Improvements in Valves:
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 19th Mar., 1896-Accepted, 18th Apr., 1896
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Valves:
We, CARL WILLIAM WEISS, of 87 Elizabeth Street, in the City of New
York, in the County and State of New York, United States of America,
Mechanical Engineer, and AUGUST MIETZ, of 87 Elizabeth Street, in the City
of New York, in the County and State of New York, United States of America,
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement:-
This invention relates to the construction of valves or valve seats and has for its
object to produce a valve which, in the severest use, such as that, for example, to
which valves of explosive engines or high pressure steam engines or pumps are
subjected, shall be quiet in action and shall possess greater durability and
effectiveness than the valves now commonly used. To this end the valve plug or
valve seat is made up of a number of thin plates or laminæ of metal which,
although resting upon one another and, it may be, held together with some
pressure, nevertheless spring or yield sufficiently to permit the valve after every
movement to close quietly and at the same time to make a tight closure. Several:
forms wherein the invention may be embodied will be more particularly described.
hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawing in which,-
Figure 1.is a view in vertical central section through a valve constructed.in
accordance with this improvement, the valve plug being shown partly in
elevation.
Figure 2 is a similar view of a different form of valve embodying the invention.
Figure 3 is a similar view of still another form of valve, the valve plug being.
wholly in elevation, and the view illustrating the application of the particular.
feature of the improvement to the valve seat.
Figure 4 is a similar view having a different relative arrangement of the valve '
plug and seat.
Referring first to the construction shown in Figure 1, the valve seat A is formed
as usual, its surface being smooth and being tapered inwardly. The valve plug B,
as shown in said figure, consists of a stem or body b entering freely the tubular
portion of the valve seat and having, it may be, grooves b b to permit the passage
of the steam, gas or other fluid when the plug is raised slightly from its seat. To
the stem or body. bare secured by any suitable means, as by a screw and
washer b³, a series of separate and independent laminæ or thin sheets 6* of metal:
The. laminæ are made of spring steel or spring brass or analogous material of such
density or hardness as to resist indentation and capable of withstanding
temperatures, but of sufficient thinness to avoid rigidity in each lamina.
independently considered. They may be practically flat and indeed preferably.
are so and they may lie upon one another and be pressed more or less closely
together by tightening of the screw b. The stem or body and the laminæ, in the
particular form here referred to, having been assembled are put into a lathe and,
the edges of the laminæ turned down to form a practically continuous bearing
surface conforming exactly to the surface of the seat. They thus form a plug.
which for certain purposes is virtually solid and yet by reason of the fact that it
is made up of independent laminæ which are not actually in physical contact
throughout the entire area of their adjacent surfaces, the plug is elastic and its

page_text: bearing surface has a certain degree of elasticity which cushions the plug as it
finds its seat and thereby increases the durability of the valve and avoids almost
entirely the noise which is made under like conditions of use by the ordinary valve.
Furthermore with the form shown the presence between a plug and its seat of a
particle of solid matter, which would cause an ordinary valve to leak, has no such
effect upon the improved valve, the surface of the valve yielding sufficiently to
prevent the lifting or tilting of the plug as a whole. The plug or body may be
made more elastic, as required, by separating the lamina slightly, as by reducing
the diameter of alternate laminæ or by corrugating the lamina.
The application of the same principle is illustrated in Figure 2 in a valve of
somewhat different form, the application of the principle being also carried some-
what further. The valve seat A¹ may be formed as before and the independent
laminæ may be secured substantially as before by a bolt 62 and washer 63 to the
body B', which in this case is tubular and has ports 6 which, when the valve plug
rises, themselves rise above the lower edge of the seat to permit the escape of
the gas or other fluid. The lower end of the body B' has a flange 68 which serves
as a stop to prevent the lifting of the valve plug entirely out of its seat, the said
seat having a shoulder a to co-operate with the flange or
Violent contact of this rim or flange with the seat would occasion noise and we
projecting rim 6.
therefore interpose between them a series of annular lamine 6 which are fitted
around the body B' and within the chamber in which the valve seat is fixed.
For the further purpose of returning the valve plug to its seat we interpose also
between the shoulder a and the projecting rim or flange 6 a spring C, the coils of
which slip one within the other as the valve plug is lifted from its seat.
It is obvious that results substantially indentical with those secured by the use
of the valve above described would also be obtained by using a solid plug with a
laminated seat, and that such construction would be substantially equivalent for
that in which the laminated plug is used with a solid seat. This equivalent
construction or arrangement we have illustrated in Figure 3 in which the stem b
carries a solid tapering plug 6 while the valve seat is made up of a series of
independent lamina a¹ which are secured by any suitable means, as by a ring a
and bolts or screws as, to the ring a' which forms the body or support of the seat,
the said ring a having an aperture of greater diameter than the aperture through
the valve seat, whereby the lamina are free to yield at their margins as the valve
plug comes to its seat. In constructing this form of the valve, the laminae are
secured to the ring a' and are then placed in a lathe or subjected to the action of
any other suitable tool to form the seat in the lamine with a uniformly tapering
and practically continuous surface.
In the forms represented in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 the valve plug and valve seat are
tapered or conical. It is obvious, however, that the principle of the invention is
equally applicable to other forms of valves, such for example, as that shown in
Figure 4 in which the plane of contact between the valve plug and its seat is flat.
In the construction there shown the body B2 is tubular and has ports 610 which
may rise above the seat to permit the escape of the gas or other fluid. The
laminæ may be secured to the body of the plug by any suitable means, as
between a shoulder & formed on the body and a washer 13 and nut 64. The valve
seat A is flat and the under surface of that portion of the plug formed by the
laminæ bears directly on the seat. As the valve comes to its seat it is
obvious that the blow will be cushioned by the elasticity or yielding character of
the body which is made up of independent and elastic laminæ.
represented as interposed between the wall of the valve seat and a flange on the
A spring Cis
body B for the purpose of holding the plug normally against its seat.
It will be understood that although we have herein shown and described our
invention as embodied in certain practical forms, nevertheless we do not intend
thereby to restrict the invention to any particular form or construction, nor to any
particular kind or class of valves.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is:
1. The herein described valve, the same having a series of independent and hard
but elastic metallic laminæ secured together to form a practically solid but elastic
body whereby the valve is cushioned as it closes.
2. A valve having a stem or body and a series of independent and hard but
elastic metallic laminæ secured together to said stem or body to form a practically
solid but elastic body whereby the valve is cushioned as it closes.
3. In a valve the combination with a valve seat and a valve plug having a stem
or body with a projecting rim, of independent and elastic metallic lamina
interposed between said projecting rim and a shoulder of the valve seat,
substantially as shown and described.
4. The herein-described valve, the same having a series of independent and hard
but elastic metallic laminæ secured together and having their edges tapered to
form a practically continuous but somewhat yielding bearing surface, substantially
as shown and described.
5. A valve having a stem or body and a series of independent and hard but
elastic metallic laminæ secured one upon another to said stem with their edges
turned off to form a tapering and practically continuous but somewhat yielding
bearing surface, substantially as shown and described.
PHILIP M. JUSTICE,
Chartered Patent Agent, London,
For the Applicant.
PHILIP M. JUSTICE,
Chartered Patent Agent, London,
For the Applicant.