Abstract:
The present invention relates to an air valve, including a valve body, an air valve adjusting pipe, an adjusting bolt, an airtight ring and a screw cap. With the geometric shapes of the air valve adjusting pipe and the adjusting bolt, the airtight ring installed onto the adjusting bolt is in contact with the internal wall of the air valve adjusting pipe to achieve a totally airtight effect and adjusting the level of airtightness.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to an air valve adjusting switch assembly, and more particularly to an air valve adjusting switch assembly using an airtight ring to achieve a total airtightness or adjust the level of airtightness of an air valve switch. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     In general, an air valve is primarily used for restricting a gas from flowing into an air valve body. If a user wants to change the flow of the gas, the user simply needs to control an adjusting switch of the air valve. However, the gas may leak easily when the user turns the adjusting switch, due to a poor internal structure of the switch. As to the air valve switch used for controlling the flow of a dangerous gas such as petroleum gas, the issue of leakage becomes a safety concern. 
     To prevent the leakage of an air valve, manufacturers and designers generally adopt a complicated structure with many components for the prevention of leakage. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,349,984 discloses a check valve provided for preventing a leakage, and the check valve includes a spring and a valve component, such that an elastomeric apertured plug plugged into a position of the valve body for stopping a leak. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,681,132, a check valve with a preset cracking pressure is disclosed for preventing a leakage, and the check valve includes a valve element reciprocatally positioned within a valve body, and both of the valve body and the valve element including valve seats seal together when the valve element is urged forwardly within the valve body. A plug is positioned within the rear of the valve body to constantly urge the valve element forwardly, thereby defining a cracking pressure necessary to unseat the valve seats to allow the flow of fluid through the valve body. 
     Since the conventional design of valves usually comes with a complicated structure with many components, the maintenance, repair or replacement of components become difficult, if it is necessary to replace a component that is worn out after being used for a long time. Obviously, the structure of the conventional valve requires improvements. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The primary objective of the present invention is to overcome the shortcomings of the prior art by providing an air valve adjusting switch assembly. With the design and the geometric shape of an air valve adjusting pipe and an adjusting bolt, an airtight ring installed on an adjusting bolt is in contact with the internal wall of an air valve adjusting pipe for achieving a total airtightness effect or adjusting the level of airtightness. 
     Another objective of the present invention is to design an adjusting bolt with a conic structure, and a shoulder portion is disposed at a distal edge of the bottom of the conic structure, so that the adjusting bolt can be installed and connected to the air valve adjusting pipe, and shoulder portion is provided for latching into air valve adjusting pipe, so that the adjusting bolt will not be loosened or fallen out easily from the air valve adjusting pipe. 
     To achieve the foregoing objectives, the present invention provides an air valve adjusting switch assembly, comprising: a valve body, having an air flow passage, an air valve adjusting pipe installed on a lateral side of the valve body and vertically interconnected with the air valve adjusting pipe, and an internal side of the air valve adjusting pipe being coupled to a portion with a tapered-neck opening of the air flow passage; an adjusting bolt, installed in the air valve adjusting pipe, and having a front end extended into the air flow passage for adjusting the size of the air flow passage, and a conic structure formed on the adjusting bolt corresponding to a portion of the tapered-neck opening of the air valve adjusting pipe; a circular groove, concavely disposed on the conic structure of the adjusting bolt; an airtight ring, being an elastic ring sheathed onto the circular groove of the adjusting bolt, and attached closely with the tapered-neck opening; and a screw cap, rotatably installed at the top of the air valve adjusting pipe, for sealing the air valve adjusting pipe by the adjusting bolt. 
     To make it easier for our examiner to understand the objects, characteristics and advantages of the present invention, preferred embodiments and related drawings are used for the detailed description of the present invention as follows: 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is an exploded view of an air valve adjusting switch assembly in accordance with the present invention; and 
         FIG. 2  is a cross-sectional view of an air valve adjusting switch assembly in accordance with the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     The present invention relates to an air valve adjusting switch assembly using an elastic airtight ring to achieve the airtight effect of an air valve switch, and preferred embodiments used for illustrating the invention are described as follows. 
