Abstract:
A gas shutoff valve having a ball normally residing in a first seat, wherein sufficient disturbance of the valve causes the ball to escape the first seat and settle into a second seat wherein a flow of gas is blocked. The first seat is on an upper surface of a seating ball held in a base portion of the valve. The seating ball is held in place by a plate and is adjustable to compensate for gas line angles away from vertical. Adjustments to the seating ball may be made using a leveling tool inserted through a tool port in the base portion and inserting into a tool seat in the seating ball.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    The present invention relates to earthquake actuated shutoff valves and in particular to earthquake actuated gas shutoff valves including a ball and seat. 
         [0002]    There is world wide concern regarding the effects of earthquakes. In recent years, earthquakes occurring around the world resulted in tens of thousands of deaths. Although modern building codes drastically reduce the human harm resulting from earthquakes, there is still a significant likelihood that deaths will occur even in modern countries. Although building codes have been successful in reducing the catastrophic collapse of structures, there is often substantial secondary damage resulting from gas fires, broken electrical wiring, and the like. Various devices have been developed to turn off gas lines and the like, either directly through a mechanical action, or indirectly through actuation of an electrical switch. 
         [0003]    U.S. Pat. No. 4,185,507 for “Acceleration Responsive Tripping Mechanism,” describes a ball sitting on a pedestal. When motion occurs, the ball falls off the pedestal into a surrounding chamber (or dish), causing the chamber to lower against a spring, and to trip a micro switch. Disadvantageously, the device of the &#39;507 patent includes a number of moving parts including a spring, vertically moving piston, and levers. Devices such as this are generally mounted, and forgotten. There is typically little to no inspection or maintenance, and as a result, such complexity is an invitation to failure. 
         [0004]    U.S. Pat. No. 4,261,379 for “Vibration/Temperature Sensitive Valve Operating Apparatus,” describes a ball siting in a cup. Motion causes the ball to fall out of the cup, and the cup raises slightly, this motion releases a trigger which results in the desired actuation. Unfortunately the &#39;379 patent also includes substantial mechanical complexity, including several arms, springs, and pins. Such mechanical complexity is undesirable for the reasons cited above. 
         [0005]    A simpler valve is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. RE38,220 for “Earthquake Actuated Automatic Gas Shutoff Valve” filed by the present applicant. The &#39;220 patent describes a simple but effective valve using a solid elastomeric ball or a ball coated with an elastomeric outer coating. While the valve of the &#39;220 patent provides many advantages over previous valves, there are instances where the valve is connected to gas lines which are not sufficiently vertically aligned to provide proper ball and seat interaction. The &#39;220 patent is herein incorporated by reference. 
       BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0006]    The present invention addresses the above and other needs by providing a gas shutoff valve having a ball normally residing in a first seat, wherein sufficient disturbance of the valve causes the ball to escape the first seat and settle into a second seat wherein a flow of gas is blocked. The first seat is on an upper surface of a seating ball held in a base portion of the valve. The seating ball is held in place by a plate and is adjustable to compensate for gas line angles away from vertical. Adjustments to the seating ball may be made using a leveling tool inserted though a tool port in the base portion and inserting into a tool seat in the seating ball. 
         [0007]    In accordance with one aspect of the invention, there is provided a gas shutoff valve including a valve body base portion a gas entry port a gas exit port and a second seat residing over the gas exit port. A ball resides in the valve body and has a diameter suitable to residing in the second seat to block a flow of gas into the exit port. A seating ball resides in a ball recess in the base portion and includes a first seat on an upper surface of the seating ball. The first seat is configured to retain the ball when the valve experiences motion below an earthquake threshold and to allow the ball to escape when the valve experiences motion above the earthquake threshold. A leveling tool used to level the ball seat includes a level indicator and a tool seat in the seating ball is configured to accept the leveling tool. A keying feature in the tool seat is configured to rotationally engage the leveling tool and a tool port in the base portion is sufficiently aligned with the tool mouth to allow the leveling tool to be inserted into the tool seat while the seating ball resides in the ball recess. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0008]    The above and other aspects, features and advantages of the present invention will be more apparent from the following more particular description thereof, presented in conjunction with the following drawings wherein: 
           [0009]      FIG. 1A  is a cross-sectional side view of a prior art vertical gas shutoff valve with a ball residing in a second seat to allow a flow of gas through the valve. 
