Device for supporting and holding the gate of a wedge valve during a maintenance operation

A device for supporting and holding a gate of a valve during a maintenance operation of the valve during which an actuator, an operating stem, a yoke, a cap and the gate of the valve have been previously separated from the body of the valve, so as to make an upper opening of diameter M of the body accessible, the gate, which has a cross section that fits into an isosceles trapezoid, being positioned at a free end of the operating stem,

• wherein the device comprises two identical tools, each of the tools including a half-disk shaped plate delimited by a rectilinear edge and an arc-shaped edge, the half-disk shaped plate having an upper face with a first radius r1, while a lower face of the half-disk shaped plate, parallel to the upper face, has a second radius r2 smaller than the first radius r1, thus making an arc-shaped peripheral shoulder, a through cutout which, seen from above, fits into a rectangle and opens out onto the rectilinear edge being made in a thickness of the half-disk shaped plate, the flank of the through cutout which extends parallel to the rectilinear edge being inclined and forming an acute angle with a perpendicular to the upper face,
• the radius r1, the radius r2 and the acute angle being sized such that the tools are configured to be positioned in the upper opening of the body, making their respective rectilinear edges contiguous, the tools resting on a rim of the upper opening by the shoulder while their lower face is engaged in the opening, the through cutouts together making a housing for receiving the gate, while the flanks of the through cutouts are retaining the gate.