US3858608A

US3858608A - Pneumatic supply and vent control valve

Info

Publication number: US3858608A
Application number: US424244A
Authority: US
Inventors: Joshua D Hall
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1973-12-12
Filing date: 1973-12-12
Publication date: 1975-01-07
Anticipated expiration: 1992-01-07

Abstract

A sliding valve is reciprocably received at one end portion within a socket formed in a valve housing. The sliding valve and valve housing are each provided with a plurality of ports extending therethrough for relative movement into and out of registration for applying pressure to one end of a piston containing cylinder while venting the other end of the cylinder. Control means, connected with the sliding valve, maintains the latter in one of two positions relative to the housing.

Description

United States Patent Hall 1 1 Jan. 7, 1975 1 1 PNEUMATIC SUPPLY AND VENT 2,793,900 5/1956 Holzer et al. 251/174 CONTROL VALVE 3,642,020 2/1972 Payne 251/282 X [76] Inventor: E iz g' gg gi Spring Primary ExaminerHenry T. Klinksiek Attorney, Agent, or FirmRobert K. Rhea [22] Filed: Dec. 12, 1973 [21] Appl. No.: 424,244 [57] ABSTRACT A sliding valve is reciprocably received at one end 52 us. Cl. l37/625.25, 251/174 Portion Within a Socket formed in a valve housing- The [51] Int. Cl. F16k 11/07 sliding Valve and Valve housing are each Provided with 581 Field of Search 137/625.25, 625.2, 625.18, a plurality Of Ports extending therethrough for relative 7 55 625.6, 55 25 5 5 movement into and out of registration for applying 251/174, 252 pressure to one end of a piston containing cylinder while venting the other end of the cylinder. Control 5 References Cited means, connected with the sliding valve, maintains the Rotter et al 137/625.68

latter in one of two positions relative to the housing.

5 Claims. 7 nrslwino Figures 8.858.808 SHEET 10F 2 PATENTEU JAN 7 FIGJ PATENTED JAN 3, 858,508

- SHEET 2 BF 2 FIGS 34 PNEUMATIC SUPPLY AND VENT CONTROL VALVE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION l. Field of the Invention.

The present invention relates to fluid control valves and more particularly to a dual ported sliding valve for supplying pneumatic pressure to one port while simultaneously venting the other port.

Fluid pressure operated cylinders containing a piston are used on some camping and recreational equipment. The cylinder is operated by a supply pressure applied to one end of the cylinder while venting its opposite end. The valve of this invention has particular application in operating such cylinders.

2. Description of the Prior Art.

Sliding valves are well known in the art, such as Pat. No. 2,394,487 disclosing a dual ported valve having a sliding portion with apertures therethrough movable into and out of registration with one of the dual ports while exhausting the other port.

The valve of this invention is distincitive over this patent by providing ball valve type connectors contained by the sliding valve for sealing with the supply ports while supplying fluid pressure to one port and venting the other port and by being normally biased toward one of its two positions.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A substantially rectangular valve housing is provided with a socket open at one of its ends for reciprocably receiving one end portion of a sliding valve. The housing is provided with vents and spaced-apart dual supply ports and the sliding valve is provided with a passageway and a plurality of vent ports movable into and out of registration with the housing supply ports by a spring biased control rod connected with the inwardly disposed end of the sliding valve and slidable through the BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of the valve in one position;

FIG. 2 is a horizontal cross-sectional view taken substantially along the line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a side veiw of the valve shifted to its other position;

FIG. 4 is a horizontal cross-sectional view taken substantially along the line 4-4 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a vertical cross-sectional view, to a larger scale, taken substantially along the line 5-5 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is an exploded cross-sectional view, partially in elevation, illustrating the connectors and seals contained by the valve housing and sliding valve passageway; and,

FIG. 7 is a vertical cross-sectional view taken substantially along the line 77 of FIG. 4.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Like characters of reference designate like parts in those figures of the drawings in which they occur.

In the drawings;

The reference numeral 10 indicates the valve, as a whole, which is rectangular in general configuration and comprising a horizontally disposed housing 12 and sliding valve 14. The housing is provided with mounting lugs 15 and an opening forming a socket 16 open to its end 17 and defining a top, bottom, side walls and one end wall of the housing. The sliding valve 14 is dimensioned to be closely received in sliding relation within the housing socket 16. The

side walls

18 and 19 of the housing are transversely line drilled, horizontally as viewed in the drawings, in longitudinal spaced-apart relation to provide housing supply ports 20-22 and 24-26. The housing ports 22 and 26 threadedly receive, respectively, a pair of tubing connectors or

fittings

32 and 34 connected with a source of air pressure or supply, not shown. Similarly the housing ports 20 and 24 threadedly receive

tubing connector fittings

36 and 38 for connection with the respective ends of a pneumatic cylinder containing a piston, not shown. Inwardly of the respective tubing connector fitting, the housing ports contain a sealing ring 40 biased toward the sliding valve by a spring 43 surrounding the inward end portion 42 of the respective fitting and bearing against the sealing ring. The housing top wall is vertically drilled to form a pair of

vents

44 and 45, open to the atmosphere, cooperatively spaced longitudinally a distance equal to the spacing between the housing ports 20-22 and 24-26.

