Patent ID: 7178785

Claim:
A valve assembly comprising: a valve body; a fluid passage through the valve body having an inlet end and an outlet end; a valve seat defined within the fluid passage; a sleeve axially slidable within the fluid passage and having an upstream end, a downstream end, and an axial flow passage in communication with the inlet end and the outlet end of the fluid passage; and a valve stem pivotally mounted at a stem pivot spaced radially from the fluid passage, the valve stem being actuable to slide the sleeve between an open position with the downstream end spaced from the valve seat and a closed position with the downstream end borne against the valve seat to selectively control fluid flow through the flow passage to the outlet end and wherein one end of the valve stem is coupled to the sleeve at a joint and wherein the stem pivot is arranged to accommodate a sliding motion between the valve stem and the stem pivot as the sleeve slides within the fluid passage.