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US 4,113,138 AGranted
Liquid tank cap having a vent
AssigneeOutboard Marine Corporation
InventorsErnest E. Fields, Lester W. Reineck
Life of this patent
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AssigneeOutboard Marine Corporation
InventorsErnest E. Fields, Lester W. Reineck
Estimating the term…
Disclosed herein is a cap for a liquid tank having a filler neck, such as a fuel tank for an outboard motor, which cap includes a hollow body having a top wall portion for closing the filler neck and a depending annular flange for releasably engaging the filler neck. The interior of the tank is vented to the atmosphere through one or more vent ports located in the top wall portion and the vent port(s) is selectively opened and closed by a closure member including a shank threadably mounted on the top wall portion and a cover portion for opening and closing the vent port when the closure member is turned in opposite directions. A dish-shaped baffle disposed inside the cap body in spaced relationship to the top wall portion serves a baffle to minimize spillage of fuel through the vent port(s) and also defines a chamber for collecting fuel which otherwise might leak through the vent port(s) and for draining the collected fuel back into the fuel tank when the motor or tank is in an upright operating position. In one embodiment, unintentional complete detachment of the cap from the fuel tank is prevented by a cap retainer including an elongated stem having an upper end connected to the inner end of the closure member shank and a transversely extending member having a length greater than the inside dimension of the filler neck and connected to the lower end of the stem. All of the parts of the cap, except the diaphragm, preferably are molded from a synthetic thermoplastic material.
A cap for a liquid tank having a filler neck, said cap comprising a hollow body having a top wall portion for closing the filler neck and an annular flange depending from said top wall portion for releasably engaging the filler neck, a diaphragm disposed inside said body and spaced inwardly from said top wall portion to define a chamber therebetween, said diaphragm having a lowermost portion relative to the interior of the tank, a vent port in said top wall portion for communicating said chamber with the atmosphere, a closure member mounted on said top wall portion for selective reciprocative movement relative to said top wall portion between a first position to close said vent port and a second position to open said vent port, and means associated with said diaphragm lowermost portion and communicating the interior of the tank with said chamber for venting the tank to atmosphere when said closure member is in the second position and for draining liquid collected in said chamber back into the tank.
A cap for an outboard motor fuel tank having a filler neck, said cap comprising a hollow body having a top wall portion for closing the filler neck and an annular flange depending from said top wall portion for releasably engaging the filler neck, a vent port in said top wall portion communicating said chamber with the atmosphere, a closure member having a shank portion which is mounted on said top wall portion for axial movement relative to said top wall portion, which has an outer end, and which has an inner end portion including at least one axially extending slot in the outer surface thereof, said closure member also having a cover portion which is connected to said outer end of said shank portion for common axial movement therewith between a first position to close said vent port and a second position to open said vent port, and a diaphragm disposed inside said body and spaced inwardly from said top wall portion to define a chamber therebetween, said diaphragm having a lowermost portion with respect to the interior of the fuel tank when the tank is in an upright position and receiving said inner end portion of said closure member shank portion, whereby said slot communicates the interior of the tank with said chamber for venting the fuel tank to atmosphere through said vent port when said closure member is in the second position and for draining fuel collected in said chamber back into the fuel tank when the tank is in the upright position.
A cap for a liquid tank having a filler neck, said cap comprising a top wall portion for closing the filler neck, a shank portion depending from said top wall portion and having an inner end portion including a recess and a plurality of circumferentially spaced slots which open into said recess to define a plurality of resilient fingers defining an internal socket, and a cap retainer connected to said shank inner end portion for retaining said cap on the tank and permitting said cap to be completely removed from and moved away from the filler neck for filling of the tank, said cap retainer including an elongated stem which has an upper end including an enlarged, generally spherical portion received in said shank socket, which has a lower end, and which is adapted to extend into the fuel tank when said cap is installed on the filler neck, and a transversely extending member having a length greater than the inside diameter of the filler neck and connected to said lower end of said stem.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.