Intermediate its ends the sliding valve 14 is transversely drilled to form a passageway 46 for movement, by the sliding valve, into and out of registration with the ports 20-22 and 24-26.

The sliding valve passageway 46 contains a pair of tadpole-

type sealing members

47 and 48, each containing a partspherical end portion 50 and a tail portion 52 with the tail portion of the seal 47 telescopically receiving the tail portion of the seal 48. A spring 54 surrounds the telescoped tail portions of the

seals

47 and 48 and normally biases them in axially opposite directions thus maintaining their partspherical surfaces in sealing contact against the adjacent face of the housing port seals 40 when in registration therewith. The

tadpole seals

47 and 48 thus provide a fluid or air passageway between the supply pipe connectors 32-36 and 34-38 when respectively registered therewith, as hereinafter explained.

The sliding valve 14 is also provided with three longitudinally spaced-apart

air vent ports

56, 58 and 60 with the spacing therebetween equal to the spacing between the axis of the respective pairs of housing ports 20-24 and 22-26.

The vent port 58 communicates with the sliding valve passageway while the

vent ports

56 and 60 are right angular or L-shaped, as viewed in FIG. 7, with the foot portion 62 opening toward the housing side wall 18 and alternatingly registering with the ports 20 and 24 in response to longitudinal movement of the sliding valve. The leg portion 64 of the respective

sliding valve vent

56 and 60 alternately registers with the

housing vent ports

44 and 45. The foot portion 62, of the sliding

valve vents

56 and 60, contain one of the sealing members 47 and spring 54 for sealing with the sealing member 40 contained by the respective ports 20 and 24. The housing wall 18 is extended, as at 65, beyond the plane of the end 17 of its wall 19, as at 65, a distance sufficient to overlie the adjacent end opening of the sliding valve vent port 58 to retain the sealing member 47 therein.

A control rod 66 projects through the closed end wall 68 of the housing and is threadedly connected with the sliding valve 14. A collar 70 surrounds and is connected by a pin 71 to the control rod 66 intermediate its ends spaced from a sleeve 72 surrounding the control rod and connected with the housing end wall 68, a distance equal to the spacing between the ports 20 and 24. A spring 74 is interposed between the end wall 68 and collar 70 with one end portion of the spring loosely received by the sleeve 72.

The end portion of the sliding valve, projecting out of the housing, has locking means 76 secured thereto comprising a plate 78 secured to the sliding valve by a hinge 80 with the plate provided with opposing knurled surfaces 82 for manually raising and lowering the plate. The length of the plate is substantially equal to the spacing between the ports 20 and 24.

OPERATION In operation the

fittings

32 and 34 are respectively connected with a source of air under greater than atmospheric pressure and the

fittings

36 and 38 are connected to the respective ends of a double acting cylinder.

In the position shown by FIGS. 1 and 2, air pressure is supplied to one end of the cylinder by the ports 24-26 and through the sliding valve passageway 46 in the direction of the arrows. The sliding valve vent port 56 is in register with the body port 20 thus venting air from the other end of the cylinder. The sliding valve vent 58 is in register with the housing vent 45 to release any air leaking past the seals 40 and sealing

members

47 or 48. A weep hole 82 is formed in the bottom wall of the housing to prevent an air lock within the socket 16. When the action of the cylinder is to be reversed the control rod 66 is manually moved outwardly of the valve body moving the sliding valve 14 to the left, as viewed in the drawings, to register the sliding valve passage-way 46 with the housing ports 20-22. In this position air is supplied to the other end of the cylinder through the sliding valve passageway. The sliding valve vent port 60 is now aligned with the housing supply port 24 (FIG. 4) to vent air from the end of the cylinder previously pressurized. The sliding valve is maintained in this position by pivoting the locking means 76 toward the adjacent surface of the sliding valve so that the free end of the plate 78 abuts the adjacent end surface l7 of the housing.

Obviously the invention is susceptible to changes or alter-ations without defeating its practicability, therefore, I do not wish to be confined to the preferred embodiment shown in the drawings and described herein.

