US3398769A

US3398769A - Liquid gas filling valve

Info

Publication number: US3398769A
Authority: US
Inventors: Andre L Guenin
Original assignee: Nationale SA
Current assignee: Nationale SA
Priority date: 1965-06-11
Filing date: 1966-06-02
Publication date: 1968-08-27
Anticipated expiration: 1985-08-27
Also published as: GB1146314A; CH457525A

Description

27, 68 A. L. GUENIN 3,398,769

LIQUID GAS FILLING VALVE Filed June 2, 1966 INVENTOR Andre Guenin Brig f4; .1 44*.

ATTORNEYS United States Patent (3 "ice 3,398,769 LIQUID GAS FILLING VALVE Andre L. Guenin, Petit-Lancy, Geneva, Switzerland, assignor to La Nationale S.A., Geneva, Switzerland Filed June 2, 1966, Ser. No. 554,749

Claims priority, application Switzerland, June 11, 1965,

8,186/ 65 7 Claims. (Cl. 141--293) The present invention relates to valves for filling containers with liquid gas and more particularly to a valve constructed for filling of a container with liquid gas while simultaneously permitting the escape of gas in the gaseous state from within the container.

Presently constructed valves for filling a container with liquid gas may comprise a movable element mounted in the casing or body intended to be secured in an aperture in the wall of the container. The movable element is movable within the casing to open two passages, one of which allows admission of liquid gas into the container and the other of which allows the escape of gas in the gaseous state during the filling operation. In these constructions, one of the passages is at least partly formed in the movable element and closed by an annular gasket bearing against such element.

In accordance with the teachings of the present invention, a valve of this general type can be manufachired at a very low cost and without any precision machining of the parts being necessary. In construction, the lighter of the present invention includes the elements of the valve described above; and in addition, includes a second annular gasket through which the movable element of the valve extends. This second gasket normally bears in sealing-tight relationship against the valve casing with the second passage of the valve passing between these two gaskets. In addition, an annular member is provided for effecting a sealing-tight relationship between the two gaskets when the valve is in the closed position. This annular member is, in turn, movable relatively away from at least one of the gaskets to effect an opening of the second passage when the valve is moved to an open position.

The accompanying drawing diagrammatically illustrates one embodiment of the valve constructed according to the teachings of the present invention.

The valve body consists of a stamped casing 1, the wall of which has a substantially constant thickness. The bottom end of the casing 1 is bent over to form an end 2 acting as a support for a coil spring 3 which loads a valve member 4 in the closed position. The valve member 4 is formed by a flange of a movable element generally designated at 5, the bottom end 6 of which is guided in an aperture 7 formed in the end 2. The aperture 7 has a circular portion communicating with two radial notches 8 which act as passages for the gas which is to be introduced into the container.

The top part of the movable element is formed with a longitudinal bore 9 communicating with a transverse bore 10 above the valve member 4. The top end of the element 5 has circular ribs 11 for securing a sleeve 12 integral with a hollow needle 13 thereto, the sleeve 12 having corresponding ribs in the inner walls of its cylindrical part.

The movable element 5 is guided in the casing 1 by a second sleeve 14 having a radial shoulder 28 cooperating with a circular deformation forming a rib 15 on the inside of the casing to hold the sleeve 14 axially therein. The sleeve 12 has a plurality of longitudinal grooves 16 on its outer surface to form passages of given section to allow gas to escape between the sleeve 12 and the sleeve 14. Alternatively, clearance can be provided between the sleeve 12 and the sleeve 14 for permitting the 3,398,769 Patented Aug. 27, 1968 gas to escape, in which case the grooves 16 could be dispensed with.

Two

annular gaskets

17 and 18 separated by a ring 19 are clamped between the sleeve 14 and the valve member 4 which is loaded in the direction of the sleeve 14 by the spring 3. An aperture 20 is formed in the casing 1 at a position level with the ring 19.

In addition to the rib 15, the casing 1 also has two other circular

deformations forming ribs

21 and 22. The rib 21 cooperates with the rib 15 and the sleeve 14 to hold the gasket 17 in position while the rib 22 acts as a stop to limit movement of the gasket 18 in the downward direction.

Above the rib 15, the casing 1 flares out slightly and at the top terminates in a cylindrical portion 23, the diameter of which in the inoperative state is slightly greater than that of the aperture in the wall 24 of the container in which the valve is mounted. In distinction to this, the part of the casing 1 which is situated beneath the rib 15 has a slightly smaller diameter than that of the aperture in the wall 24 so that it can be introduced into the latter without resulting in deformation which might have an unfavorable effect on the proper operation of the valve.

