Patents Examined by John C. Fox
  • Patent number: 6675572
    Abstract: A method of diverting flow with a valve through a first filter and a second filter to purify exhaust gas with at least one of the filters and to regenerate at least one of the filters with the exhaust gas. Positioning the valve in a first operative position purifies the exhaust gas with the first filter and regenerates the second filter with the exhaust gas. Positioning the valve in a second operative position that is different that the first operative position purifies the exhaust gas with the second filter and regenerates the first filter with the exhaust gas. The method can be achieved by a valve for an exhaust system that including a body and a flow inhibitor. The body defines a volume and has a first inlet, a second inlet, a recirculation chamber, and an outlet chamber in fluid communication with the volume.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 14, 2001
    Date of Patent: January 13, 2004
    Assignee: Siemens Automotive Inc.
    Inventors: Gary Everingham, Cristian Tofan-Petre, Thomas Maciejowski
  • Patent number: 5881996
    Abstract: A valve plug in which excess metal has been removed, leaving only the necessary surfaces for providing sealing and a flow passage. The invention abandons the truncated cone shape of the prior art for a non-conical shape; the only portions of the plug which extend toward the surface of the valve body are those necessary to provide sealing contact. The plug uses a pipe-shaped flow conduit having a cross-sectional dimension to match the size of the valve body seat around the flow ports in the valve body. The flow conduit has walls of substantially uniform thickness, such that the exterior surface of the conduit is spaced from the interior surface of the valve body, except at the ends of the conduit. In two embodiments, arcuate plates extend laterally from the sides of the flow conduit; the plates prevent the passage of fluid through the valve body when rotated into position adjacent the flow ports. A cavity is defined between the plates and the exterior surface of the flow conduit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 28, 1995
    Date of Patent: March 16, 1999
    Assignee: Stockham Valves & Fittings, Inc.
    Inventors: Richard D. Walsh, Jr., Joe M. Sims, Buck M. Rutherford
  • Patent number: 5775371
    Abstract: Embodiments described herein relate to methods and structures for controlling a valve. One embodiment provides a valve control comprising a first valve fluidly connected with a first fluid conveying conduit and a second fluid conveying conduit. The first valve is movable between a first position where fluid communicates between the first fluid conveying conduit and the second fluid conveying conduit and a second position where fluid does not communicate between the first fluid conveying conduit and the second fluid conveying conduit. A first source of relatively increased pressure and a first source of relatively reduced pressure are provided. A third conduit fluidly connects the first source of relatively increased pressure and the first source of relatively reduced pressure with the first valve. A third valve is fluidly connected with the third conduit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 8, 1995
    Date of Patent: July 7, 1998
    Assignee: Abbott Laboratories
    Inventors: Jeffrey Y. Pan, Donald Ver Lee
  • Patent number: 5762106
    Abstract: A coupling and metal seal are disclosed, primarily for use in undersea hydraulic applications. The female member of the coupling is of three-piece construction. The main body portion accepts a cylindrical retainer which is held captive within the body by means of a spring clip or snap ring. The metal seal is generally ring-shaped and is positioned within the body and held captive by the retainer and clip. The male member, or probe, of the coupling fits within the retainer and body and protrudes through the ring of the metal seal. The seal engages the circumference of the probe and, when the coupling is pressurized, the seal is urged against the probe circumference and against the interior wall of the body, effectuating a fluid seal within the coupling.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 27, 1991
    Date of Patent: June 9, 1998
    Assignee: National Coupling Co., Inc.
