Slide valve to close large fluid conduits, in particular double-disk slide valve

A slide valve apparatus for mounting adjacent a large fluid conduit having an open end, comprising a valve housing (11), a slide gate (14) mounted within the said valve housing (11) and adapted to move transversely of the open end of the large fluid conduit, said slide gate having a shut-off plate (15) on a first side and having a pipe bridge (16) on a second side thereof and forming together an appearance of spectacles and having a first position and a second position, a movable support for said slide gate for moving the slide gate in a path across the open end of the fluid conduit and between the first position with said shut-off plate (15) aligned and engaging the fluid conduit in a closed valve position and in a second position with said pipe bridge (16) aligned with and engaging said fluid conduit in an open conduit position, said movable support for said slide gate including a plurality of roller bearings (21, 22) distributed about said slide gate (14) and radially supporting said slide gate with respect to the movement (23) along said path to selectively align said shut-off plate and said pipe bridge with said conduit, and said movable support including an elongated guide member (24) defining elongated guide surfaces for said rollers on the path across the fluid conduit, said bearing rollers being rotatably mounted in said valve housing (11) and located in rolling engagement with said guide surfaces, said bearing rollers (21) being arranged in an substantially star configuration about an axis parallel to the path of said slide gate.