Patent Publication Number: US-2023133712-A1

Title: Air Control Valve Assembly

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     Not Applicable 
     STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT 
     Not Applicable 
     THE NAMES OF THE PARTIES TO A JOINT RESEARCH AGREEMENT 
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     INCORPORATION-BY-REFERENCE OF MATERIAL SUBMITTED ON A COMPACT DISC OR AS A TEXT FILE VIA THE OFFICE ELECTRONIC FILING SYSTEM 
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     STATEMENT REGARDING PRIOR DISCLOSURES BY THE INVENTOR OR JOINT INVENTOR 
     Not Applicable 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     (1) Field of the Invention 
     The disclosure relates to control valve devices and more particularly pertains to a new control valve device for employing an air brake system of a semi-tractor pressurize a tanker trailer for discharging fluid from the tanker trailer. The device includes a gladhand air fitting, a valve that is fluidly coupled to the gladhand air fitting and an air king fitting that is fluidly coupled to the valve. The gladhand air fitting is fluidly attachable to the air brake system of the semi-tractor and the air king fitting is fluidly attachable to the tanker trailer to pressurize the tanker trailer. The prior art discloses a pressure washer device that employs air pressure from an air brake system of a semi-tractor. 
     (2) Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98 
     The prior art relates to control valve devices including an inflation device that includes a fitting that is fluidly attachable to an air brake system of a cargo trailer and a deflated air bag for inflating the deflated air bag. The prior art discloses a variety of compressor systems that are extrinsic with respect to a tanker trailer and which can be fluidly coupled to the tanker trailer for pressurizing the tanker trailer. The prior art discloses an air brake connection system for placing air brakes of a cargo trailer in fluid communication with an air brake system of a semi-tractor. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a tanker trailer for containing a liquid. A gladhand air fitting is fluidly attachable to the air brake system and a valve is fluidly coupled to the gladhand air fitting. The valve is positionable in an open position to pass air through the valve and the valve is positionable in a closed position to inhibit air from passing through the valve. An air king fitting is fluidly coupled to the valve to receive the compressed air from the valve when the valve is in the open position. The air king fitting is releasably matable to the tanker trailer having the air king fitting. In this way the air king fitting can pressurize the interior of the tanker trailer for discharging fluid contained in the tanker trailer. 
     There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto. 
     The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S) 
       The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein: 
         FIG.  1    is a right side view of an air control valve assembly according to an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG.  2    is a left side view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG.  3    is a top view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG.  4    is a perspective in-use view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG.  5    is a top perspective in-use view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG.  6    is a perspective view of an alternative embodiment of the disclosure. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to  FIGS.  1  through  6    thereof, a new control valve device embodying the principles and concepts of an embodiment of the disclosure and generally designated by the reference numeral  10  will be described. 
     As best illustrated in  FIGS.  1  through  6   , the air control valve assembly  10  generally comprises a semi-tractor  12  that has an air brake system  14 . The air brake system  14  has an output port  16  to output compressed air produced by the air brake system  14 . A tanker trailer  18  is provided which contains a liquid cargo. The liquid cargo may be a hazardous liquid, an inert liquid or any other liquid that would typically be transported via over the road trucking. The tanker trailer  18  has an air input  20  is integrated into the tanker trailer  18  to facilitate air to be directed into the tanker trailer  18 . A gladhand air fitting  22  is fluidly attachable to the air brake system  14  and the gladhand air fitting  22  has an input  24  and an output  26 . The input  24  engages the output port  16  such that the gladhand air fitting  22  is in fluid communication with the output port  16  when the gladhand air fitting  22  is fluidly attached to the output port  16 . The gladhand air fitting  22  may be a gladhand air fitting of any conventional design that is commonly employed on commercial vehicles with air brakes. 
     A valve  28  is fluidly coupled to the gladhand air fitting  22  and the valve  28  is positionable in an open position to pass air through the valve  28 . Conversely, the valve  28  is positionable in a closed position to inhibit air from passing through the valve  28 . The valve  28  has a housing  30  and a handle  32  that is rotatably coupled to the housing  30  such that the handle  32  can be manipulated. The housing  30  has an inlet  34  and an outlet  36 , and the inlet  34  of the housing  30  is fluidly coupled to the input  24  of the gladhand air fitting  22 . In this way the valve  28  can receive the compressed air from the air brake system  14 . A pressure gauge  37  is fluidly coupled to the housing  30  of the valve  28  such that the pressure gauge  37  is in fluid communication with the air brake system  14  of the semi-tractor  12 . The pressure gauge  37  includes an indicator  39  for indicating the pressure of the compressed air that is being introduced into the tanker trailer  18 . 
     An air king fitting  38  is provided and the air king fitting  38  is fluidly coupled to the valve  28 . In this way the air king fitting  38  can receive the compressed air from the valve  28  when the valve  28  is in the open position. The air king fitting  38  is releasably matable to the tanker trailer  18  having the air king fitting  38  being in fluid communication with an interior of the tanker trailer  18 . In this way the air king fitting  38  facilitates the compressed air to pressurize the interior of the tanker trailer  18  for discharging fluid contained in the tanker trailer  18 . 
     The air king fitting  38  has an inlet  40  and an outlet  42 , and the air king fitting  38  has a pair of wings  44  each extending away from the outlet  36 . Each of the wings  44  releasably engages the air input  20  on the tanker trailer  18  for releasably retaining the air king fitting  38  on the air input  20 . Additionally, the input  24  of the air king fitting  38  is fluidly coupled to the outlet  36  of the housing  30  of the valve  28 . In this way the input  24  of the air king fitting  38  receives the compressed air from the valve  28 . The air king fitting  38  may be a dual lug air king fitting  38  of any conventional design that would commonly be found on a commercial vehicle that has air brakes. 
     In an alternative embodiment  46  as is most clearly shown in  FIG.  6   , a hose  48  is provided which has a first end  50  and a second end  52 . The first end  50  is fluidly coupled to the outlet  36  of the housing  30  of the valve  28  and the second end  52  is fluidly coupled to the inlet  40  of the air king fitting  38 . In this way the air king fitting  38  can be moved a substantial distance from the valve  28 . Thus, the hose can accommodate positioning of the air input  20  of the tanker trailer  18  when the air input  20  is positioned on a top of the tanker trailer  18  as is common with older generation tanker trailers. The hose  48  may have a length of at least  20 . 0  feet to facilitate the hose  48  to reach from a front end  54  of the tanker trailer  18  to the location of the air input  20 . 
     In use, the gladhand air fitting  22  is fluidly coupled to the output port  16  of the air brake system  14  and the air king fitting  38  is fluidly coupled to the air input  20  on the tanker trailer  18 . The handle  32  on the valve  28  is rotated into the first position thereby facilitating the air brake system  14  of the semi-tractor  12  to pressurize the interior of the tanker trailer  18 . In this way the fluid in the tanker trailer  18  can be discharged by employing the existing air brake system  14  on the tractor trailer. Moreover, employing the existing air brake system  14  eliminates the need for performing costly modifications that would otherwise need to be performed on the semi-tractor  12  and the tanker trailer  18 . 
     With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure. 
     Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.