Abstract:
A lockable sprayer shutoff valve has a housing and an upstream hose insert which is slip-fit into the upstream end of a slidably mounted valve sleeve. An O-ring seal is provided between the hose insert and the valve sleeve. The downstream end of the valve sleeve is slip-fit with an O-ring seal over the upstream end of a tubular wand sleeve supported in the downstream end of the housing. A valve plug is generally centered in the valve sleeve for sealing contact with the downstream end of the hose insert when the valve sleeve is in a closed position. When the valve is in the open position fluid is allowed to flow through the hose insert, around the valve plug through slot openings which circumscribe the plug, through the valve sleeve and through the wand sleeve. At least one locking finger is provided on the valve housing. The locking finger can be positioned to interfere with the sliding movement of the valve sleeve and thereby lock the valve sleeve in either the open or closed position.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to a shutoff valve for use with a tank-type, portable, pressurized sprayer assembly. For example, in the usual garden-type sprayer, a tank is used to contain an aqueous solution of fertilizer or insecticide. The tank is pressurized by either being connected to a water inlet causing pressure to build in the tank by trapping air or a hand pump is used to pressurize the tank. The valve is usually connected to a flexible hose which leads to a dispensing wand having an adjustable nozzle on the end for providing various spray patterns and even a single stream of liquid. 
     It has not been uncommon in the past for the valves to leak, particularly when the tank is pressurized and the handle of the valve is actuated frequently turning the liquid stream on and off. When the liquid from the tank leaks, fertilizer and/or insecticide comes into contact with the hand of the gardener possibly presenting a potential health hazard or certainly causing concern on the part of the user. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In the shutoff valve of the present invention, an upstream input member and a spaced downstream outlet member are supported in a housing with a valve sleeve slidably mounted on the input and outlet members. A valve plug is supported in the valve sleeve and the valve sleeve is movable such that the valve plug can be moved into position closing the input member or into a position spaced from and thereby opening the input member to allow fluid to flow through the input member, through the valve sleeve, past the plug and out through the outlet member. 
     For a more complete understanding of the present invention and the advantages thereof, reference is now made to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is an elevational view showing the shutoff valve of the present invention; 
     FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing the interior of the shutoff valve in the closed or off position; 
     FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the shutoff valve shown in the open condition; 
     FIG. 4 is an elevational view of the outside of one of the two pieces making up the housing for the valve with a threaded portion at the upstream end; 
     FIG. 5 is a view of the interior of the other one of the two pieces making up the housing for the valve with a path for a twist lock at the upstream end; 
     FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken on the line 6--6 of FIG. 5 showing a locking mechanism for the valve; 
     FIG. 7 is a sectional view showing the inside of the lock piece for the valve; and 
     FIG. 8 is an end elevational view of the lock piece showing the lock actuating surfaces. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Referring to FIG. 1, the shutoff valve of the present invention is shown and indicated generally by the number 10. The valve has a housing 11, an actuating handle 13, a locking member or lock piece 15, an extension nut 17 for holding a dispensing wand in place in the valve assembly, and a hose nut 18 which serves to fasten the two sides of the housing together. 
     The parts for the shutoff valve assembly are all made of plastic or polymeric materials and are fabricated through conventional molding techniques. Suitable polymeric materials are polyethylene, polypropylene, polycarbonate and ABS plastics. The several parts making up the valve assembly can be colored by mixing suitable pigments into the polymeric material before the part is formed. To protect each part from the effects of ultraviolet radiation, a stabilizer can be added to the plastic material prior to the molding process. 
     An important consideration in the design of the valve was to be able to use commodity plastics rather than metal or engineering plastics, which can be expensive and difficult to work with. By designing the valve to take into consideration the large tolerance ranges of commodity plastics, the desired performance and repeatability of the mechanism was obtained with readily available and easily worked materials. 
     Each of the parts which are gripped by the fingers to be moved in operation of the valve have configured surfaces. For example, hose nut 18 has spaced raised ridges 19 about its surface to facilitate gripping by the fingers. Likewise, extension nut 17 has raised ribs 21 about its surface. Locking piece 15 is slidably moved by the fingers from the locked to the unlocked position and vice versa, and has raised ridges 23 along its surface. Housing 11 also has spaced raised ribs 25 to help the user of the valve control the orientation of the valve in the user&#39;s hand. Operating handle 13 preferably does not have raised ridges along the finger grip portion in order to facilitate the sliding of the fingers as the handle is compressed toward the housing 11. 
