Valve

A valve comprising a control means having a valve spool serving for the control of fluid flows, such control means being able to be moved by the application of setting forces in relation to the valve housing in a first switching movement following a first switching direction and an second switching movement following an opposite second switching direction, and is consequently able to be positioned in different switching settings, said control means being able in the first switching movement to be shifted along a displacement path from a first switching position into a preset terminal switching position, which is preset by abutment means on the housing in which terminal position it can be held by first setting forces, which are effective in the first switching direction, and from which it can be moved by the application of second setting forces, acting in the opposite second switching direction, as part of the second switching movement, comprising at least one drive means having spring means which at the start of the first switching movement is as yet ineffective and is only tensioned during the terminal part of the first switching movement by the kinetic energy of the control means, the tension force of the spring means contributing additionally, at the start of the second switching movement, to actuating forces, produced by fluid action, for producing the second setting forces.