Faucet for frozen carbonated beverage machine

A faucet for a frozen carbonated beverage machine which has an outlet conduit communicated in use to a supply of frozen carbonated beverage at an elevated, superatmospheric pressure,

• said faucet comprising:
• a barrel having means providing a longitudinal bore extending between two opposite ends thereof;
• means providing an inlet port for said bore, communicating laterally through said barrel intermediate the ends thereof between the exterior of the barrel and said longitudinal bore;
• means provided on said barrel and associated with said inlet port for connecting said inlet port to a said frozen carbonated beverage machine outlet conduit;
• a piston/core assembly slidingly received in said longitudinal bore;
• means providing an outlet port passageway in said piston/core assembly, including a laterally opening entrance disposed intermediate the axial extent of said assembly and an outlet spout located at one end of said piston/core assembly and communicating outwardly through one end of said barrel longitudinal bore;
• means at the opposite end of said piston/core assembly defining a piston portion thereof;
• keying means provided between the piston/core assembly and the barrel for maintaining the piston/core assembly so angularly oriented relative to the barrel that by axial movement of the piston/core assembly relative to the barrel, the outlet port passageway entrance may be brought into and out of communication with said inlet port in order to dispense and terminate dispensing of frozen carbonated beverage from the frozen carbonated beverage machine through the spout;
• discrete means annularly slidingly sealing between the piston portion and the cylindrical cavity means of the barrel longitudinal bore, between the piston/core assembly and the barrel longitudinal bore while the outlet port passageway entrance is out of communication with the inlet port, at three levels:
• a first between the outlet port passageway entrance and said keying means, a second between said outlet port passageway entrance and said inlet port and a third between said inlet port and said one end of said barrel;
• said keying means being further constructed and arranged to limit said axial movement in both directions between two extremes, at one of which said outlet port passageway entrance is communicated to said inlet port and at the other of which said outlet port passageway entrance is out of communication with said inlet port;
• a cap removably closing the opposite end of said barrel longitudinal bore;
• surface means in said barrel longitudinal bore adjacent said cap defining a cylinder cavity in the barrel;
• said piston portion of said piston/core assembly being slidingly disposed in said cylinder;
• said piston portion dividing said cylinder cavity into two chambers on axially opposite sides of said piston portion;
• compression coil spring means effectively disposed axially between the barrel and the piston in one of said chambers for tending to axially move the piston/core assembly in a sense to bring the outlet port passageway entrance out of communication with the inlet port;
• fluid pressure source conduit means communicated to the other one of said chambers, so that fluid pressure may be admitted to that chamber for axially moving the piston/core assembly in a sense to bring the outlet port passageway entrance into communication with the inlet port;
• a valve interposed in said fluid pressure source conduit means, said valve including an exhaust port for venting pressure from said other chamber and being movable between two positions for selectively either communicating said other chamber to fluid pressure in one of said positions or venting said other chamber in the other of said positions;
• said piston/core assembly including means for axially adjustably positioning said piston portion along the piston/core assembly correspondingly varying the volume of said other chamber and thus the amount that the piston/core assembly must be axially moved in order to bring the outlet port passageway entrance into and out of communication with said inlet port.