Fluid handling – With casing – support – protector or static constructional... – Static constructional installations
Reexamination Certificate
1999-12-20
2001-07-24
Chambers, A. Michael (Department: 3753)
Fluid handling
With casing, support, protector or static constructional...
Static constructional installations
C137S240000, C137S271000, C137S363000, C137S367000, C137S368000, C137S557000, C137S559000, C251S291000, C251S293000, C138S121000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06263903
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an arrangement for a stop valve, which is located in the ground and is connected to a pipeline system laid in the ground, said arrangement comprising on the one hand a valve housing and a valve bonnet which is fixed thereto with the aid of a fixing means and which has a valve spindle supporting a movable stop means, such as a slide, and, on the other hand, a tubular member extending from the valve up to ground level to enable operation of the valve spindle, and a collar means which is tightly connected with and supported by the valve housing and has a collar portion which surrounds the valve bonnet and the fixing means and is tightly connected with the lower end of the tubular member, the diameter of the tubular member essentially corresponding to the diameter of the collar portion.
BACKGROUND ART
This type of arrangement is especially intended for so-called service valves that are used to control flows of water in municipal water mains, but also in connection with other types of valves placed in the ground. The selected term “stop valve” is therefore to be interpreted in its widest sense, i.e. to include also e.g. control valves of different types.
A drawback of many prior-art stop valves is that they are used relatively rarely and therefore, after being in use for some time, tend to jam or be clogged. The jamming part generally is the actual stop means of the valve, which in most cases is a slide adapted to run in a corresponding seat in the valve housing. The slide is supported and operated by means of a valve spindle mounted in a valve bonnet. The valve bonnet is arranged on top of the valve housing and is, by means of bolts and an intermediate seal, tightly arranged on top of the valve housing. The valve spindle extends in a sealed manner through the valve bonnet and has an upper end intended to engage a wrench rod, by means of which the valve spindle can be rotated.
Before arrangements of the type briefly described above came into use, it was necessary to dig up a jamming valve for cleaning or renovating. With arrangements of the type at issue, of which one is disclosed in GB-A-2,118,687, in which also a tool is described for use in connection with renovation of valves, this is no longer necessary.
OBJECT OF THE INVENTION
In view of GB-A-2,118,687, the object of the present invention is to further develop the known solution and to provide an arrangement which in relation to this solution gives further advantages when working with underground stop valves.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to the invention, this object is achieved by the arrangement according to the preamble further comprising a pipe access means, which instead of the valve bonnet is tightly mountable on said valve housing from ground level.
As mentioned by way of introduction, it is for cleaning and service of stop valves as a rule necessary to remove only the valve bonnet including the associated parts. The choice of a great diameter for the tubular member and a tight connection thereof with a collar of the valve housing makes it possible according to prior-art solutions to relatively easily loosen, take up and renovate or exchange the jamming parts of a stop valve by means of suitable tools from ground level via the tubular member, and then again install them without necessitating any digging operation, which results in considerable saving of time and cost. According to the invention, the technique of the prior-art solution is now used to carry out in a smooth manner the remaining operations in connection with a pipeline system located in the ground by this system being made accessible via the valve housing for various measures.
The used pipe access means can according to the invention be a tube coupling, which for hydrostatic testing or cleaning of the pipeline system enables connection of a tube which is connected to a source of pressure with a pressure gauge The solution is advantageous since it allows hydrostatic testing of limited portions of piping, for instance, by closing two stop valves belonging to a piping portion and, by means of the inventive arrangement, pressurising a third valve located between the two first mentioned valves.
Alternatively, the pipe access means can be a flow meter, which, for measuring the flow of a medium flowing through the pipeline system, has a measuring cell, which in the valve housing takes the place intended for the stop means. Also in this solution, the advantage resides in the fact that limited portions of piping can be examined, in this case in respect of existing flows.
A further alternative is that the pipe access means is a hydrant, which for controllable pumping out of water flowing through the pipeline system has an integral stop valve and at least one tube connection. This alternative is useful, when, for instance, building operations make it impossible to use an existing hydrant, or require a completely new hydrant, for instance, for reasons of fire safety in connection with new, permanent or temporary arrangements.
In yet another alternative, the pipe access means is an insertion shaft which is adapted to guide an object, such as a video camera or a cleaning spiral with an associated nozzle, inserted from ground level into the insertion shaft, in the desired direction into the pipeline system. Also this alternative is particularly useful in limited piping portions adjacent to, for instance, a probable source of error.
Preferably, the tubular member comprises a pipe which is corrugated transversely of its longitudinal direction and thus is elastically yieldable in said longitudinal direction. Such a pipe is intended for use especially in geographic areas with ground frost which, as the ground moves, may cause pipe bursts.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, the collar means is integrated with the valve housing. This embodiment thus requires manufacture of a special valve housing but has obvious advantages by being easy to mount.
In another embodiment of the invention, the collar means has an end wall, which is placed between the valve bonnet and the valve housing and through which extend the valve spindle and the fixing means, which consists of bonnet bolts. This embodiment is also suitable for use together with prior-art valves and for use with valves that have been dug up for renovation.
The inventive arrangement preferably also comprises a tool, which has a tool shaft, whose length at least corresponds to the length of the tubular member, and a tool head which is adapted to raise the valve bonnet and which has a recess corresponding to a projecting stud of the valve spindle, and a pin which is movable transversely of the longitudinal direction of the valve spindle and which is adapted to engage, in an engaging position, in a corresponding hole in said stud. This tool, which is adapted to cooperate with a valve having on the valve spindle a stud adapted to the tool, has been found to function excellently because the relatively rigid connection between the tool and the stud makes it possible to prize a jamming valve bonnet loose.
Finally, the pin of the tool head is, preferably by means of a spring, biased towards its engaging position, and said pin is, by means of a pull wire whose length at least corresponds to the length of the tubular member, disengageable from the hole in the stud of the valve spindle. It has in practical experiments been found that also such a simple tool well satisfies even stringent requirements as regards user friendliness.
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Browdy and Neimark
Chambers A. Michael
McShane Thomas L.
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