Fluid handling – With repair – tapping – assembly – or disassembly means – Assembling – disassembling – or removing cartridge type valve
Reexamination Certificate
2001-04-06
2002-02-12
Walton, George L. (Department: 3753)
Fluid handling
With repair, tapping, assembly, or disassembly means
Assembling, disassembling, or removing cartridge type valve
C029S890120, C029S890141, C004S678000, C137S359000, C137S360000, C137S454500, C137S801000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06345643
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is related to a faucet valve chamber body in which the inlet tube and the main tube body are both made by milling. Therefore, the inner and outer surfaces thereof have good precision and are free from any sand hole. When mounting the valve chamber body on bath tubs or washing basins with different wall thickness, it is only necessary to mill the inlet tube and main tube body with a length meeting the wall thickness thereof. Therefore, it is unnecessary to manufacture a number of molds so that the cost is greatly lowered.
FIG. 1
shows a conventional faucet valve chamber structure installed on a bath tub or a washing basin. The faucet valve chamber structure includes a valve chamber body
10
, a handle seat
70
, an upper clamping block
71
, a resilient washer
72
, a sealing ring
73
, a lower clamping block
74
, a fitting cap
75
and a controlling valve
76
. The valve chamber body
10
is a hollow body made by integral casting and formed with a T-shape. The upper end is formed with a valve chamber
11
with a certain depth. The middle portion is provided with an integrally extending inlet tunnel
12
. A step section
121
with larger diameter is formed between the upper end of the inlet tunnel
12
and the valve chamber
11
. The circumference of the step section
121
and the inlet tunnel
12
is spaced from the inner wall of the valve chamber body
10
to define an annular outlet passage
13
. The upper end of the valve chamber body
10
is formed with an outer thread section
14
with smaller diameter. The edge of the upper opening of the valve chamber body
10
is cut with two opposite locating notches
15
. The middle portion of the valve chamber body
10
is formed with a main outer thread section
6
with a certain length. An outlet/inlet sleeve
17
is adjacent to lower end of the main outer thread section
16
. A lower side of the outlet/inlet sleeve
17
is formed with an inlet tube
18
and a lateral side thereof is formed with an outlet tube
19
. The inlet tube
18
and outlet tube
19
respectively communicate with the inlet tunnel
12
and the annular outlet passage
13
. The outer circumference of the end of the inlet tube
18
is formed with an inlet outer thread section
181
. The outer circumference of the end of the outlet tube
19
is formed with an outlet outer thread section
191
. A lever handle
701
is disposed on one side of the handle seat
70
. The handle seat
70
is formed with internal controlling cavity
702
. The upper and lower clamping blocks
71
,
74
are formed with central main thread holes
711
,
741
. The fitting cap
75
is formed with a central stepped hole with larger lower section and smaller upper section. The wall of the larger section is formed with an inner thread section
751
. The upper end of the controlling valve
76
is provided with a controlling boss
761
for fitting into the cavity
702
of the handle seat
70
. The outer circumference of the controlling valve
76
is formed with two opposite locating projecting blocks
762
.
According to the above arrangement, the conventional structure has some shortcomings as follows:
1. The valve chamber body
10
is made by integral casting. After cast, it is impossible to process the wall surfaces of the inlet tunnel
12
and the narrow annular outlet passage
13
. Therefore, the precision of the surfaces of the walls of the inlet tunnel
12
and the annular outlet passage
13
will be very poor. As a result, the rough surfaces will affect the water flow and result in unsmooth discharge of water.
2. After cast, sand holes will more or less leave on the inner and outer surface of the valve chamber body
10
. The outer, surface can be further processed to remove the sand holes. However, it is impossible to remove the sand holes formed on the walls of the inlet tunnel
12
and the annular outlet passage
13
. Moreover, the sand holes will pass through the wall between the inlet tunnel
12
and the annular outlet passage
13
. This leads to leakage of water from the valve chamber body
10
.
3. The valve chamber body
10
is made by integral casting. After cast, it is hard to process the inner wall of the valve chamber body
10
. Moreover, the annular outlet passage
13
is in a nearly close state and can be hardly visually checked. Therefore, the ratio of good products is relatively low and defective products may be sold on market to affect the reputation of the manufacturer.
4. Bath tubs or washing basins
80
have varied thickness of walls.
Therefore, it is necessary to manufacture multiple sets of molds for producing different sizes of valve chamber bodies
10
to meet the wall thickness of the bath tubs or washing basins. This increases cost for the molds and relatively lowers profit.
5. The handle seat
70
cannot be entirely attached to the upper plane face of the bath tub or washing basin
80
. Therefore, when the handle seat
70
is damaged and needs to be replaced, it is necessary to replace the upper clamping block
71
together with the handle seat
70
. When replacing the upper clamping block
71
, the valve chamber body
10
is not located on upper side and will drop down. After dropping, it is necessary to again lock the valve chamber body
10
. This procedure is troublesome.
6. When replacing the handle seat
70
, it is necessary to replace the upper clamping block
71
together with the handle seat
70
. This leads to waste of resource and increased cost.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide an improved faucet valve chamber body. The inlet tube and the main tube body are both made by milling. Therefore, the inner and outer surfaces thereof are polished faces without roughness so that the water flow will not be affected and the water can be smoothly discharged.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide the above faucet valve chamber body in which the inlet tube and the main tube body are both made by milling. Therefore, the inner and outer surfaces thereof are free from any sand hole as resulted from casting. Therefore, when the water is shut off, the water is prevented from leaking from the sand holes.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide the above faucet valve chamber body in which the inlet tube, the main tube body and the outlet/inlet sleeve of the valve chamber body are first respectively processed and then assembled. Therefore, prior to assembly, these parts can be visually entirely checked. Therefore, defective products can be sorted.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide the above faucet valve chamber body in which when mounting the valve chamber body on bath tubs or washing basins with different wall thickness, it is only necessary to mill the inlet tube and main tube body with a length meeting the wall thickness thereof. Therefore, it is unnecessary to manufacture a number of molds so that the cost is greatly lowered.
The present invention can be best understood through the following description and accompanying drawings wherein:
REFERENCES:
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patent: 1541558 (1925-06-01), Gade
patent: 3006361 (1961-10-01), Reinemann
patent: 4662389 (1987-05-01), Igbal
patent: 4699170 (1987-10-01), Diephuis et al.
patent: 5031877 (1991-07-01), Mercer
patent: 5232008 (1993-08-01), Jeffress et al.
patent: 5257645 (1993-11-01), Scully et al.
patent: 5947149 (1999-09-01), Mark
patent: 6014985 (2000-01-01), Warshawsky
Chung Cheng Faucet Co. Ltd.
Troxell Law Office PLLC
Walton George L.
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