           [0010]      FIG. 1B  is a cross-sectional side view of the prior art vertical gas shutoff valve with the ball residing in a first seat to block the flow of gas through the valve. 
           [0011]      FIG. 2  depicts a cross-sectional side view of a vertical gas valve according to the present invention with a seating ball according to the present invention residing in a base portion of the valve. 
           [0012]      FIG. 3  shows a detailed cross-sectional side view of the base portion with the seating ball and with a leveling tool according to the present invention engaging the seating ball. 
           [0013]      FIG. 4  shows a still more detailed cross-sectional side view of the base portion with the seating ball. 
           [0014]      FIG. 5A  is a cross-sectional side view of the leveling tool. 
           [0015]      FIG. 5B  is a top view of the leveling tool. 
           [0016]      FIG. 6  is an embodiment of the present invention with a leveling tool inserted through the bottom of a second vertical valve. 
           [0017]      FIG. 7  is an embodiment of the present invention with a leveling tool inserted through the top of a third vertical valve. 
           [0018]      FIG. 8A  is a cross-sectional view of a second prior art horizontal valve in an open position. 
           [0019]      FIG. 8B  is a cross-sectional view of the second prior art horizontal valve in a closed position. 
           [0020]      FIG. 9A  is a side view of a horizontal valve according to the present invention. 
           [0021]      FIG. 9B  is a top view of the horizontal valve according to the present invention. 
           [0022]      FIG. 10A  is a cross-sectional view of the horizontal valve including an armature assembly motion sensor with a leveling feature according to the present invention taken along line  10 - 10  of  FIG. 9B . 
           [0023]      FIG. 10B  is a cross-sectional view of the horizontal valve having a ball motion sensor with a leveling feature according to the present invention taken along line  10 - 10  of  FIG. 9B . 
           [0024]      FIG. 11  shows a detailed cross-sectional view of the sensor housing taken along line  10 - 10  of  FIG. 9B . 
       
    
    
       [0025]    Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding components throughout the several views of the drawings. 
       DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0026]    The following description is of the best mode presently contemplated for carrying out the invention. This description is not to be taken in a limiting sense, but is made merely for the purpose of describing one or more preferred embodiments of the invention. The scope of the invention should be determined with reference to the claims. 
         [0027]    A cross-sectional view of a prior art vertical gas shutoff valve  10  with a ball  14  residing in a second seat  18  to allow a flow of gas through the valve  10  is shown in  FIG. 1A  and the prior art gas shutoff valve  10  with the ball  14  residing in a first seat  16  to block the flow of gas through the valve  10  is shown in  FIG. 1B . The valve  10  includes a gas entry port  24  and a gas exit port  26 , wherein the first seat  16  resides over the gas exit port  26 . The second seat  18  resides on a top surface of a base portion  12   a  of a valve body  12 . A manual turn off arm  20  resides to the left of the ball  14  and may be manually operated to urge the ball  14  off of the seat  18  and onto the seat  16 , and a manual reset arm  22  resides to the right of the ball  14  and may be manually manipulated to urge the ball  14  off of the seat  16  and onto the seat  18 . A valve  10  is described in U.S. Pat. No. RE38,220 for “Earthquake Actuated Automatic Gas Shutoff Valve,” issued to the inventor of the present invention. 
         [0028]    A cross-sectional view of a vertical gas valve  30  according to the present invention is shown in  FIG. 2 . The valve  30  includes a seating ball  34  according to the present invention residing in a second base portion  32   a  of a second valve body  32  of the valve  30 . The seat  18  is designed to retain the ball  14  when motion below a threshold or unlike an earthquake occurs, and to release the ball  14  to block the flow of gas when earthquake-like motion above a threshold occurs. In some cases, the gas lines the valve is connected to may not be close enough to being vertical for the seat  18  to properly control the release of the ball  14 . To address this potential issue, the seating ball  34  may be adjusted using a leveling tool  50  to compensate for gas line tilt so that the valve  10  (see  FIGS. 1A and 1B ) operates properly. 
