Abstract:
A check valve for use in a pressure balance faucet. It is mainly made up of a control valve body, a check valve block, a pair of positioning pins, two seal rings, a pair check valve sets and a valve mount. The check valve sets are secured to the check valve block which is housed between the control valve body and the valve mount that are in threaded engagement with each other. As the valve sets are worn out, they can be easily and quickly replaced by first dismantling the control valve body from the valve mount and then the check valve block being picked out by pincers to get the valve sets replaced with ease, speed in a DIY manner.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    The present invention relates to an improved check valve for use in a pressure balance faucet. It is mainly made up of a control valve body, a check valve block, a pair of positioning pins, two seal rings, a pair check valve sets and a valve mount. The check valve sets are secured to the check valve block which is housed between the check valve body and the valve mount that are in threaded engagement with each other. As the valve sets are worn out, they can be easily and quickly replaced by first dismantling the control valve body from the valve mount and then the check valve block being picked out by pincers to get the valve sets replaced with ease, speed in a DIY manner.  
           [0002]    Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional check valve for use in a faucet is mainly made up of a valve body  10  and a pair of check valve sets  20 . The valve body  10  is a hollow housing with a water discharge control handle at the top and is equipped with a hot and cold water pipeline connector  11  at the right and left side of its bottom. The connectors  11  are provided with inner threads  12  respectively. To the top and bottom of the valve body  10  is symmetrically coupled a water outlet duct  13 . Each check valve set  20  has a connecting pipe  21  and a check valve  22 . The connecting pipe  21  is hollow tube and has an externally threaded section  212  at each end. The check valve  22  has a hollow mounting seat  221  which is provided with a through hole  222  at the center of one end with a plurality of ribs outside the through hole. A spiral spring  223  is disposed in alignment with the through hole  222  and has a valve rod  224  engaged with the center thereof and led through the through hole  222 . The valve rod  224  has one large step-like end to prevent the same from disengaging from the mounting seat  221  which is wrapped with a sleeve  225 . Inside the sleeve  225  the mounting seat  221  can be rotated. A seal ring  226  is attached to the right end of the sleeve  225 .  
           [0003]    Such a prior art check valve structure has a following disadvantage in use: The mounting seat  221 , sleeve  225  and seal ring  226  are made of rubber or plastics, and they will become hardened or shrunk after long period of use. The check valves  22  are easily out of function as the spring  224  is in fatigue. The check valves  22  of the check valve sets  20  must be replaced with the wall  30  partially removed, and the wall  30  must be repaired later the replacement. The cost of such a replacement is too high to be acceptable and the time is wasted.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0004]    The primary object of the present invention is to provide an improved check valve for use in a pressure balance faucet whose worn out parts can be easily and quickly replaced without structural damage of the wall around the fixed faucet.  
           [0005]    Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved check valve for use in a pressure balance faucet wherein the check valve can effectively stop reverse flow of hot or cold water by way of a spring biased valve rod which can seal a stop hole of a sleeve of the check valve. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0006]    [0006]FIG. 1 is a sectional diagram showing the assembly of a prior art;  
         [0007]    [0007]FIG. 2 is a perspective diagram showing the exploded components of the present invention;  
         [0008]    [0008]FIG. 3 is a sectional diagram showing the assembly of the present invention;  
         [0009]    [0009]FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the operation mode of the present invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0010]    Referring to FIG. 2, the present invention is made up of a control valve body  40 , a check valve block  50 , a pair of positioning pins  60 , two seal rings  70 , a pair check valve sets and a valve mount  90 .  
         [0011]    The control valve body  40  has a control handle  41  at one end and the other end is provided with an externally threaded junction  42  in which a pair of symmetric cold/hot water mixing outlet  43  are defined at the upper and lower position thereof. In communication with the cold/hot water mixing outlet  43  are disposed cold/hot water inlets  44 . To the left side of the center line of the mixing outlet  43  are disposed retaining columns  45  at the upper and lower portion.  
         [0012]    The check valve block  50  is provided with a pair of ring recesses  51  at the front side thereof with a pivot retaining hole  52  of a proper depth defined at the center of each ring recesses  51 . A smaller limiting through hole  53  is in communication with each retaining hole  52 . At the front side of the check valve block  50  are also disposed a pair of retaining cavities  54  each located at the summit and bottom of the left ring recess  51 . At the rear side of the check valve block  50  is disposed a water outlet  55 . There are two water inlets  56  disposed on the rear side and communicating with the pivot retaining hole  52  and the limiting through hole  53 . The water inlets  56  operate in match with the cold/hot water inlets  44  of the control valve body  40 . On the rear side and to the left portion thereof are disposed a pair of symmetric retaining holes  57  of a proper depth which match in position with the retaining columns  45  of the control valve body  40 . A water outlet  58  is located at the upper portion of the rear side of the control valve body  40  and matches in position with the mixing outlet  43  of the control valve body  40 .  
         [0013]    The positioning pins  60  are a two-staged rod. The seal ring  70  is fit to the ring recesses  51  of the check valve block  50 . Each check valve set  80  is made up of a sleeve mount  81 , a spring  82 , a valve stick  83  and a sleeve  84 . The sleeve mount  81  is a hollow tube with a stop flange  811  of a proper size at one end having a central through hole  812  for the passage of the distal end of the valve stick  83 . A plurality of axial ribs  813  are disposed around the central through hole  812  with a small retaining section  814  extending at the end of the sleeve mount  81 . The spring  82  is registered with the central through hole  812  and the valve stick  83  which has an axially extended rod  831  and an abutment disc  832 . A seal ring  833  is attached to the abutment disc  832 .  
