Ported gate valve

A gate valve assembly comprising;

• a gate plate,
• a housing including two parallel housing plates with each housing plate having an aperture extending therethrough, spacer means securing said housing plates together in face to face relation with their apertures in alignment about a central axis and defining a chamber therebetween, the housing also including two elastomeric annular sleeves with each having an axially interior sealing projection lining an aperture and extending into the chamber a predetermined distance to define an annular space between the sealing projections and with each sleeve also having an axially exterior washer-shaped gasket positioned on an axially exterior face of a housing plate and extending radially outwardly from its associated aperture, the sleeves also having reinforcing rings formed into the elastomeric material, the rigid reinforcing rings having first portions extending radially with respect to the central axis adjacent to the interior faces of the housing plates, second portions extending generally axially with respect to the central axis along the entire length of the apertures defined by the housing plates, and third portions extending generally radially with respect to the central axis adjacent to the washer-shaped gaskets and along the exterior faces of the housing plates for deforming only a small portion of the sealing projections into sealing engagement with said gate plate and means for coupling each washer-shaped gasket to an exterior face of a housing plate thus allowing for the replacement of a sleeve without the disassembly the housing plates or associated mechanisms;
• said gate plate being formed with a first imperforate section and a second section having an aperture and reciprocable within the chamber in sliding contact with the axial interior ends of the sealing projections between an open position wherein the aperture of the gate plate is located in axially alignment with the apertures of the housing plates to allow fluid flow through the passage and a closed position wherein the imperforate portion of the gate plate is located between the apertures of the housing plates to preclude fluid flow through the passage, said gate plate having edges all of which are not formed as knives;
• and
• an operator controlled actuator including an actuator cylinder and a selectively reciprocable rod to selectively reciprocate the gate plate between the open and closed positions, the actuator also including support means to position the actuator cylinder and rod in operative proximate to the gate plate and housing and further including means for coupling the gate plate and rod during operation and use and for uncoupling the gate plate and rod to allow removal of the gate plate from the end of the housing plates remote from the actuator without disassembly of the housing plates or associated mechanisms with the sealing projections being spaced from each other even when the gate plate is removed from the housing.