Brushing – scrubbing – and general cleaning – Machines – With air blast or suction
Patent
1998-02-12
1999-12-21
Michalsky, Gerald A.
Brushing, scrubbing, and general cleaning
Machines
With air blast or suction
137 43, 137 45, 137202, F16K 1736
Patent
active
060031972
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION AND PRIOR ART
The present invention relates to a valve device.
Vacuum cleaners are widely used for suction of dust and relatively small particles. It is also known to use vacuum cleaners for the suction of liquids, such as water or liquids containing one or more cleaning agents. Such vacuum cleaners require a container or the like suitable for containing the liquid so sucked. However, such known containers, frequently provided with wheels facilitating the transport thereof, are not very stable and therefore they accidentally may turn upside down, thereby letting out the liquid contained therein. Moreover, when the container is filled or almost filled, merely a small movement of the container may lead to liquid leakage.
Many attempts have been made to overcome these problems and there have been proposed different valve mechanisms for preventing the liquid leakage from the container. However, the mechanisms proposed are relatively complex and do not function satisfactorily.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the present invention is to overcome the problems, stated above and to provide a valve device which permits a gas flow but prevents the passage of liquids. More specifically such a valve device should function in a reliable manner and have a structure of low complexity.
This object is obtained by the valve device according to the present invention. By such support means provided to support the disk beneath said orifice at a distance from said surface a free flow of gas is permitted when the valve device is in a normal working position. Moreover, since the disk is movable to abut said surface when the direction of the passage deviates from said essentially vertical direction by a predetermined angle, any flow of a liquid occurring due to the inclination of the container is effectively hindered.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, the support means comprises rest means provided to support the disk such that it is essentially horizontal when the valve device is in said normal working position. In such a horizontal orientation the free gas flow is guaranteed and the gas flow influences; on the disk are minimized. Thereby, the support means may comprise an inclined guide means adapted to guide the disk against said surface when said direction deviates by said predetermined angle from the essentially vertical direction. This means that the disk may be in the form of a completely freely supported disk which is appropriately positioned due to its own weight. Preferably, the guide means is provided to form an upwardly inclined guide surface in all directions perpendicular to said direction (x).
According to a further embodiment of the present invention, the support means comprises a flexible means, the disk being suspended in the flexible means. By such a very uncomplicated construction, the disk is simply hanging down in said flexible means. Thereby, the flexible means may permit the disk to move upwards and sidewards along a curved path. This means that the only restriction the flexible means puts on the movement of the disk is that the disk may not be moved in a direction away from the surface, i.e. the flexible means may not be prolonged. Thereby, the flexible means may comprise at least one wire means.
According to a further embodiment of the present invention, the valve disk in said normal working position is disposed at such a distance from said surface that the total free, flow area between the disk and said surface is at least equal to the smallest cross-section area of the passage. Thereby, the gas inflow into the passage will never be less than the gas outflow therefrom, which means that the disk will not be sucked towards the surface merely because of a suction flow in the passage. Preferably, a cross-section of the passage is decreasing from the one end towards a second end of the passage. Thereby, the total free, flow area between the disk and said surface may be increased, such that the disk may be provided more closely to the surface in sai
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patent: 5086537 (1992-02-01), McDowell et al.
patent: 5377383 (1995-01-01), Christensen
patent: 5687753 (1997-11-01), Doll
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