Valve switchbox
AssigneeHayward Industries, Inc.
InventorsJoshua Lee Hoots, Jon Terence Stone
Life of this patent
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AssigneeHayward Industries, Inc.
InventorsJoshua Lee Hoots, Jon Terence Stone
Estimating the term…
A switchbox for monitoring the position of a manual quarter-turn valve has a housing mountable to the valve to be monitored/controlled. A handle-driven shaft extends through the housing, with one end of the shaft couplable to the valve stem such that movement of the shaft moves the valve stem. One or more shaft position sensor switches interact with a cam on the shaft to signal shaft position and/or provide control signals. A plate coupled to the shaft articulates within a recess on the surface of the switchbox to limit motion of the valve to an operable range, such as between full ON and full OFF. The switchbox has a pair of lock tabs with lock apertures. A lock aperture in the plate is alignable with the lock tab apertures to receive a pin or padlock for locking the valve in a selected position. A potentiometer can be utilized in place of a switch as a shaft position sensor. The switchbox may be used with an original or new handle and may feature detents to allow a range of valve settings.
An apparatus to aid in controlling a valve having a body, a passageway through the body and an articulable member mounted to a valve stem and positioned within the passageway, the position of the articulable member determining the degree of openness of the passageway, comprising:
An apparatus to aid in controlling a valve having a body, a passageway through the body and an articulable member mounted to a valve stem and positioned within the passageway, the position of the articulable member determining the degree of openness of the passageway, comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.