lustre plating such as chrome plating, com monly used for appearance purposes and to resist corrosion. The finished surface must be free from all blemishes, sand holes, dents, flats or grooves in order that the extremely smooth wall surface required for the chrome plating may be achieved. In normal production, brass flush valves as received from the foundry are rough castings having wall surfaces which are extremely rough.

The rough brass valve bodies are next placed in automatic chucking machines where several operations are performed upon them and the body projections and openings. These operations take the form of threading, boring, reaming and forming.

Following the above, the valve bodies have in the past been taken up by a workman who manually placed each valve body against a rotating abrasive wheel for the purpose of grinding and polished the side wall surfaces into a smooth finish. Because of the projections on the body, the Workman repeatedly guided and rotated the body by hand through short rotary arcs against the wheel to provide the smooth surface required. The degree of smoothness depended entirely upon the skill and judgment of the workman in applying himself to the job and in any event it was very difficult to produce a perfect finish, and the valve body would usually have flat sides, grooves and indentations on its surface. Several different degrees of grinding and polishing wheels were also employed in succession to gradually get smoother surfaces. Careful inspection was required at all stages to eliminate surface imperfections which would cause rejections after plating, but the porosity of the rough casting could not be readily detected until polishing operations had been completed. Final bufling operations then took place, after which the bodies were degreased and cleaned preparatory for the application of the required copper flash ice coating, nickel coating and the final high .lustre chrome plating finish.

The rate of production of the valve bodies when grinding and polishing were done by hand was exceedingly slow and expensive, and imperfections in the surface resulted in many rejections after plating. This uneconomic rate of production was difiicult to overcomeand many attempts were made to increase the production rate, all without effect. The present invention has for its object, therefore, the production of a valve body in which the hand operated grinding and polishing operations are entirely eliminated and in which the wall surfaces are made smooth suitable for plating, by the single stroke of a cutting tool, about a true center, while the body is axially being rotated a partial revolution in an automatic milling machine. The resulting valve body has a superior chrome plated finish and its appearance is greatly enhanced, since the side wall surfaces are uniformly smooth and evenly rounded with surfaces arcuately described about true centers, with no flat portions or depressions usually encountered in hand polished valve bodies. Casting imperfections are also more readily detected after the milling operation than was formerly possible. The rate of production moreover has been increased almost 200 percent over the hand polishing method, thereby greatly reducing the cost of producing the valve body.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a full side view of a flush valve and associated throttle made according to the invention and showing the valve completely assembled as used;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the valve body only;

Fig. 3 is a top view of the valve body;

Fig. 4 shows an end elevation of the body; while Figs. 5 and 6 show side and top views of a throttle or stop valve body used with the flush valve; and

Fig. 7 diagrammatically illustrates steps in forming the initial casting for receipt of the final plating.

Referring now to Figs. 1 and 2, the flush valve body illustrated is usually formed of a rough brass casting consisting of a cylindrically shaped hollow body, indicated generally at 5, having an opening 6 at the top for the enclosing cover 7 and a lower outlet 8 to which a tailpiece 9 is 1 leading to a water closet or other fixture. Extending from one side near the top end of the body is a projection 10 for the reception of the inlet supply nipple ll, while on the opposite side and lower end, also extending from the valve body, is the opening 12 for attachment of the flush valve operating handle 13. The internal operating mechanism not shown, normally rests upon the valve seat 14- inside of the Valve body 5.

The initial steps in the finishing of the rough casting consists in placing the casting, for example, in automatic chucking machines in which the tools operate axially or radially from the end of each of the openings in the body to elfect the required work upon it. From the upper end the internal walls of the valve body are milled smooth, the threads 15 cut and the valve seat 14 formed. The cutting tool also smooths the rounded exterior wall surface 16 of the upper portion of the body down to a point indicated at 17, the flat portion 18 on top of the projection 10 being formed at the same time. At the lower end of the body the lower interior wall surface is machined, the threads 19 are cut, and a radial undercut made at 2t! below opening 12. Another operation consists in boring the opening 12 and cutting the threads 21 and facing 22. The inlet opening 10 is next bored and threaded internally (not shown) and the exterior surface 23 cut smooth up to the point indicated at 24.

