Patent ID: 7357145

Claim:
A valve, comprising: a valve housing having an inlet and an outlet and being adapted to connect to a pipe, the housing having a cavity therein; a bonnet adapted to sealingly attach to the housing to form a top of the cavity and a drive stem sealingly extending through the bonnet; a cartridge having an inlet retaining plate and an outlet retaining plate adapted to fit within the cavity, the plates enclosing a driver, the driver being responsive to rotation of the drive stem, a thrust ball having a central bore, a spacer, a seal assembly having an inlet end and an outlet end, the outlet end of the seal assembly being adapted to move through an opening in the outlet retaining plate of the cartridge to form a seal around the outlet of the valve housing; and a rotatable valve member operatively connected with the driver, the rotatable valve member having curved surfaces forming a wedge, the wedge having an opening in a thinner section so as to allow flow through the valve housing when the valve member is rotated into an open position and having a thicker section such that the thicker section of the wedge seals against the inlet end of the seal assembly and the outlet end of the seal assembly seals against the valve housing to prevent flow through the valve housing when the valve member is rotated into a closed position.