Patent ID: 8382066

Claim:
A gate valve comprising: a valve plate for opening/closing an opening communicating with a vacuum chamber; a valve seal provided in the valve plate; a valve shaft connected to the valve plate; an air cylinder for opening and closing the valve plate; and an operating mechanism interposed between the air cylinder and the valve shaft, in which by operating the valve shaft with the air cylinder through the operating mechanism, the valve plate is moved to an opposing position opposing the opening, a closed seal position closing the opening by pressing the valve seal to the valve seat portion in the periphery of the opening, a full-open position not opposing the opening, and an open seal position where the valve seal is pressed to a wall face of a wall in which the opening is formed at the full-open position, wherein the operating mechanism has a driving base mounted on a piston rod of the air cylinder, a lever member mounted on the valve shaft, a connecting mechanism for connecting the lever member and the driving base to each other capable of relative displacement, a cam mechanism for tilting the lever member, and a stopper mechanism for stopping the lever member at the opposing position of the valve plate or the full-open position; the cam mechanism is formed by a cam groove formed in the driving base and a cam follower mounted on the lever member, and the cam follower can move in the cam groove from an intermediate engagement position to be engaged with the center in the cam groove to a first engagement position at one end of the cam groove or a second engagement position at the other end by relative displacement between the driving base and the lever member, and the lever member, the valve shaft, and the valve plate are integrally tilted by the movement; the connecting mechanism has a connecting table, a lever spring interposed between the connecting table and the lever member, and a guide spring interposed between the connecting table and the driving base, and when the cam follower is at the intermediate engagement position, the driving base and the lever member are brought into an integral state, while when the cam follower is moving in the cam groove from the intermediate engagement position to the first engagement position or the second engagement position, the driving base and the lever member are relatively displaced by deformation of the lever spring or the guide spring so that the lever member can be tilted; and the stopper mechanism has a first contact member and a second contact member provided on the lever member and a first stopper and a second stopper in a fixed relationship with the air cylinder, and the stopper mechanism is configured such that the lever member is stopped at the opposing position by contact between one of the contact members and one of the stoppers, while the lever member is stopped at the full-open position by contact between the other contact member and the other stopper.