It will be noted that the wall surfaces 25 and 26 extend circumferentially around the body from each side of the projections 10 and 12 respectively, and that the upper body portion is of larger diameter than the lower portion. It is also apparent that it would be extremely difficult or impossible to mill or machine these surfaces smooth by employing ordinary known methods or machines, because the body 5 cannot be rotated axially a full revolution due to the presence of the projections ltl and 12.

The milling operations upon the body surfaces and 26 may, for example, be accomplished with the method and machine disclosed in. Patent 2,507,998, issued May 16, 1950, to lrving H. Russell. In this automatic machine similar valve bodies are shown as being polished automatically upon the identical wall surfaces 25 and 26 by rotating the bodies axially for only a partial revolution against the polishing wheels. The bodies are indexed to different stations to provide different degrees of polishing and grinding and in the first three stations the work is performed upon the upper body portion 25 and the next three stations on the lower body portion 2d. When milling cutters are employed in the machine of the aforesaid patent only one cutting tool is required for the body surface 25 and another for surface 26 worked upon. One of the milling cutters must be shaped precisely to conform to the outline of the wall surface 25 and in one single operation mills the surface 25 completely from a point extending from the edge 2d of projection ltd and between the points 17 and 27, around to the opposite side of the projection, MD to a similar edge 24. The milling cutter as shown inFig. 7 may rotate about a stationary axis and, the valve body 5 is first moved to a position against the cutter at a point approximately that indicated at 29 where a shallow arcuately concave cut 29 is first made in the body side. The body is then axially rotated in one direction through an arc of approximately 200 degrees while the milling cutter is cutting the smooth surface 25 around it in a single operation. The milling cutter is also so shaped as to mill an undercut surface 3th in the body at the same time, and also the flat surface 31 on top of opening 12. The result is an arcuate surface with a reverse curve at each end.

The body 5 is next moved to a position where another milling cutter 51 can work upon the lower wall surface 26. Beginning at the edge 22 and cutting the shallow arcuate depression 32, the milling cutter smooths the entire rounded wall surface 26 to the opposite side of projection 12 to an edge similar to 22, as the body is axially rotated in the opposite direction from that in which the body was first rotated. This milling cutter is so shaped that during the foregoing operation the flat smooth under side 28 is cut beneath the projection ltd. This fiat surface 28 together with the opposite fiat surface 18 enables a wrench to be applied in an installation to assist in inserting the nipple Ill. The cuts overlap, and meet along a defined line 27, with the lower cut overlapping the upper. Both cuts end in reverse curves.

The valve body has now been completely milled, with its outer wall surfaces out very smooth and deep enough to eliminate all possible pin holes, depressions, flats and other irregularities usually present on the surface of a rough brass casting. All surfaces are perfectly rounded or flat where required. The rounded surfaces are truly arcuate in cross section, in planesperpendicular to the axes about which they are described. Therefore it is not necessary to provide any further polishing or grinding operations upon the body since the surfaces do not require it. Because the several grinding and polishing operations formerly required are entirely eliminated, the production of the bodies is greatly accelerated, a better and smoother reflective surface is produced, rejects are eliminated, and production costs greatly reduced. Production runs as high as 200 bodies per hour have been attained compared to about 10 per hour with hand grinding methods.

After the valve bodies are completely milled smooth, it is desirable that they be given a simple bufiing and 4 t then a quick color surface buffing before they .are cleaned and degreased. This involves no change in body contour. Then a copper flash is applied, then a nickel plated coating, and finally the chrome plating, to give one plating example. Because the body surfaces have been entirely milled smooth, the chrome plated finish acquires an extremely high lustre polish not possible when hand polishing and grinding are performed, thereby greatly enhancing the appearance of the valve body.

now to Figs. 5 and 6, these show the throttle or stop valve body 4t associated with the flush valve 5, and connected to the same by the nipple 11 coupled into the outlet end 41' of the stop. The threaded inlet opend3 of the stop has hexagonal flats 44 formed on it so the seep can be threaded onto the inlet water supply pipe, not shown. The upper end 45 of the body receives the bonnet and attached valve member. Threading, boring and other operations necessary are performed upon the parts 41, d2, 43, 4-5, and W by automatic chucking machines and the final operations for smoothing the body surface 46 are performed in the same manner as that on the flush valve body 5. The body 49 is axially rotated for less than a full revolution (on account of projection 42) and the rotary milling cutter cuts from the point 47 around the body surface 46 in a single sweep to a similar point :7 on the opposite side of the projection 42. The stop body 4d consequently requires no further operations upon it and the polishing and grinding operations are entirely eliminated.

