Abstract: This invention relates to an improvement in a conventional double-disc gate valve having a vertically movable gate assembly including a wedge, spreaders slidably engaged therewtih, a valve disc carried by the spreaders. When the gate assembly is lowered to a selected point in the valve casing, the valve discs are moved transversely outward to close inlet and outlet ports in the casing. The valve includes hold-down means for guiding the disc-and-spreader assemblies as they are moved transversely outward and inward. If such valves are operated at relatively high differential pressures, they sometimes jam during opening. Such jamming has been a problem for many years in gate valves used in gaseous diffusion plants for the separtion of uranium isotopes.The invention is based on the finding that the above-mentioned jamming results when the outlet disc tilts about its horizontal axis in a certain way during opening of the valve.