Replacement valve assembly

An assembly for home installation replaces a metal-bodied valve in an inner tube with a vulcanized elastomeric valve so that the tube can be safely used for play, such as in a swimming pool. The assembly includes a vulcanized elastomeric cover having a diameter larger than the diameter of the flange of the elastomeric valve, with the cover having a vulcanized bond to the flange of the replacement valve. An annular disk of unvulcanized and vulcanizable material has a central opening fitting around the body of the replacement valve so that the disk underlies the inward facing surface of the valve flange. A nonvulcanizing adhesive temporarily adheres the disk to the flange, and an unvulcanized and vulcanizable material is provided under the cover radially outward from the flange. Release material overlies the unvulcanized material under the flange and the cover, and after the release material is stripped away, the assembly is bondable to the inner tube by vulcanizing the vulcanizable material to bond the flange, disk, cover, and inner tube all together.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
My previous U.S. Pat. No. 3,802,981 generally suggested a way of replacing 
a metal-bodied valve for an inner tube with a vulcanized elastomeric 
valve, but because of the materials and operations involved, the process 
suggested in that patent is not commercially practical for home 
installation. Replacement of metal-bodied valves with vulcanized 
elastomeric valves at a single assembly station greatly reduces the number 
of sales possible if valve replacement could be done at home by amateurs 
without special equipment or materials. 
The invention aims at a replacement valve assembly that can be sold mail 
order or through stores to home users who can bond the assembly securely 
to vulcanized elastomeric articles such as inner tubes without requiring 
special tools or skill. The invention also aims at a secure and reliable 
bond that is completely vulcanized and secures a vulcanized elastomeric 
replacement valve to a previously vulcanized elastomeric article in an 
airtight bond that is reliable and long lasting, even during rough usage 
such as occurs in swimming pools. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The inventive assembly includes a vulcanized elastomeric valve having a 
body with a flange for replacing a metal-bodied valve in a vulcanized 
elastomeric article. The assembly includes a vulcanized elastomeric cover 
having a diameter larger than the diameter of the flange and means forming 
a vulcanized bond between a radially inner portion of the cover and the 
outward facing surface of the flange. An annular disk of unvulcanized and 
vulcanizable material has a central opening encircling the body with the 
disk underlying the inward facing surface of the flange, and a 
nonvulcanizing adhesive temporarily adheres the disk to the flange. Either 
the annular disk, or another layer of unvulcanized and vulcanizable 
material is adjacent the inward facing surface of the cover radially 
outward from the flange, and release material overlies the inward facing 
surface of the unvulcanized and vulcanizable material under the flange and 
the cover. After the release material is removed, the assembly is bondable 
to the vulcanized elastomeric article by vulcanizing the vulcanizable 
material to bond the flange, disk, cover, and article securely together in 
a vulcanized bond.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
Replacing the metal-bodied valves of inner tubes and other vulcanized 
elastomeric articles with vulcanized elastomeric valves is more difficult 
than it might appear. Such articles expand in all directions as they are 
inflated, and the expansion occurs at different rates in different regions 
so that a thin walled portion expands considerably compared to a 
thicker-walled portion providing reinforcement around the original valve 
body. Ordinary adhesives cannot secure the replacement valve to such an 
expandable elastomeric body in a reliable way to maintain an airtight 
seal. This led to use of a vulcanized bond between the replacement parts 
and the original parts in the method suggested in my U.S. Pat. No. 
3,802,981. Because the materials involved in the bond have to be 
vulcanized to secure the bond, the operations involved in practicing my 
previous invention were not commercially practical for home use. 
The assembly of this invention is formed so that it can be installed at 
home by an amateur without any special materials or skill and will still 
produce a completely vulcanized bond integrating the replacement parts 
with the original parts in a secure and airtight seal. This is 
accomplished generally by use of vulcanizable but unvulcanized materials 
arranged so that proper application of bonding materials will result in a 
completely vulcanized bond. 
