Hydraulic lock apparatus

Abstract

A hydraulic lock apparatus, comprising: a lock operator piston arranged to be axially moveable in a piston chamber, the lock operator piston defining a first seal area; a fluid release valve comprising a valve port and a valve member axially moveable within a valve chamber, wherein the fluid release valve is moveable from a sealing arrangement to an open arrangement, wherein the fluid release valve defines a second seal area when in the sealing arrangement; and a hydraulic chamber defined between the first seal area of the lock operator piston and the second seal area of the fluid release valve; wherein the first seal area is larger than the second seal area; and the fluid release valve is configured to be moveable from the sealing arrangement, in which the hydraulic chamber is isolated from the valve port, to the open arrangement, in which the hydraulic chamber is connected to the valve port, in response to a differential pressure cycle being applied to the valve member over the second seal area.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.