Valves and valve actuation – With correlated flow path – Valve operated by joining flow path sections
Reexamination Certificate
1998-11-20
2001-03-27
Shaver, Kevin (Department: 3754)
Valves and valve actuation
With correlated flow path
Valve operated by joining flow path sections
C222S501000, C137S590000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06206344
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to an oil drain plug (stopcock, drain cock) for use in oil storing vessels such as oil pans and gear boxes of automobiles or gear boxes of machines other than the automobiles, and to an oil drain device for the oil storing vessels using the oil drain plug.
BACKGROUND ART
Automobile engines for example have hitherto been provided with a mechanism for circulating a lubricant (oil) around predetermined parts to ensure a smooth motion of the moving portions, although the lubricating oil may degrade with use and with the elapse of time and lose its desired lubricating properties or may permit a mixing of abrasive powders or sludge into the oil. For this reason, used oil must be changed at a certain interval (commonly, at every travel through a certain distance of the order of 3000 to 5000 kilometers) from the viewpoint of preventing any damage of the engine body, etc.
FIG. 16
is a schematic diagram for explaining an example of a conventional typical engine having a structure for changing the used oil, in which oil
100
residing within an oil pan
102
provided below a crankcase is supplied to a predetermined region by means of an oil pump
101
. The oil is delivered under pressure by the pump
101
and is pressure regulated by a regulating valve
103
, after which it is cleaned off by removing, by a filter
104
, metal powder, carbon, sludge or other foreign matters which have been mixed into the oil. After having lubricated the parts of the engine, the oil is returned to the oil pan
102
. Incidentally, the oil pan
102
is typically structured to be filled with oil.
In this manner, the oil is subjected to the cleaning process for removing the mixed substance by the filter
104
in the course of its circulation, although the removal of the foreign matters by use of the filter is limitative, with the inevitable problem that the oil itself tends to have a degraded property with the elapse of time. Therefore, the oil is changed through the operations removing a stopcock (drain cock)
106
from a hole (drain hole)
105
which is provided in the bottom of the oil pan
102
but is usually stopped, to drain off the used oil through a natural oil drain, and then stopping the hole
105
to allow new oil to be fed from the top.
By the way, in the case of automobiles supplied by automobile manufacturers to the market, it is common for the oil drain hole
105
provided in the oil pan below the engine to be stopped with a simple threaded stopcock
106
. For this reason, in the oil change operations, the stopcock
105
is removed from the oil drain hole
105
as described above at the beginning thereof and, after the oil drain, the stopcock is screwed thereinto, which operations are cumbersome, resulting inevitably in the workers covered with oil. In the case of service factories, etc., in which the automobiles are raised by a lift for the oil draining operation, the operation is relatively easy to perform, although the problem that the workers may be dirtied with oil can not be solved. Alternatively, in case of the execution without the lift, the workers must crawl into a narrow space below the automobile to remove the stopcock from the oil pan bottom or screw it thereinto, which operation is also extremely cumbersome.
As described hereinabove, the conventional oil changing operations have had a deficiency in its workability and posed a problem that the workers or environments may be dirtied with oil.
Thus, taken as measures for eliminating the operative deficiencies is an operation draining off the oil from the top of the engine. This includes for example a method in which an elongated suction tube is inserted into a mounting hole for an oil gauge provided for checking the amount or dirtiness of the engine oil, to thereby vacuum suck the used oil, or a method in which the suction tube is inserted through an oil supply port (these methods are hereinafter referred to as “top drain methods”).
However, those top drain methods have no expedient for verifying that the tube extremity has reached the bottom of the oil pan since the tube is inserted from above a crankshaft or other complicated mechanism which is accommodated within a narrow space in a dense manner. It is therefore difficult to drain off all amount of the oil, which may incur a problem that the insufficient drain of the used oil is not recognized until an oil check is made after the supply of new oil, or in extreme cases, a problem that the oil changing operation must be made again. The top drain method is not necessarily prevailing with its deficiency that it is difficult to remove metal powders or the like deposited on the bottom of the oil pan.
On the other hand, the method of draining the used oil from the bottom is advantageous in that the drain of all amount of oil is feasible. Thus, there are proposed methods of eliminating the deficiency of dirtiness with oil while keeping the advantage of the bottom drain method. More specifically, proposed are an oil changing method using a permanently fixed plug with a built-in normally-closed poppet valve (U.S. Pat. No. 4,745,894 (Japanese Official Gazette corresponding thereto: Japanese Patent Pub. No. Hei4-48,987)) and an oil changing method using a permanently fixed plug with a built-in normally-closed ball valve (U.S. Pat. No. 5,048,578, Japanese Patent Laid-open Pub. No. Hei8-170,782).
These methods are described as follows by way of the case using the plug with a built-in ball valve for example. That is, as illustrated in
FIGS. 17 and 18
, an existing oil drain hole stopcock having a simple plug structure is removed, and instead, a valved plug (stopcock)
201
with a built-in normally-closed ball valve is secured to an oil drain hole
105
. Then, upon the oil change, a dedicated jig
204
is fitted to the plug
201
with the normally-closed ball valve to open the ball valve so that oil
100
within the oil pan
102
is sucked by a negative pressure. After the completion of the drain, the jig
204
is removed to again close the ball valve so that the new oil
100
is filled thereinto. It is to be noted that the suction drain of the oil
100
upon the release of the ball valve is compulsorily made through an oil drain hose
205
by means of a suction device
206
.
This method allows the suction drain of oil by use of the valved plug
201
to be performed through the switching between opening and closing of the valve, so that there is no need for the operation of the removal of the plug and for the operation of rescrewing. It is thus possible to simplify the operation by use of the dedicated jig
204
causing the opening or closing of the ball valve as well as to prevent the workers or environments to be dirtied with oil. Furthermore,since the plug can permanently be fixed, there is advantageously eliminated a possibility of collapsing the threads through the defective operations upon the screwing of the plug or the removal thereof.
Referring to
FIG. 18
, description is made of the detailed structure of the plug
201
with the ball valve and of the status of use of the same. That is, this plug
201
with the ball valve is of a cylindrical shape including a threaded stem
211
screwed into an oil drain hole (externally threaded hole)
105
of the oil pan
102
and including a spring receiving portion
212
projecting from the tip of the threaded stem
211
, with the threaded stem
211
having at its rear end a screwing hexagonal bolt head
213
integral therewith. Note that the top of the spring receiving portion
212
is blocked by a plug
214
serving also as a spring support and that the circumferential wall of the base continuous with the threaded stem is formed with three radial holes
215
circumferentially apart from one another so as to ensure an inflow of the oil into the cylinder. Then, the interior of the cylinder of the threaded stem
211
is provided with a valve seat
217
which is stopped by a ball
216
so that a coiled spring
218
within the spring receiving portion
212
presses the ball
216
against the valve seat
21
Keasel Eric
Reed Smith LLP
Shaver Kevin
LandOfFree
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