Valve for pneumatic tube transporting system
AssigneeSun Oil Company of Pennsylvania
InventorsChester N. White, John F. Lindsay
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An improved valve for separating and sealing adjacent pneumatic tube sections of a pneumatic tube delivery system. The valve includes a pair of flap seals positioned on opposite sides of the travel path of a carrier through the valve. Each flap seal is spring biased closed, and has a shock absorbing element positioned behind it such that when the flap seal is kicked open by a carrier, the spring bias and the shock absorber will absorb the momentum of the kicked open flap seal. An air inlet section in the valve is designed to minimize the intake of rain and snow and further to minimize the coasting distance experienced by a carrier traveling through the valve.
Claims4
In a pneumatic tube delivery system wherein adjacent pneumatic tube sections are serviced by separate air flow sources and wherein a valve must be provided to separate and seal the adjacent tube sections such that the air flow sources do not work against each other, an improved valve for separating and sealing adjacent tube sections and comprising:
- a. a valve housing;
- b. an entrance tube into said valve housing;
- c. said entrance tube having a pair of flap seals with each flap seal being located on an opposite side of said entrance tube;
- d. spring means for biasing each of said flap seals closed to seal the valve and also to absorb the shock encountered by each flap seal when a container traveling through the pneumatic tube delivery system kicks open the flap seals;
- e. said housing further having shock absorbing means positioned by each flap seal to encounter each flap seal after the flap seal has traveled through an arc of greater than 180.degree., such as if the flap seal is kicked open by a container and travels against the action of said spring means beyond a predetermined point it will encounter said shock absorbing means to stop the flap seal and whereby said arc of greater than 180.degree. allows said spring mean a substantial arc to absorb the shock encountered by each flap seal;
- and
- f. an exit tube from said housing providing for the passage of a container from the valve.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.