         [0029]    A detailed cross-sectional view of the base portion  32   a  with the seating ball  34  and with the leveling tool  50  engaging the seating ball  34  is shown in  FIG. 3  and a still more detailed cross-sectional view of the base portion  32   a  is shown in  FIG. 4 . The tool  50  includes an insertion end  50   a  which is inserted through a tool port  46  in the base portion  32   a  and into a tool mouth  38  in the seating ball  34 . The tool  50  engages a keying feature in the tool mouth to rotationally align the leveling tool  50  with the seating ball  34  so that twisting the tool  50  is coupled into a first rotation of the seating ball  34  and lifting or lowering the tool  50  is coupled into a second rotation of the seating ball  34 , providing two approximately orthogonal rotations of the seating ball  34  to level the seating ball  34 . The keying feature is preferably a drive pin  36  residing in the tool mouth  38 . The keying feature may alternatively be a flat taper in the tool mouth  38 , or any shape rotationally aligning the tool  50  to the seating ball  34  so that twisting the tool  50  causes a rotation on the seating ball  34 . The tool port  46  and the threads  48  preferably have sufficient diameter to allow for approximately plus or minus two degrees of adjustment of the seating ball  34 . 
         [0030]    The seating ball  34  resides in a ball recess  34   a  in the base portion  32   a . The seating ball  34  is retained in the ball recess  34   a  by a plate  40 . The plate  40  is preferably held to the base portion by screws  40   a . A limit pin  42  extends downward into a pin recess  42   a  which limits the tilt of the seating ball  34 . A spring  44  resides in the bottom of the ball recess  34   a  and biases the seating ball  34  against the plate  40 . The spring  44  is preferably held in place by a spring seat  44   a  in the bottom of the ball recess  34   a . Alternatively, an O-Ring may be used in a shallow seat to replace the spring  44 . Preferably, the spring  44  (or the O-Ring) exerts between approximately one and approximately two pounds of force on the seating ball  34 . A screw  49  with an O-Ring seal  47  is screwed into a threaded end  48  of the tool port  46  when the tool  50  is not in use. 
         [0031]    A cross-sectional side view of the leveling tool  50  is shown in  FIG. 5A  and a top view of the leveling tool  50  is shown in  FIG. 5B . The tool  60  includes a handle  52  on one end, and a keyed end on the opposite end. The keyed end is configured to cooperate with the keying feature of the seating ball  34  to rotationally align the tool  50  with the seating ball  34  and to facilitate rotating the seating ball  34  by twisting the tool  60 . The keyed end  56  preferably includes a slot  56  configured to cooperate with the drive pin  36 . The handle  52  preferably includes a level and more preferably a spirit level, and most preferably a bulls eye spirit level  54 . The bulls eye spirit level  54  includes a bubble  58  which may be centered in the spirit level  54  to indicate that the handle  52  is in the horizontal plane. The tool  50  is keyed to the seating ball  34  so that when the handle  52  is level, the seating ball  34  is also sufficiently level to provide proper operation of the valve  30 . While the valve  30  is shown herein with the tool  50  inserted though an end of the base portion  32   a , an equivalent embodiment may have the tool  50  inserted from either side of the base portion  32   a.    
         [0032]    A second embodiment of a vertical valve  70  according to the present invention with a leveling tool  74  inserted through a base portion  72   a  of the valve  70  is shown in  FIG. 6 . The tool  74  includes a handle  76 . The handle  76  includes a level indicator, and more preferably a spirit level or a pair of spirit levels. The seating ball of the valve  70  includes a vertical tool seat extending upward from the bottom of the seating ball into the seating ball. The valve  70  includes a threaded end  48  of the tool port to allow a screw  49  (see  FIG. 4 ) to be inserted to seal the base portion  72   a . The tool port  46  and the threads  48  preferably have sufficient diameter to allow for approximately plus or minus two degrees of adjustment of the seating ball  34 . The valve  70  is otherwise similar to the valve  30 . 