    Inventor: Robert E. Smith, III
  • Patent number: 5664604
    Abstract: The present invention is to provide a power feeding system for a solenoid valve assembly, by which it is possible to achieve direct power feeding to the solenoid valve and also power feeding through manifold bases. On one end of the manifold base 1, a wiring box 29 having a power feeding terminal 33 is mounted. A solenoid terminal 25 is provided, and which can achieve direct power feeding to the solenoid. A relay socket 36, having a relay terminal 51 is provided for connecting the solenoid terminal 25 with the power feeding terminal 33. As a result, when the solenoid valve 2 is installed on the manifold base 1, channels for the pressure fluid are communicated with each other, and the relay terminal is connected with the power feeding terminal, thus enabling power feeding through the manifold bases.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 21, 1994
    Date of Patent: September 9, 1997
    Assignee: SMC Corporation
    Inventors: Hideharu Sato, Makoto Ishikawa
  • Patent number: 5657961
    Abstract: A wedge gate valve having a valve body defining a valve chamber and flow passages and upwardly diverging circular seat surfaces of circular, flat configuration and defining seat planes. A valve disk or wedge having downwardly converging sealing surfaces is movable within said valve chamber between open and closed positions for controlling flow through the valve. Pressure boundary plates connected by hubs to the valve disk define the sealing surfaces of the disk and have bottom corners that establish line contact with the downstream seat surface and prevent any portion of said sealing surfaces of said valve disk from crossing the sealing plane of the downstream seat in the event of flow responsive downstream movement of the valve disk during its opening and closing movement. Guide ears of the disk are provided with flexible upper and lower extremities and rounded or chamfered inner end surfaces to minimize localized peak contact stress with disk guide rails of the valve body.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 18, 1995
    Date of Patent: August 19, 1997
    Assignee: Kalsi Engineering, Inc.
    Inventors: Manmohan Singh Kalsi, Patricio Daniel Alvarez, Jaw-Kuang Wang
  • Patent number: 5657960
    Abstract: A pinch valve (10) comprising a flexible sleeve (12) adapted for attachment to a conduit in communication with a source of fluid, pinching means (26) adapted to pinch the flexible sleeve (12) and thereby reduce the effective cross-sectional flow area thereof, actuation means (28) operable selectively on said pinching means (26) to regulate fluid flow through the sleeve (12) and mounting means (42) disposed to support the actuation means (28) independently of the sleeve (12) and thereby to permit removal of the sleeve (12) without removal of the actuation means (26).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 25, 1995
    Date of Patent: August 19, 1997
    Assignee: Jindex PTY. Limited
    Inventor: David John Buchanan Taylor
  • Patent number: 5655745
    Abstract: A lightweight blowout preventer having a low profile is disclosed. Each of the rams have a sealing ring to be positioned thereabout to seal leaks from occurring between its bonnet and the ram body, thereby permitting the use of only about four connecting bolts for each side of the bonnet to the body and torqued for ordinary holding. A hinge plate is provided to allow selection of the side of the body for two associated bonnets. The hinge plate also is a manifold for the passageways for the hydraulic fluid to the fluid hinges. The hinges each includes a telescopic balancing sub with only one side spring for applying balanced pressure with the applied closing or opening hydraulic fluid to the hinge regardless of whether opening or closing hydraulic pressure is applied. The hydraulic passageways in the bonnets are located between the guideway extensions and the outside surfaces of the bonnets. The hinge plate and the bonnets can be inverted so that they can be mounted on either of two sides of the body.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 9, 1996
    Date of Patent: August 12, 1997
    Assignee: Hydril Company
    Inventor: Charles D. Morrill
  • Patent number: 5653418
    Abstract: An actuator for a ram-type blowout preventer used either with a shear ram blowout preventer or a pipe ram blowout preventer. The actuator includes a pressure-responsive cylinder having an operating piston disposed therewithin. The piston includes a shaft for transmitting relative motion to the ram in the blowout preventer. A reversible annular member is disposed around the periphery of the piston to provide a variable pressure force in a shear ram blowout preventer and to limit the stroke of the piston in a pipe ram blowout preventer. The annular member includes a pair of annular flanges extending radially inward to form a channel therebetween. The channel receives the periphery of the piston which is moveable within the channel between the flanges. In a shear ram blowout preventer, the annular member increases the annular pressure area of the piston during the shearing stroke to increase the pressure force on the rams and their seals during the shearing of the pipe.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 5, 1996
    Date of Patent: August 5, 1997
    Assignee: Cooper Cameron Corporation
    Inventor: Richard A. Olson
  • Patent number: 5653260