Assembly 10 of FIG. 1 includes a vulcanized elastomeric cover 11 having an 
abrasion-resistant outer surface and preferably formed of rubber or 
synthetic rubber. The underside of cover 11 has an attached layer of 
unvulcanized but vulcanizable material that is also elastomeric in 
character, and cover 11 is preferably formed in circular disks as 
illustrated with a central hole to receive the head 13 of valve 15. Valve 
15 also has a body 16 with a flange 17, as is conventionally known. 
When cover 11 is originally supplied, unvulcanized and vulcanizable layer 
12 is preferably protected with a removable release sheet that is removed 
before cover 11 is secured to the outward facing surface of flange 17. 
This is done by applying a vulcanizing cement that vulcanizes the 
unvulcanized layer 12 and forms a completely vulcanized bond between the 
outward facing surface of flange 17 and the inward facing surface of cover 
11. Vulcanizing cements are effective only perpendicular to the surfaces 
on which they are applied, so that the portion of unvulcanized layer 12 
that is radially outward from flange 17 is not vulcanized in the process 
of bonding cover 11 to flange 17. 
An annular disk 20 of unvulcanized and vulcanizable material has a central 
opening that preferably closely encircles body 16 so that disk 20 can be 
slipped over body 16 and fit closely against flange 17 as best shown in 
FIG. 2. A nonvulcanizing cement is applied to the underside or inward 
facing surface of flange 17 and the inward facing surface of unvulcanized 
layer 12 on the underside of cover 11 radially outward from flange 17, and 
the nonvulcanizing cement temporarily adheres annular disk 20 to flange 17 
and cover 11. 
Disk 20 is preferably supplied with release sheets on both surfaces, and 
one of these is removed from the upper surface of disk 20 before tacking 
to the underside of flange 17 and cover 11. The other release sheet 21 
remains in place to protect the unvulcanized material in disk 20 until the 
assembly is applied to a previously vulcanized alastomeric article. This 
is done by removing release sheet 21 and using vulcanizing cement 
purchased with assembly 10 to coat the surface of the article around the 
area where the metal-bodied valve was cut out and removed, and then 
pressing assembly 10 in place so that disk 20 is vulcanized in place and 
serves as a vulcanized bonding layer between flange 17, unvulcanized layer 
12, and cover 11, for securely vulcanizing assembly 10 to the article. 
Another preferred embodiment of the inventive valve is shown in FIG. 3 and 
is identical to assembly 10 of FIG. 2, except that unvulcanized layer 12 
on the underside of cover 11 is omitted, and a separately applied 
vulcanizing material is used to form a vulcanized bond between cover 11 
and flange 17. 
The assembly of FIG. 4 is also similar to the assembly of FIG. 2, except 
that annular disk 20 extends radially outward only to the periphery of 
flange 17, so that an additional release sheet 22 is provided to protect 
unvulcanized layer 12 on the underside of cover 11 radially outward from 
disk 20. Alternatively, release sheet 21 protecting disk 20 can extend 
radially outward from disk 20 and underlie and protect unvulcanized layer 
12. 
All of the preferred embodiments of the invention have an unvulcanized but 
vulcanizable layer positioned appropriately relative to valve 15 and cover 
11, so that the home user need merely cut out the metal-bodied valve to be 
replaced in a vulcanized elastomeric article, remove the release material 
from the underside of the inventive assembly, apply a vulcanizing cement 
in the area where the assembly is to be bonded to the article, and 
securely press the assembly against the cement-coated area of the article 
to accomplish a complete vulcanization of all unvulcanized material for an 
integral bonding of the replacement valve to the article. Then when the 
article expands at differing rates in differing regions as it is inflated, 
the vulcanized bond is itself elastomeric enough to yield in response to 
the inflating forces and maintain a secure and airtight bond, even though 
the article is subjected to rough use such as in a swimming pool. 
Vulcanizing cements capable of accomplishing the desired vulcanization of 
unvulcanized materials in the inventive assembly are generally known in 
the art, as are nonvulcanizing cements capable of temporarily tacking 
annular disk 20 in place prior to its vulcanization in the final bond of 
the inventive assembly to a previously vulcanized article. Workers skilled 
in the art will also appreciate the different materials and release sheets 
or protective covers that are available in the art for practicing the 
invention as applied to a variety of previously vulcanized articles.