     Valve 10 is most often in the closed position as shown in FIG. 2. Momentarily referring to FIG. 5, the interior of one-half of the housing assembly is shown. Spaced along the interior of the housing assembly are a plurality of projecting portions which would normally continue about the interior of the housing. When the two housing halves are joined together, the projections form gripping faces to circumscribe two of the three major valve components making up the shutoff valve of the present invention. The internal projections, shown top and bottom, will be given the same part number since the beginning and ending face of each projection is shown in FIG. 5. Projections 27, 29, 31 and 33 are molded on the interior of the housing when the part is formed. 
     Referring to FIG. 5, the inner edges of the two housing halves have spaced pins (not shown) and locating holes 20 for receiving the pins. Also, mating 22 snaps are positioned near the locating pins and locating holes with one-half of each snap being positioned opposite the other half on each side of the housing. The locating pins and mating snaps keep the two housing halves in alignment and joined together. 
     Within the housing are three major components making up the valve assembly, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. A hose insert member 35 is positioned at the upstream end of the valve assembly. A wand sleeve 37 is positioned at the downstream or outlet end of the valve assembly and a valve sleeve 39 is shown supported on the ends of hose insert 35 and the wand sleeve 37. 
     Hose insert member 35 has a compound configured outer surface. A barb-like surface 41 is formed where a hose 42 would be slid over the input to the hose insert. The surface 41 can have a plurality of circumferential barbs to grip the interior of the hose. A hose clamp or snap-ring 43 is used to hold the hose in place on barb-like portions 41. Interior projection portions 27 and 29 on the interior of housing 11 grip projecting portions 45 and 47 on the outer surface of hose insert 35. These portions cooperate to hold the hose insert in place in the input end of the valve assembly. Orientation faces 49 are formed on the top and bottom of the hose insert member to prevent the hose from causing the hose insert to rock up and down within the housing and to possibly break where the hose insert is gripped by the internal projections on housing 11. Along the outer surface of the exit portion of hose insert 35 are a plurality of spaced circumferential projections 51. These projections provide a guide surface for valve sleeve 39 with the space between the projections providing a space for an annular sealing member or packing member 53. The preferred packing member is an O-ring made of Buna rubber or Viton polymeric material. While only one packing member 53 is shown, space is available for a second member. Hose insert member 35 has a tubular bore 55 at the input end which steps down at a shoulder 57 to a more narrow bore 59. 
     Near the opposite end of the housing assembly is positioned the wand sleeve indicated generally by the number 37. Positioned on the outer surface near the input to wand sleeve 37 are a plurality of spaced circumferential projections 61. Between the spaced circumferential projecting portions is a resilient annular seal 63 which, like seal 53, is preferably an O-ring. The wand sleeve 37 has a narrow input passage 65 which expands at 67 to a tubular portion 69. The end of an extension wand 71 is shown in place within sleeve 69. The wand is held in place by extension nut 17 which is threadedly engaged at 73 to the housing 11. 
     Referring now to FIG. 3, valve sleeve 39 is shown supported on the circumferential projecting portions 51 of hose insert 35 and on projecting portions 61 of wand sleeve 37. O-rings 53 and 63 provide a fluid-tight seal along the inner surface of slidable valve sleeve 39 to confine the liquid to the passage through the valve. 
     Referring again to FIG. 2, the valve is shown in the closed position with a seal plug 75 blocking the exit of tubular passage 59. The seal plug is of a substantially conical configuration which is easily guided into the exit aperture of hose insert 35 as the valve sleeve 39 moves to close the valve. The seal plug can be made of the same types of materials used to make the annular seal members. The seal plug is supported within a seal plug frame 77 which is substantially centered within the interior of slidable valve sleeve 39. A plurality of circumferential apertures 79 are spaced about valve plug 75 to enable fluid to flow past the valve plug when the valve is opened. 