    Abstract: The housing (1) of a flow restricting valve has a first connection (3) which acts as a connection to a shower hose, and also a second connection (5) via which the valve can be connected to a hand shower. There are provided inside the housing 1 and parallel to each other, two outlet openings 7, 8 which determine the rate of flow per unit of time. One (7) of these outlet openings has a smaller cross-section than the other (8). The outlet opening (8) with the larger cross-section is normally sealed by a valve disk (9) so that the water can only flow through the smaller outlet opening (7) at a smaller power output per liter. If, once in a while, a greater power output per liter is required from the shower, then the valve plate can be removed from the outlet opening (8) with the larger cross-section by means of a manual actuator (15) and moved into a second position in which it at least considerably throttles or completely seals the flow path to the outlet opening (7) with the smaller cross-section.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 8, 1996
    Date of Patent: August 5, 1997
    Inventor: Roland Huber
  • Patent number: 5645098
    Abstract: A lightweight blowout preventer having a low profile is disclosed. Each of the rams have a sealing ring to be positioned thereabout to seal leaks from occurring between its bonnet and the ram body, thereby permitting the use of only about four connecting bolts for each side of the bonnet to the body and torqued for ordinary holding. A hinge plate is provided to allow selection of the side of the body for two associated bonnets. The hinge plate also is a manifold for the passageways for the hydraulic fluid to the fluid hinges. The hinges each includes a telescopic balancing sub with only one side spring for applying balanced pressure with the applied closing or opening hydraulic fluid to the hinge regardless of whether opening or closing hydraulic pressure is applied. The hydraulic passageways in the bonnets are located between the guideway extensions and the outside surfaces of the bonnets. The hinge plate and the bonnets can be inverted so that they can be mounted on either of two sides of the body.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 9, 1996
    Date of Patent: July 8, 1997
    Assignee: Hydril Company
    Inventor: Charles D. Morrill
  • Patent number: 5642872
    Abstract: A lightweight blowout preventer having a low profile is disclosed. Each of the rams have a sealing ring to be positioned thereabout to seal leaks from occurring between its bonnet and the ram body, thereby permitting the use of only about four connecting bolts for each side of the bonnet to the body and torqued for ordinary holding. A hinge plate is provided to allow selection of the side of the body for two associated bonnets. The hinge plate also is a manifold for the passageways for the hydraulic fluid to the fluid hinges. The hinges each includes a telescopic balancing sub with only one side spring for applying balanced pressure with the applied closing or opening hydraulic fluid to the hinge regardless of whether opening or closing hydraulic pressure is applied. The hydraulic passageways in the bonnets are located between the guideway extensions and the outside surfaces of the bonnets. The hinge plate and the bonnets can be inverted so that they can be mounted on either of two sides of the body.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 9, 1996
    Date of Patent: July 1, 1997
    Assignee: Hydril Company
    Inventor: Charles D. Morrill
  • Patent number: 5642756
    Abstract: A valve manifold assembly for processing fluids wherein the manifold member includes respective interface segments to which are secured the valve members. The interface segments typically are counterbored into the faces of the manifold member and include portals connected to passageways internal to the manifold member; and an alignment device such as a pin. The valve member includes a manifold mount body portion which has a complementing alignment member such as an opening. The valve when posited in the counterbored portion, and the pin is aligned with the alignment opening in the manifold mount body portion ensures that the ports in the valve member and the manifold member are properly aligned. A manifold mount body portion of the valve includes an annular groove which coacts with a clamping device to secure the valve in the respective counterbored portion. A sealing gasket surrounds the aligned ports to insure that no fluid leakage occurs between the ports.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 29, 1996
    Date of Patent: July 1, 1997
    Assignee: Bio-Chem Valve Inc.
    Inventors: John Lawrence, Istvan Sandor
  • Patent number: 5641149
    Abstract: A gate valve including a valve disc which is moved to a position where the valve disc is brought into contact with a valve seat and a position where the valve disc is separated from the valve seat by a driving device provided outside of a valve housing through a valve rod sealingly projected from the inside to the outside of the valve housing. The valve disc is brought into contact under pressure with the valve seat in the valve housing when the valve rod is inclined at the end of the movement of the valve rod. The driving device has piston cylinder devices, a block arranged in side-by-side relationship with the piston cylinder devices and connected to the valve rod, and a device to move up and down and to incline the block. The device for moving the block may include a pivotable link or a pin received in an oblique hole in a sleeve.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 24, 1995
    Date of Patent: June 24, 1997
    Assignee: Kishikawa Special Valve Co. Ltd.
