MXPA00007180A - Unitary fitting and ball-valve. - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides in combination with a ball-valve, an improvement comprising a threadless metallic fitting that incorporates both a male portion and a female portion formed as an integral unitary structure extending from at least one end wall of a housing portion of the ball-valve. The threadless metallic fitting includes a sleeve portion having a female interior surface adapted for receiving one of a tube and a pipe section therein and a male exterior surface having at least two distinct cylindrical sections. There is also a driver member having at least two distinct cylindrical sections for engaging the male exterior surface of the sleeve portion for deforming the sleeve portion and concurrently deforming such one of such tube and pipe section engaged within the sleeve portion when the driver member is forced longitudinally along the male exterior surface of the sleeve portion so as to effect an air tight seal between the pipe section and the female interior surface of the fitting.

Description

UNIT SPHERE AND ADAPTER VALVE Field of the Invention The present invention relates to ball valves or ball valves integrally provided with LOKRING ™ adapters. The LOKRI NG ™ adapters are manufactured by the Thermo Sealed Castings Company of Burlington, Ontario Canada, a subsidiary of the Wetinghouse Air Brake Company who is the guardian of the present application. The term LOKRING ™ is a registered trademark of the Westinghouse Air Brake Company.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION Sphere valves are used in a variety of pipe, tube and conduit systems that handle gases and liquids. A typical sphere valve includes a central sphere provided with a direct passage or passage. In a manually operated valve, a handle is connected to the sphere to rotate the sphere and the direct passage in a way that either aligns to the direct passage with the opposite ports on the valve cover or is placed at the direct pass in the form transversal to the ports. LOKRI NG ™ adapters are used to join pipes and pipes together without the need to weld the adapters to the pipes and pipes. Rather, a male end of the adapter is inserted into one end of a pipe or tube and the pipe or tube is reduced in diameter at the male end by means of a hydraulic tool. The connection made by such reduction is air-tight and fluid-tight, since LOKRING ™ has a pre-tensioned elastic load that provides an expansion force against a compressive force on the end of the pipe as provided by the tool hydraulics. Welding a pipe to the valve bodies is not desirable for several reasons. For example, when welding a pipe to the body of a sphere wrench, the sphere wrench must be removed and the seals removed from the sphere wrench so that the heat of the welding process does not damage the seals. Another problem with such welding is in the case where the ball valve and the pipe are located close to walls or other structures where it is difficult to provide the complete welding step around the circumference of the pipe and sphere wrench. A male nozzle of the LOKRI NG ™ adapter can be provided with a thread which can be threaded into a threaded opening in the body of the ball valve. However, threaded connections are not always reliable since they provide opportunities for leakage.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In the present invention, a cover for the ball valve is provided with an integral LOKRI NG adapter which provides a unitary subassembly so that there is no threaded connection between the ball valve cover and the LOKRI NG ™ structure. and it is not necessary to weld the valve and pipe in the field, since the pipe and tubing can be connected to a male nozzle of the LOKRING ™ in an air / liquid tight manner described above. The integral ball valve cover and the LOKRING ™ adapter can be manufactured by a number of suitable manufacturing processes to provide the unit sub-assembly of the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The present invention, together with its objects and advantages, will be better understood by considering the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings in which the single Figure is a section of a partial lateral and longitudinal elevation of a piece. of a combination of the ball valve and the LOKRING ™ adapter.

Detailed Description of the Invention With reference now to the Figure of the drawing, an integral combination of a sphere or ball valve / adapter LOKRING ™, designated with the number 10 usually shows us that it includes the body of the cover 12 of a valve or sphere wrench. The body of the cover 12 includes end walls 14 with both walls 14 showing that they are formed integrally with a male nozzle 16 of the LOKRING ™ adapters 18.