         [0033]    A third embodiment of a vertical valve  80  according to the present invention with a leveling tool  84  inserted through a top portion  82   b  of the valve  80  is shown in  FIG. 7 . The tool  84  includes a handle  86 . The handle  86  includes a level indicator, and more preferably a spirit level or a pair of spirit levels. The tool  84  is inserted through the top portion  82   b  of the valve  80  to adjust the ball  14  residing in a bottom portion  82   a . The seating ball  34  of the valve  80  includes a vertical tool seat extending downward from the top of the seating ball into the seating ball  34 . The top portion  82   b  includes a threaded end  48  of the tool port to allow a screw  49  (see  FIG. 4 ) to be inserted to seal the top portion  82   b . The tool port  46  and the threads  48  preferably have sufficient diameter to allow for approximately plus or minus two degrees of adjustment of the seating ball  34 . The valve  80  is otherwise similar to the valve  30 . 
         [0034]    A cross-sectional view of a second prior art horizontal valve  100  is shown in an open position in  FIG. 8A  and in a closed position in  FIG. 8B . An armature assembly  101  of the valve  100  is shown in  FIG. 8C . The valve  100  includes a gas entry port  24  having a flow entry axis  24   a  and a gas exit port  26  having a flow exit axis  26   a . The armature assembly  101  includes a mass  102  residing on a pin  104 . A conical collar  106  at the base of the pin  104  resides in a first seat  108 . The pin  104  is ferromagnetic, or other magnetically attractable material, and cooperates with a magnet  112  attached to a seal mechanism comprising a sealing element  116  attached to a pivoting arm  114 . When motion sufficiently disturbs the armature assembly  101 , the pin  104  is moved away from the magnet  112 , releasing the seal  116  to fall against seat  118  to block a flow through the valve  100 . Such a valve is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,307,699 for “Seismic Initiator for Earthquake Shutoff Valves and the Like,” assigned to the present applicant. The flow axes  24   a  and  26   a  are substantially parallel to the extent that pipes connected to the ports are substantially parallel within building tolerances. The &#39;699 patent is herein incorporated by reference. 
         [0035]    A side view of a horizontal valve  120  according to the present invention is shown in  FIG. 9A , and a top view of the horizontal valve  120  is shown in  FIG. 9B . A sensor housing  121  is connected to a top portion  128  of the valve  120  by pivots  124  and leveling screws  126 . The screws  126  pass through ears  122  and threadedly cooperate with the top portion  128  of the valve body. A pivot axis  124   a  through the pivots  124  is approximately perpendicular to substantially parallel flow axes through the entry and exit ports  24  and  26  (see  FIGS. 8A and 8B ) and allows the valve  120  to be adjusted to compensate for a tilt of the gas lines. Compressive elements  127 , preferably O-rings, reside between the ears  122  and the top portion  128  to bias the ears  122  upwards against the screws  126 . 
         [0036]    The sensor housing  121  includes a top surface  121   a  which a level may be held against to determine when the armature housing  121  is level. While the sensor housing  121  is described herein as attached to the top portion  128  by pivots  124  and screws  126 , horizontal valve with a sensor housing attached by any means allowing the sensor housing  121  to be tilted with respect to the top portion, is intended to come within the scope of the present invention. For example, the sensor housing may be attached with three or more spaced apart screws allowing the tilt of the sensor housing to be adjusted. 
         [0037]    A cross-sectional view of the horizontal valve including an armature assembly motion sensor residing within a sensor housing having a leveling feature according to the present invention taken along line  10 - 10  of  FIG. 9B  is shown in  FIG. 1A . An O-ring  130  resides between the sensor housing  121  and the top portion  128 . 
         [0038]    A cross-sectional view of a second horizontal valve  140  having a ball motion sensor  142  with a leveling feature according to the present invention taken along line  10 - 10  of  FIG. 9B  is shown in  FIG. 10B . The ball  142  rests in a second seat  144  proximal to the magnet  112 . When the ball  142  is disturbed by motion of the valve  140 , the ball  142  separates sufficiently from the magnet  112  and the seal  116  falls into place to block a flow of gas through the valve  140 . 
         [0039]    A detailed cross-sectional view of the sensor housing  121  taken along line  10 - 10  of  FIG. 9B  is shown in  FIG. 11 . The seat  144  has a bank B of preferably approximately seven degrees and a floor thickness T of preferably between approximately 0.010 inches and approximately 0.02 inches, and more preferably approximately 0.015 inches. 
         [0040]    While the invention herein disclosed has been described by means of specific embodiments and applications thereof, numerous modifications and variations could be made thereto by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention set forth in the claims.