    Inventor: Ichio Ito
  • Patent number: 5638855
    Abstract: A lightweight blowout preventer having a low profile is disclosed. Each of the rams have a sealing ring to be positioned thereabout to seal leaks from occurring between its bonnet and the ram body, thereby permitting the use of only about four connecting bolts for each side of the bonnet to the body and torqued for ordinary holding. A hinge plate is provided to allow selection of the side of the body for two associated bonnets. The hinge plate also is a manifold for the passageways for the hydraulic fluid to the fluid hinges. The hinges each includes a telescopic balancing sub with only one side spring for applying balanced pressure with the applied closing or opening hydraulic fluid to the hinge regardless of whether opening or closing hydraulic pressure is applied. The hydraulic passageways in the bonnets are located between the guideway extensions and the outside surfaces of the bonnets. The hinge plate and the bonnets can be inverted so that they can be mounted on either of two sides of the body.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 9, 1996
    Date of Patent: June 17, 1997
    Assignee: Hydril Company
    Inventor: Charles D. Morrill
  • Patent number: 5634625
    Abstract: A valve assembly includes a valve closing device that is located within the flow passageway closed by the valve. The valve closure device includes a force member for imparting a closing force on a valve disk adjacent to the portion of the disk that contacts a valve seat. The force member is preferably a lever or fulcrum arm having an abutment extension at one end for directly contacting an edge of the valve disk. The opposite end of the lever preferably includes a weight for urging the disk into a closed position and for imparting a closing force upon the disk. The force member is mounted for movement relative to the valve disk and for movement with the valve disk as the valve disk rotates between an open and closed position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 1, 1996
    Date of Patent: June 3, 1997
    Assignee: Rose Controls Corporation
    Inventor: Louis D. Bruno
  • Patent number: 5634626
    Abstract: A valve with improved body and plug seats and methods of manufacturing the seats are disclosed. The body seat is separate from the valve body and is adhesively attached to the valve body about at least one of the valve body orifices. The body seat is adhesively attached to the valve body at an angle to compensate for plug-to-body eccentricity. The plug seat is replaceable and is formed of two rigid metallic rings connected by an elastomeric cylinder. The elastomeric cylinder is formed under pressure to reduce potential failure initiation sites.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 9, 1994
    Date of Patent: June 3, 1997
    Inventor: Thomas A. Hartman
  • Patent number: 5634269
    Abstract: A thin plastic-film heat exchanger element for apparatus, such as absorption chillers, is provided, having improved strengthening in the turning regions of the fluid passages, for enhanced resistance to bursting. A method of manufacture, for reduced wrinkling or pleating in the turning regions, is also disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 7, 1995
    Date of Patent: June 3, 1997
    Assignee: Gas Research Institute
    Inventors: Andrew I. Lowenstein, Marc J. Sibilia
  • Patent number: 5632297
    Abstract: A relief device which activates in response either to excess temperatures or pressures in or around a pressurized vessel and which resists extrusion related failures even at high pressures is provided. The relief device includes a body having an inlet, an outlet, and a fluid flow passage communicating with the inlet and outlet. The body further includes a fluid escape passage having a member therein which is porous to gases and liquids but not to solids and a plug of a fusible material which melts at a predetermined temperature positioned adjacent to the porous member. A first piston is positioned in the fluid flow passage and is normally biased into a sealing relationship with the inlet. A second piston is positioned in the fluid escape passage and is normally biased against and applies a compressive force on the plug of fusible material.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 26, 1995
    Date of Patent: May 27, 1997
    Assignee: Amcast Industrial Corporation
    Inventors: Dino V. Sciullo, Robin N. Borland, James R. Daniels
  • Patent number: 5628493
    Abstract: A valve comprises a valve body having threaded connections on each end. A unit handled valve mechanism includes a cage carrying a spring loaded floating valve ball. The valve mechanism is placed in and removed from the valve body without the use of special tools. The valve mechanism includes lip type polyseals allowing pressure from below to leak past a lower valve seat so pressure from below causes the valve ball to seal only against an upper seat assembly. The only segment of the valve ball in substantial compression is immediately adjacent the upper seat assembly. An actuator for the valve fits onto a connector between the actuator and ball in only one manner, so the indicator on the actuator correctly points at the correct indicia on the valve body describing the valve condition, i.e. open or closed. An improved connector between the actuator and the valve ball minimizes the potential of deformation due to abuse.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 1996
    Date of Patent: May 13, 1997
    Assignees: Devereux J. McKnight, Brent McKnight
    Inventors: Devereux J. McKnight, Brent H. McKnight, James A. Cunningham