I claim:

1. A fluid supply and vent valve, comprising:

an elongated housing having a socket therein open at one end of the housing,

said body having a pair of transverse longitudinally spaced-apart supply ports communicating with the socket and forming aligned supply ports at opposite sides of the housing,

said body having a pair of vent ports communicating with the socket in cooperative longitudinally spaced-apart relation with respect to the axis of the supply ports; a sliding valve reciprocably disposed at one end portion within the socket for movement between two positions, said sliding valve having a transverse passageway movable into and out of registration with the housing ports,

said sliding valve having three vent ports longitudinally spaced-apart a distance equal to the spacing between said housing supply ports,

whereby two of said sliding valve vent ports communicate with said housing supply ports when said sliding valve is in its respective operative posttion;

means normally biasing said sliding valve toward one of said two operative positions; and,

locking means for maintaining said sliding valve in the other said operative position, whereby said sliding valve alternately provides air pressure supply through one said supply port while blocking fluid through the other said supply port at one side of the housing and simultaneously venting fluid from the supply port aligned with the opposite blocked supply port.

2. The valve according to claim 1 and further including:

expandable sealing means slidably contained by the sliding valve passageway for sealing with the respective port of the aligned housing supply ports and alternatively providing communication therebetween when said sliding valve is disposed in its respective operative positions, said sealing means comprising a pair of tubular seal members each having a partspherical head end portion and a tail end portion with the tail end portions of the pair telescopically engaged; and,

a resilient member biasing said tubular members toward an expanded telescoped position.

3. The valve according to claim 2 in which the endmost valve vent ports each have an end portion coaxially aligned alternatively with the axis of the aligned housing supply ports when said sliding valve is in its respective operative positions, third and fourth tubular seal members coaxially disposed respectively within said one end portion of the endmost sliding valve vents,

said third and fourth tubular seal members each having a head end portion sealingly engaging the respective adjacent housing supply port when said sliding valve is in its respective operative position.

4. The valve according to claim 3 in which said sliding valve biasing means includes:

a control rod slidably projecting into said housing and connected with the inwardly disposed end portion of said sliding valve;

a stop secured to said control rod intermediate its ends; and,

a spring interposed between said housing and said stop.

5. The valve according to claim 4 in which said locking means includes:

a lock plate hingedly secured to one end to the end portion of said sliding valve opposite said control rod for pivoting movement of the other end portion of said lock plate toward and away from said sliding valve and when pivoted toward said sliding valve abutting an adjacent surface of said housing.

Claims

1. A fluid supply and vent valve, comprising: an elongated housing having a socket therein open at one end of the housing, said body having a pair of transverse longitudinally spacedapart supply ports communicating with the socket and forming aligned supply ports at opposite sides of the housing, said body having a pair of vent ports communicating with the socket in cooperative longitudinally spaced-apart relation with respect to the axis of the supply ports; a sliding valve reciprocably disposed at one end portion within the socket for movement between two positions, said sliding valve having a transverse passageway movable into and out of registration with the housing ports, said sliding valve having three vent ports longitudinally spaced-apart a distance equal to the spacing between said housing supply ports, whereby two of said sliding valve vent ports communicate with said housing supply ports when said sliding valve is in its respective operative position; means normally biasing said sliding valve toward one of said two operative positions; and, locking means for maintaining said sliding valve in the other said operative position, whereby said sliding valve alternately provides air pressure supply through one said supply port while blocking fluid through the other said supply port at one side of the housing and simultaneously venting fluid from the supply port aligned with the opposite blocked supply port.

2. The valve according to claim 1 and further including: expandable sealing means slidably contained by the sliding valve passageway for sealing with the respective port of the aligned housing supply ports and alternatively providing communication therebetween when said sliding valve is disposed in its respective operative positions, said sealing means comprising a pair of tubular seal members each having a partspherical head end portion and a tail end portion with the tail end portions of the pair telescopically engaged; and, a resilient member biasing said tubular members toward an expanded telescoped position.

3. The valve according to claim 2 in which the endmost valve vent ports each have an end portion coaxially aligned alternatively with the axis of the aligned housing supply ports when said sliding valve is in its respective operative positions, third and fourth tubular seal members coaxially disposed respectively within said one end portion of the endmost sliding valve vents, said third and fourth tubular seal members each having a head end portion sealingly engaging the respective adjacent housing supply port when said sliding valve is in its respective operative position.

4. The valve according to claim 3 in which said sliding valve biasing means includes: a control rod slidably projecting into said housing and connected with the inwardly disposed end portion of said sliding valve; a stop secured to said control rod intermediate its ends; and, a spring interposed between said housing and said stop.

5. The valve according to claim 4 in which said locking means includes: a lock plate hingedly secured to one end to the end portion of said sliding valve opposite said control rod for pivoting movement of the other end portion of said lock plate toward and away from said sliding valve and when pivoted toward said sliding valve abutting an adjacent surface of said housing.