It is to be understood that any other irregular shaped valve body may be produced according to the invention, and while only a single preferred embodiment has been illustrated and described, it is desired that the invention be not limited to the precise structure disclosed, but only by the scope of the appended claims.

The present application is a continuation-in-part of our copending application Serial No. 213,785, filed on March 13, 1951, now abandoned, for Valve Body.

The use and operation of the invention are as follows:

As will be clear from the drawings, our method is effective to produce an exceedingly sightly flush valve body in which all exposed surfaces are either truly flat, as at 18 and 28, or truly arcuate in transverse cross-section, as at 16, Ztl, 25 and 26. it will be observed that the surfaces 25 and 26 terminate in reverse curves, also truly arcuate, as shown at 29 and 32. Furthermore, all the surfaces thus formed intersect along clear and regularly defined lines or angles. The surface 25 preferably slightly overlaps the surface 25. The surfaces 25 and Zdmeet the surfaces 16 and 20 along defined lines, as, for example, at 17 and Zita. The surfaces 25 and 26 intersect or merge along defined lines, as at 22 or Z4, with the surfaces 31 and 18. Thus, a valve body of controlled regularity of contour and clean-cut form is provided, in which all surfaces are smoothly milled or finished, and in which surface imperfections, fiaws and unintended flats or irregularities are completely lacking, with metal plating directly applied to said surfaces.

Whereas some of the steps of our method can be practiced with the machine shown in the above-mentioned Russell Patent No. 2,507,998, it will be understood that other means may be employed. What we feel to be essential, however, is that, in succession, we form truly arcuate surfaces or truly flat surfaces, and so form or relate the surfaces that they meet along defined lines or angles, with the entire exterior surface of the valve body occupied by one or another of said truly flat or truly arcuate surfaces, or with such threads as may be employed. The practice of our invention, therefore, completely avoids the necessity of any hand finishing, or hand grinding, or hand forming. Since only truly arcuate or truly flat surfaces need be dealt with, we perform our plating step directly upon the mechanically formed surfaces, Without any intermediate hand forming step. The result is not merely the elimination of hand forming, but the avoidance of the highly undesirable results of hand forming. It is impossible to form parts or grind parts by hand without resultant irregularities and flats, which greatly reduce the beauty and evenness of finish of the final article.

We claim:

1. The method of making a flush valve body, which includes providing a hollow brass casting having generally radial, tubular projections and a built up portion between the projections and body, including the steps of threading and shaping the opposite ends of the valve body and the outer ends of said projections with truly arcuate circumferential surfaces thereabout, cutting fiat surfaces on the upper and lower surfaces of the built up portions, generating a uniform out about the axis of the valve body from the upper portion thereof in overlapping relation with the upper end surface to a zone spaced below an upper projection by passing a cutting tool into cutting contact with said body, while said body is slowly rotating, from a line of junction between an arcuate shaped side portion of said projection at said built up portion and a reversely curved portion of the body between said projection and the main portion of said body to a similar line of junction on the opposite side surface of said projection, and then passing a cutting tool into cutting contact with said body, while said body is rotating from a similar line of junction between an end of a lower projection to a similarly formed line of junction on the opposite side of said last named projection at said built up portion with said last named cutting contact being made in overlapping relation to the lower shaped surface on the lower end of the valve body and to the first named uniform cut, and thereafter directly plating the surface so formed.

2. The method of making a flush valve body formed from a hollow brass casting with at least one tubular projection extending radially from the longitudinal axis of said body and a shoulder between the projection and body, 7

including the steps of threading and shaping the ends of said body and projection with truly arcuate circumferential surfaces thereabout, generating a flat surface on the projection between the arcuate surface of said projection and said body with the flat surface extending at right angles to the axis of the body, passing a milling cutter into cutting contact with said body, while said body is slowly rotating, along a line having a portion generally parallel to the axis of the body, which portion extends from a point above said projection and in overlapping relation to the shaped upper surface of the body, and another portion extending inwardly toward the axis of said body to a level below said projection, with the cut made by the milling cutter starting and terminating at a line of junction between a reversely curved portion of said body on each side of said projection and between said body and the arcuate shaped side surfaces on the end of said projection, whereby all such surfaces meet in defiined edges or junctions, and thereafter directly plating on the surface so formed.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,507,998 Russell May 16, 1950

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