The top end of the casing 1 also has an inner rib 25 produced by deformation and an outer rirn 26 in tended to retain a gasket 27 squeezed between the casing and the wall 24 of the container when the valve is fitted so as to provide absolute sealing-tightness between these two parts. Rib 25 is intended to act as a support for an extensible tool intended to be disposed therebeneath so that the casing 1 can be removed from the aperture in the wall 24 if the valve has to be repaired or replaced.

When it is required to introduce liquid gas into the container, a refill tank having a connection closed by a rubber disc is used, the connection being fitted onto the hollow needle 13 which per-forates the rubber disc. Force applied to the connection causes the latter to move the sleeve 12 and the element 5 downwardly against the action of the spring 3. The bottom edge of the sleeve 12 bears against the top inner edge of the gasket 18 and pushes the gasket downwards until it abuts the circular rib 22 of the casing 1. As a result of the pressure exerted on the edge of the aperture inside the gasket 18 and its retention by its outer periphery, upon engagement with the rib 22, the gasket is twisted so that the element 5 is moved relatively away from the wall of the inner aperture of this gasket thus opening the transverse bore 10. This movement of the gasket 18 also moves the latter away from the gasket 17 and thus opens a passage whereby some of the gas contained in the tank can escape to the exterior via aperture 20 between the

gaskets

17 and 18 and via the grooves 16 in the sleeve 12.

This liquid gas originating from the refill tank enters the container as it passes through the needle 13, the bores 9 and 10, the space around the valve member 4 and the bottom part of the movable element 5, and finally enters the reservoir via radial notches 8.

When the connection is removed, the valve resumes its inoperative closed position under the action of the spring 3 and the admission and escape passages are again closed.

In the construction described, the radial thickness of the gasket 17 may be less than the distance between the sleeve 14 and the inner wall of the casing 1. The flexibility of the gasket 17 is enough for it to be deformed by the annular ring member 19 in the closed position of the valve so that it will bear in sealing-tight relationship against the wall of the casing 1. Thus, rubber gaskets with very wide tolerances can be used without in any way affecting the proper operation of the valve.

By making the valve casing from drawn sheet-metal, a valve body of this kind can be obtained with a relatively thin wall so that valves of a very small outside diameter can be manufactured. This is a very advantageous feature where the valves are to be fitted to small containers as is applicable, for example, to some types of cigarette and pipe lighters.

Although the presently preferred embodiment of the invention has been described above, it is to be understood that various modifications thereto can be made without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth in the claims which follow. For example, if the connection for the refill tank does not have a closure disc of elastic material for perforation by a hollow needle, the latter can be dispensed with, the connection of the refill tank simply bearing against the sliding member which otherwise had the hollow needle. Also, if the refill tank has a shoulder of a shape corresponding to the bottom part of the sliding element, the shoulder can cooperate directly with the gasket 18 and with the valve member 4 to bring the valve into the open position. In such a case, all of the top part of the movable element 5 can be dispensed with.

I claim:

1. In a valve for filling a container with liquefied gas including an outer casing adapted to be secured in an aperture in the Wall of a container, a movable valve element reciprocably mounted in said casing in radial spaced relationship therewith for movement between a first and second position along the longitudinal axis of said casing, a first passage extending at least partially through said movable valve element for connecting the interior of said container to the exterior thereof when said valve element is in said second position, a first annular gasket positioned in said casing in sealing engagement against said movable valve element when the latter is in said first position to seal said first passageway, the improvement comprising:

(a) a second annular gasket positioned within said casing at a location spaced from said first gasket along the longitudinal axis of said casing;

(b) a second passage extending through said casing at a location disposed between said gaskets and extending to the exterior of said container for connecting the interior thereof to the exterior when said valve element is in said second position; and

(c) a ring member positioned within said casing be tween said gaskets and in engagement therewith when said valve element is in said first position to normally hold said second gasket in a position sealing said second passage, said ring member being movable relatively away from at least one of said gaskets upon movement of said valve element to said second position to open said second passage.

