Freeze safe valve
OwnerChung Yi Huanginventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A freeze safe valve includes a housing coupled between an upstream tube and a downstream tube of a water flowing or supplying line for shutting off the water flowing or supplying line and for opening a drain port in response to the formation of ice on the downstream side of water flowing or supplying line, and thus for alleviating the pressure on the downstream side and for precluding or eliminating water damage from frozen, broken pipes, etc. A flexible valve member is disposed in the housing for selectively blocking the drain port of the housing by the fluid flowing into the housing and for selectively blocking the an orifice of a plate by a spring member.
Claims10
A freeze safe valve comprising:
- a housing including a first end and a second end for being coupled to an upstream tube and a downstream tube, and including a chamber formed therein, and including at least one drain port formed therein for communicating said chamber of said housing with an outer environment of said housing,
- a plate disposed in said chamber of said housing and including at least one orifice formed therein for guiding a fluid to flow through said chamber of said housing and to flow from said first end of said housing toward said second end of said housing,
- a flexible valve member disposed in said housing for engaging with said housing and for being selectively forced to block said at least one drain port of said housing by the fluid flowing into said chamber of said housing and flowing through said at least one orifice of said plate, said flexible valve member including a bore formed therein for allowing the fluid to flow through said flexible valve member and to said second end of said housing, said bore of said flexible valve member being offset from said at least one orifice of said plate for allowing said at least one orifice of said plate to be selectively blocked by said flexible valve member, and offset from said at least one drain port of said housing for allowing said at least one drain port of said housing to be selectively blocked by said flexible valve member, and said flexible valve member including a peripheral lip extended therefrom for engaging with said housing and for spacing said flexible valve member from said plate,and said flexible valve member being further operated for selectively opening said at least one orifice of said plate when the fluid is supplied into said first end of said housing and forced against said flexible valve member, and
- means for forcing said flexible valve member to selectively engage with said plate and to selectively block said at least one orifice of said plate when no fluid is supplied into said first end of said housing, and to selectively engage with said housing and to selectively block said at least one drain port of said housing when the fluid is supplied into said first end of said housing and forced against said flexible valve member.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.