Back to results
US 4,505,409 AGranted
Beverage-dispenser valve arrangements
AssigneeCrathco, Inc.
InventorAlfred Armstrong
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Loading patent…
Loading patent…
AssigneeCrathco, Inc.
InventorAlfred Armstrong
Estimating the term…
In a beverage dispenser of the type in which conditioned liquid is to be tapped through a bottom opening of a bowl normally closed from within by a valve member, unseating of the valve member and attendant gravitational release of liquid are conveniently brought about by tilting a wider Z-shaped sheet-metal handle which is keyed with the valve member to form an interlocked valving assembly further including only a spring and a suspension provided by external bowl flanges. The valve member, which has a flattened end projecting through the bowl to key itself locked within an opening of cooperating shape in the center portion of the handle, is biased closed by the surrounding spring trapped in a compressed condition between the handle and the underside of the bowl, and the keyed interlocking with the end of the valve member holds the handle in a desired lateral fit within frontal notches of the flanges for pivotal movements allowing it to raise the valve member in its sleeving for release of beverage through a lower center opening fed by upper lateral openings. Once it is angularly keyed into place, the valve member cannot be accidentally dislodged, because small tabs struck integrally from the handle are disposed to engage and align its flattened end each time the handle is tilted either by pulling an upstanding end or pushing its other depending end. Advantageously, sealing of the valve may be tightened, against constrictions offered by solids from the liquid, for example, by forcing the handle ends in directions opposite to those which cause liquid to be dispensed.
Apparatus for valving fluid, comprising means providing an annular valve seat around an opening through a wall of a container for the fluid, an elongated valve member extending through the opening and having a closed inner end disposed within the container for substantially linear movements into and out of seating and sealing relationship with said seat and a shaped outer end outside the container forming one part of a keying-and-trapping means, said valve member having a reduced cross-sectional area between the seating position of said inner end and said outer end to permit drainage of the fluid when said inner end is moved inwardly out of sealing relationship with said seat, handle means pivoted outside said container and having a tiltable section shaped to form the other part of said keying-and-trapping means and disposed to receive said outer end therein when said valve member has substantially one angular orientation about its longitudinal axis and to trap said outer end for movements therewith when said valve member has significantly different angular orientations, means operable to urge said valve member to assume said different angular orientations and thereby prevent unintended separation of said handle from said outer end of said valve member, and means yieldably urging said valve member along said longitudinal axis and into engagement with said tiltable section of said handle.
Apparatus for valving beverage from a container, comprising an annular valve seat around an opening through the bottom of the container, an elongated vertically-slidable valve member having a closed upper end disposed within the container with a seal to seat and to be lifted to unseat from said valve seat and a shaped lower end extending below the container and forming one part of a keying-and-trapping means, said valve member being hollow below said seal at said upper end and being opened laterally to admit flow of beverage therethrough when said valve member is raised, handle means having a substantially broad sheet-metal tiltable section having an opening therethrough shaped to form the other part of said keying-and-trapping means and disposed to receive said shaped lower end of said valve member therein when said valve member is in substantially one angular orientation about its vertical axis and to trap said lower end for vertical movements therewith when said valve member has significantly different angular orientations, means operable to urge said valve member to assume at least one of said different angular orientations and thereby prevent unintended separation of said handle from said lower end of said valve member, flange means fixed with the bottom of said container and having horizontally-aligned notches open at the front thereof, and cooperating horizontally-extending hinge means on said handle disposed for separable engagement with said flange means by way of said notches therein, said tiltable section of said handle being thereby pivoted in said flange means for tilting movements about a horizontal axis at the front of said flange means, means yieldably urging said valve member downwardly into engagement with said tiltable section of said handle, and lever means integral with said tiltable section of said handle projecting substantially vertically for forward and backward movements which effect tilt of said tiltable section and accompanying vertical sliding of said valve member.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.