2. In a valve for filling a container with liquefied gas including an outer casing adapted to be secured in an aperture in the Wall of a container, a movable valve element reciprocably mounted in said casing in radial spaced relationship therewith for movement between a first and second position along the longitudinal axis of said casing, a first passage extending at least partially through said movable valve element for connecting the interior of said container to the exterior thereof when said valve element is in said second position, a first annular gasket positioned in said casing in sealing engagement against said movable valve element when the latter is in said first position to seal said first passageway, the improvement comprising:

(a) a second annular gasket positioned within said casing in sealing engagement with the inner wall thereof when said valve element is in said first position, said second annular gasket being disposed at a location spaced from said first gasket along the of said gaskets being positioned Within said casing.

for movement away from the other gasket when said valve element is in said second position to produce relative axial movement between said ring member and at least one of said gaskets and open said second passage between said gaskets. 3. A valve according to claim 2 wherein:

(a) said first gasket is slidably positioned within said casing for movement toward and away from said second gasket; and

(b) said ring member is disposed within said casing for freemovement between said gaskets along the longitudinal axis of said casing when said valve element is in said second position.

4. A valve according to claim 3 further comprising:

(a) a sleeve member disposed between said second gasket and said valve element in at least partially spaced relationship with respect to said valve element.

5. A valve according to claim 4 wherein:

(a) the radial thickness of the second gasket is less than the distance between said sleeve and the inner wall of said casing; and

(b) the flexibility of said second gasket is sufitcient for it to be deformed by said ring member when said valve element is in said first position so that said second gasket bears against said inner wall in sealingtight engagement therewith.

6. A valve according to claim 5 wherein:

(a) said sleeve has a radially outwardly extending shoulder forced into said casing; and

(b) said casing has two circular ribs on its inner wall on the axially opposite sides of said second gasket and sleeve for holding said second gasket and sleeve against axial movement within said casing.

7. A valve according to claim 6 wherein:

(a) said casing is constructed of deformable, stamped metal having an undefor-med diameter at the end thereof adapted to be exposed to the exterior of said container which is slightly larger than the diameter of the aperture in the wall of said container whereby said casing may be held in position in the aperture of the wall of the container by the residual elasticity of said casing after deformation.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,882,940 4/ 1959' Zellweger 141293 3,195,590 7/1965 Iketani 141-293 3,221,782 12/1965 Zellweger et a1. 141-295 X 3,285,298 11/1966 Gellman 141293 LAVERNE D. GEIGER, Primary Examiner.

H. S. BELL, JR., Assistant Examiner.

Claims

1. IN A VALVE FOR FILLING A CONTAINER WITH LIQUEFIED GAS INCLUDING AN OUTER CASING ADAPTED TO BE SECURED IN AN APERTURE IN THE WALL OF A CONTAINER, AMOVABLE VALVE ELEMENT RECIPROCABLY MOUNTED IN SAID CASING IN RADIAL SPACED RELATIONSHIP THEREWITH FOR MOVEMENT BETWEEN A FIRST AND SECOND POSITION ALONG THE LONGITUDINAL AXIS OF SAID CASING, A FIRST PASSAGE EXTENDING AT LEAST PARTIALLY THROUGH SAID MOVABLE VALVE ELEMENT FOR CONNECTING THE INTERIOR OF SAID CONTAINER TO THE EXTERIOR THEREOF WHEN SAID VALVE ELEMENT IS IN SAID SECOND POSITION, A FIRST ANNULAR GASKET POSITIONED IN SAID CASING IN SEALING ENGAGEMENT AGAINST SAID MOVABLE VALVE ELEMENT WHEN THE LATTER IS IN SAID FIRST POSITION TO SEAL SAID FIRST PASSAGEWAY, THE IMPROVEMENT COMPRISING: (A) A SECOND ANNULAR GASKET POSITIONED WITHIN SAID CASING AT A LOCATION SPACED FROM SAID FIRST GASKET ALONG THE LONGITUDINAL AXIS OF SAID CASING; (B) A SECOND PASSAGE EXTENDING THROUGH SAID CASING AT A LOCATION DISPOSED BETWEEN SAID GASKETS AND EXTENDING TO THE EXTERIOR OF SAID CONTAINER FOR CONNECTING THE INTERIOR THEREOF TO THE EXTERIOR WHEN SAID VALVE ELEMENT IS IN SAID SECOND POSITION; AND (C) A RING MEMBER POSITIONED WITHIN SAID CASING BETWEEN SAID GASKETS AND IN ENGAGEMENT THEREWITH WHEN SAID VALVE ELEMENT IS IN SAID FIRST POSITION TO NORMALLY HOLD SAID SECOND GASKET IN A POSITION SEALING SAID SECOND PASSAGE, SAID RING MEMBER BEING MOVABLE RELATIVELY AWAY FROM AT LEAST ONE OF SAID GASKETS UPON MOVEMENT OF SAID VALVE ELEMENT TO SAID SECOND POSITION TO OPEN SAID SECOND PASSAGE.