     Referring to  FIG. 1  for an exploded view of an air valve adjusting switch assembly in accordance with the present invention, the air valve adjusting switch assembly  100  comprises a valve body  110 , an air valve adjusting pipe  120 , an adjusting bolt  130 , an airtight ring  140 , and a screw cap  150 . The valve body  110  includes an air flow passage  111 , and the air valve adjusting pipe  120  is installed on a lateral side of the valve body  110  and vertically interconnected with the air flow passage  111 . The internal side of the air valve adjusting pipe  120  is coupled with a portion of the air flow passage  111  having a tapered-neck opening  121 , and a screw thread  122  is disposed on the external side of the top of a pipe opening of the air valve adjusting pipe  120 . The adjusting bolt  130  is installed into the air valve adjusting pipe  120 , and a front end of the adjusting bolt  130  is extended into the air flow passage  111  for adjusting the size of the air flow passage  111 , and a conic structure  131  is formed at a portion of the adjusting bolt  130  corresponding to the tapered-neck opening  121  of the air valve adjusting pipe  120  for facilitating the conic structure  131  of the adjusting bolt  130  to be concavely disposed into a circular groove  132 . The airtight ring  140  is an elastic ring such as a rubber ring, and the airtight ring  140  is sheathed onto the circular groove  132  of the adjusting bolt  130 . With the elastic material of the airtight ring  140 , the airtight ring  140  is attached closely with the tapered-neck opening  121  to achieve the airtight effect of the air valve adjusting pipe  120 . The internal wall of the screw cap  150  has a plurality of thread teeth  151  rotatably engaged with the screw thread  122  at the pipe opening of the air valve adjusting pipe  120  and rotatably screwed to the top of the air valve adjusting pipe  120  for sealing the air valve adjusting pipe  120  by the adjusting bolt  130 . 
     Referring to  FIG. 2  for a cross-sectional view of an air valve adjusting switch assembly in accordance with the present invention, the adjusting bolt  130  is installed into the air valve adjusting pipe  120 , and the screw cap  150  is sealed onto the air valve adjusting pipe  120 . In the meantime, the conic structure  131  at the front section of the adjusting bolt  130  is engaged with the tapered-neck opening  121  of the air valve adjusting pipe  120 , so that the airtight ring  140  fixed onto the adjusting bolt  130  and concavely disposed in the circular groove  132  can be attached closely to the tapered-neck opening  121 . If the screw cap  150  is screwed with the air valve adjusting pipe  120  to seal the air valve adjusting pipe  120  by the adjusting bolt  130 , the airtight ring  140  will be squeezed by the tapered-neck opening  121  and the conic structure  131  to resume its original status, so as to achieve a total airtight effect of the air valve adjusting pipe  120 . 
     To prevent the adjusting bolt  130  installed in the air valve adjusting pipe  120  from being loosened or pulled out easily, a shoulder portion  132  is designed at a distal edge at the bottom of the conic structure having the adjusting bolt  130 , and the external diameter of the shoulder portion  132  is slightly greater than the hole diameter of the air flow passage  111 , such that after the adjusting bolt  130  is installed to the air valve adjusting pipe  120 , the shoulder portion  133  can be latched into the air valve adjusting pipe  120  to prevent the adjusting bolt  120  from loosened or pulled out easily from the air valve adjusting pipe. To facilitate the rotation and the adjustment of the screw cap  150 , a rough surface is designed for the surface of an external periphery of the screw cap  150  for the slippery-resisting purpose. As shown in  FIG. 1 , the external periphery of the screw cap  150  comes with continuous wavy arc shaped protrusions to improve the friction for turning the screw cap  150 . 
     By turning and screwing the screw cap  150  onto the pipe opening of the air valve adjusting pipe  120 , users can seal the air valve adjusting pipe  120  and adjust the position of the adjusting bolt  130  in the air valve adjusting pipe  120 , so as to adjust the size of the air flow passage  111 . With the design of the airtight ring  140 , the airtight effect of the air valve switch can be achieved, regardless of the size of the adjusting valve. 
     The present invention employs fewer components, and thus makes the maintenance and repair much easier. After the airtight ring  140  has been used for a while and becomes elastic exhausted, users simply need to turn and separate the screw cap  150  from the air valve adjusting pipe  120 , and pull the adjusting bolt  130  out from the air valve adjusting pipe  120 , and then replace the airtight ring  140  concavely fixed onto the circular groove  132  of the adjusting bolt  130  by a new airtight ring  140 , and finally reinstall the adjusting bolt  130  and the screw cap  150  to their original positions to complete an easy and convenient replacement of components. 
     In summation of the above description, the present invention herein enhances the performance than the conventional structure and further complies with patent application requirements and is thus duly filed for patent application. 
     While the invention has been described by means of specific embodiments, numerous modifications and variations could be made thereto by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention set forth in the claims.