It should be understood that the valve can be provided with an integral adapter. The covers of the sphere keys are generally provided with at least one end wall 14 which is detachable from the cover suitable for mounting and dismounting the internal components of the sphere wrench. As explained above, the cover 12 of a sphere or sphere valve key contains a sphere 20 (visible only partially in the re) provided with a direct pass or bore 22 (shown with the dotted line). The sphere 20 can be operated manually on the cover 12 by means of a handle 24 mechanically connected to the sphere 20. Alternatively, the ball valve can be operated in electrical form. When the sphere 20 is rotated to align the passage 22 with the opposite ports 25 and 26 of the valve, the valve is in an "open" position to allow the passage of a fluid or the pressure of a fluid therethrough. When the sphere 20 is rotated to a position that places the passage 22 generally transversely to the ports, the valve is closed. As explained above, ball valves or valves are used extensively in the industry, including the railway industry, to control the flow of numerous fluids and fluid pressures. It is, therefore, often necessary to connect said ball valves to pipes used in the industry. Until now, said ball valves were connected to the pipes by means of contribution threads, welding either the socket or the screw, or by screwing rope with rope (using a rope typically welded to the end of the pipe). Similarly, as previously considered, LOKRING ™ adapters are used throughout the industry to connect pipes and tubing together in series in an airtight manner without the need for welding. As previously presented, the LOKRING ™ adapters are manufactured by the Thermo Sealed Castings of Burlington, Ontario Canada, a subsidiary of the Westinghouse Air Brake Company. The LOKRING ™ adapter is an adapter that has a male nozzle that has a spring loaded preload, described above, which is inserted into the end of a pipe, compressing the end of the pipe into the nozzle by means of a drive bushing or an impeller sleeve with a hydraulic tool (not shown). Before being joined, the outer diameter of the male nozzle is machined, generally, to the internal diameter of the end of the pipe so that the fit between the two is suitable to be joined in an air-tight manner by means of the hydraulic tool. The machining provides appropriate dimensional tolerances for an effective joint. After the pipe is compressed into the male nozzle, the end of the pipe exerts a compressive force on the male nozzle while the preload elastic tension of the male nozzle exerts an outwardly directed force against the compressive force of the pipe . Together, these two forces provide a very effective seal without the need to thread or weld the pipe and the lockring together. In the drawing, the cover 12 of the ball valve is provided with a LOKRI NG ™ 18 adapter on both sides in such a way that the valve body is easily usable to quickly and serially connect the adjacent ends of two pipes 28 to the body of the valve. If only one end of the valve is provided with the LOKRI NG ™ 18 integral adapter, the other end of the valve can be connected by other means. The materials of the adapter 18 and the valve 12 can be stainless steel 304, 31 6 or 4IGL, ordinary steel ASTM A276 or A479, ASTM A675 or ASM AW6, or a nickel copper alloy. It can be appreciated that with said integral adapter, the combination of the ball valve and the adapter may not require welding in the pipe, or threaded connections of the pipe, and the connection of the sphere wrench to the pipes, pipes and hoses is a substantial improvement over said welding and thread connections. Since a presently preferred embodiment for carrying out the present invention has been set forth in detail, those skilled in the art of pneumatic and hydraulic connections to which the present invention pertains will recognize various alternative ways to practice the present invention without deviating from the principle and the scope of the Claims appended thereto.

Claims (5)

R E I V I N D I C A I N N E S Having described the present invention, it is considered as a novelty and, therefore, the content of the following CLAIMS is claimed as property:

1 . A combination of a male adapter and a ball valve wherein the male adapter and the ball valve cover comprise a unitary structure including a male nozzle positioned in and extending from at least one end of the cover of the ball valve. ball valve.

2. A combination of a male adapter and a ball valve as described in Claim 1, further characterized in that the male nozzle is integrally formed with an end wall of the ball valve cover.

3. A combination of a male adapter and a ball valve as described in Claim 1, further characterized in that the male nozzle has an outer diameter that is machined to an appropriate dimensional tolerance.

4. A combination of a male adapter and a ball valve as described in Claim 1, further characterized in that the material of the valve cover and the male adapter is selected from a group consisting of stainless steel and ordinary steel.

5. A combination of a male adapter and a ball valve as described in Claim 1, further characterized in that the material of the valve cover and the male adapter is a nickel copper alloy. RESUEN A combination of a male adapter and a ball valve wherein a male adapter and a ball valve cover comprise a unitary structure including a male nozzle positioned in and extending from at least one end of the valve cover of sphere.