Patent ID: 6394413
Filing Date: 2002-05-28
Classification: F16K,Y10T

Abstract:
An irrigation valve, which comprises:(a) a valve housing having an inlet, an outlet, a flow passageway between the inlet and outlet, a valve seat in the flow passageway, and a valve member which closes the valve by moving into engagement with the valve seat for blocking flow between the inlet and outlet and which opens the valve by moving out of engagement with the valve seat for permitting flow between the inlet and outlet; (b) a solenoid carried on the valve housing, wherein the solenoid opens the valve when an electrical actuating signal is received by the solenoid, and further including a fitting rotatably carried on the valve housing for holding the solenoid; and (c) an actuator arm operatively coupled to the solenoid for manipulating the solenoid relative to the housing to manually open the valve when the actuator arm is moved by the user, the actuator arm having an offset configuration with a lower portion and an upper portion, wherein the lower portion of the actuator arm is connected to the rotatable solenoid fitting and manipulates the solenoid relative to the valve housing by rotating the solenoid fitting on the valve housing, and wherein the upper portion of the actuator arm is located vertically above a lower portion of the actuator arm and the actuator arm between the upper and lower portions thereof extends upwardly and outwardly along a portion of the solenoid such that the upper portion of the actuator arm is more easily accessible to the user to be more easily gripped by the user.