         [0014]    At the front end of the sleeve  84  is disposed a sealing section  841  and a closure hole  842  of a smaller diameter for the limiting of the abutment disc  832  of the valve stick  83 . At the opposite end of the sleeve  84  is disposed a snap means (not shown) in correspondence to the retaining section  814  of the sleeve mount  81 . The valve mount  90  has an extended duct  91  at the front with an internally threaded section  92  and a receiving interior  93  in the duct  91  for housing the check valve block  50 . On the inner end wall of the receiving interior  93  is defined a pair of positioning holes  94  in alignment with the retaining cavities  54  of the check valve block  50  and a pair of cold and hot water inlet holes  95  are located at the central portion of the end wall in match with the pivot retaining holes  52  of the check valve block  50 . At the summit of the round inner end wall is disposed a cold and hot mixing water outlet hole  96  in alignment with the water outlet  58  of the check valve block  50 . To each side of the extended duct  91  are symmetrically disposed a horizontal cold and hot water inlet duct  97  which are in communication with the cold and hot water inlet holes  95  respectively. To the upper and lower side of the extended duct  91  are connected a cold and hot mixing water connecting duct  98  both in communication with the cold and hot mixing water outlet hole  96 .  
         [0015]    Referring to FIG. 3, in the assembly, the spring  82  of each check valve set  80  is engaged with the rod  831  of the valve stick  83  and the end of the rod  831  is registered with the through hole  812  of the sleeve mount  81 . At then the spring  82  abuts against the axial ribs  813  of the sleeve mount  81  and is retained between the valve stick  83  and the sleeve mount  81 . Afterwards, the sleeve  84  is tightly registered with the retaining section  814  of the sleeve mount  81  with the end of the sleeve  84  in sealing contact against the abutment flange  811  of the sleeve mount  81 . Accordingly, the abutment disc  832  of the valve stick  83  and the seal ring  833  are retained in the retaining hole  842  of the sleeve  84 . Next, the assembled check valve sets  80  are respectively housed in the pivot retaining hole  52  of the check valve block  50  and are pushed against the end surface of the limiting through hole  53 .  
         [0016]    The sealing section  841  of the sleeve  84  is in sealing engagement with the pivot retaining hole  52  respectively. Afterwards, the positioning pins  60  are respectively housed in the retaining cavities  54  and the seal rings  70  are placed in the ring recessed cavities  51  of the check valve block  50  which is then registered With the extended duct  91  of the valve mount  90 . The positioning pins  60  disposed on the check valve block  50  are engaged with the positioning holes  94  of the receiving interior  93  of the valve mount  90  after the check valve block  50  is located in place. Then the control valve body  40  is locked to the valve mount  90  by way of the externally threaded junction  42  of the valve body  40  and the internally threaded section  92  of the valve mount  90 . The two retaining columns  45  of the control valve body  40  register with the two retaining holes  57  of the check valve block  50 . Then the cold and hot water pipes  31  are coupled to the cold and hot water inlet duct  97  of the valve body  90 . To the upper or lower connecting duct  98  of the valve body  90  are respectively coupled a shower head and a faucet. Finally, the cold and hot water inlet ducts  97  and the control valve body  40  are covered by concrete in the wall  30  to complete the installation.  
         [0017]    Referring to FIG. 4, as the control handle  41  of the control valve body  40  is set in the cold/hot water mixture position, cold and hot water are respectively led into the cold and hot water inlet duct  97  of the valve body  90  via the cold and hot water connecting pipe  31  and flow further via the cold and hot water inlet holes  95  of the valve mount receiving interior  93  of the valve body  90 . At then, the cold and hot water respectively push the rods  831  of the valve stick  83  of the two check valve sets  80  fixed to the retaining holes  52  of the valve block  50  to move against the springs  82  and stick out of the through holes  812  of the sleeve mount  81 . Accordingly, the abutment disc  832  of each valve stick  83  will lean against the surface around the through hole  812  of each sleeve mount  81 . At then, the seal ring  833  on the abutment disc  832  of each valve stick  83  separates from the closure hole  842  of the sleeve  84  so as to produce an opened space A to permit cold and hot water to flow out of the opened space A. Subject to the flush of the cold and hot water, the sleeve mount  81  is forced to rotate by the flush-in cold and hot water respectively and helps the cold and hot water speedily flow through the ribs  813  separately into the cold and hot water inlets  44  of the control valve body  40 . After the cold And hot water are intermixed in whirlpool. in the control valve body  40  and are discharged via the cold and hot water outlets  43 , it further flows into the water outlet  55  of the check valve block  50  via the water outlet  58  and discharges via the cold and hot mixing water outlet  96  of the valve body  90 . Moreover, the discharged water is controlled by a user to flow out of the upper or lower connecting duct  98  of the valve body  90 . So, once the cold and hot water produce a reverse flow in the sleeve mount  81 , the valve stick  83  is subject to the force of the spring  82  and the reversed flow of the cold and hot water, resulting in the abutment disc  832  of the valve stick  83  to be forced against the closure hole  842  of the sleeve  84 . At the same time, the seal ring  833  of the valve stick  83  can effectively prevent cold and hot water from flowing reversely whereby the cold and water pressures can be kept in balance with the temperature thereof kept constant.