     Actuating handle 13 has a pivot pin 81 for supporting the handle within pivot jaw 83 on housing 11. A projection 85 extends upwardly, as shown in FIG. 2, through an aperture 87 in the bottom of the housing and contacts the sliding valve sleeve 39. It is preferred to have two spaced projecting portions on the handle to contact opposite sides of valve sleeve 39. The projecting portions are used to cam valve sleeve 39 to the open position as handle 13 is drawn toward housing 11. A spring 93 is mounted on the outer surface of valve sleeve 39 and abuts a projecting portion 95 on the exterior of the valve sleeve and a projecting portion 31 on the interior of housing 11. Spring 93 urges the valve sleeve to the closed position forcing valve plug 75 into the exit of hose insert 35. The spring also puts pressure on projection 85 of handle 13 urging the handle away from housing 11 where it is confined by face 89 on the handle and face 91 on the housing. 
     When it is desired to open the valve, as shown in FIG. 3, handle 13 is drawn toward housing 11 causing spaced projecting portions 85, only one of which is shown, to slide along abutment 95 on valve sleeve 39 camming the valve sleeve forward compressing spring 93 and withdrawing valve plug 75 from hose insert 35, enabling the liquid to flow from the hose through the hose insert and through the spaced circumferential apertures 79 in valve plug support frame 77. The liquid passes through the apertures in the support frame into wand sleeve 37 and then into dispensing wand 71. The rate of flow of the liquid through the valve can be controlled by the position of actuating handle 13. When it is desired to close the valve, handle member 13 can be released causing bias spring 93 to push the valve sleeve member back toward the hose insert forcing valve plug 75 into the passage 59. 
     Referring again to FIG. 1, locking member 15 is shown disposed on the top of valve assembly 10. Locking member 15 is slidably mounted and can be actuated by the thumb for movement back and forth, or left and right, as shown in FIG. 1, to lock or open the valve, respectively. FIG. 4 shows the exterior of one-half of housing 11 which can be joined with the other half of the housing, shown in FIG. 5, to form a complete housing. It should be noted, however, that in FIG. 4 the hose nut 18 would be threadedly attached to the threaded portion 97 while in FIG. 5 a hose nut with spaced internal studs or bayonets (not shown) would join the two housing halves by cooperating with the dogleg-shaped channel 99. The projecting studs on the hose nut would be inserted into the channel 99 and then moved forward and twisted moving the studs into the portion 101 where the housing assembly and the hose nut would be locked together. When the two sides of the housing are joined together by hose nut 18, locking member 15 can be slid over the front of the housing causing projections 103 (FIG. 7) to enter into the elongated slot 105 (FIG. 4) above locking member 107. The projecting portion 103 on locking member 15 can then be moved back and forth in slot 105. 
     Locking member 107, as seen in FIG. 6, has an inner projecting portion 109 which is used to interfere with the sliding motion of valve sleeve 39. For example, when operating handle 13 is biased away from housing 11, locking member 15 can be slid to the left, as shown in the figures, to cause projecting portion 109 to abut valve sleeve 39 holding it in place in the closed position. On the other hand, when operating handle 13 is compressed and drawn toward housing 11, locking member 15 can again be slid toward the left, as shown in the figures, to cause projection 109 to grip the valve sleeve holding it in place in the open position when handle 13 is released. Locking member 15 has a camming surface 111 (FIGS. 7 and 8) which forces locking member 107 toward the interior of housing 11 when the locking member is moved to the left. 
     The valve assembly of the present invention can easily be disassembled for cleaning and repair by first removing extension nut 17. Pivot pin 81 can then be pressed out of the gripping jaw 83. The locking member 15 can then be removed by prying one side away from the housing 11 enough for projecting portion 103 to be free of elongated slot 105. The locking member can then be slid forward off the housing. The hose nut 18 can then be removed. The mating snaps holding the two halves of the housing together can then be released by depressing one edge of the housing along the center line. The halves of the housing will easily separate allowing access to the internal parts for cleaning and maintenance. The valve can easily be assembled by simply reversing the above procedure. 
     Though the invention has been described with respect to a specific preferred embodiment thereof, many variations and modifications will become apparent to those skilled in the art. It is therefore the intention that the appended claims be interpreted as broadly as possible in view of the prior art to include all such variations and modifications.