Patent ID: 7243493

Claim:
A valve for a hydraulic system having a source of pressurized fluid, a fluid actuator, and a proportional pressure compensating valve, the valve comprising: a bore in fluid communication with the source and the fluid actuator; a valve element disposed within the bore and movable between a flow blocking position and a flow passing position to selectively fluidly communicate the source with the fluid actuator; a valve signal passageway disposed within the valve element and configured to be in fluid communication with a pressurized fluid having a signal pressure indicative of pressure supplied to the fluid actuator; first and second orifices disposed in the valve element and in fluid communication with the valve signal passageway; wherein the valve signal passageway is configured to communicate the signal pressure with the first and second orifices; wherein movement of the valve element from the flow blocking position to the flow passing position fluidly communicates the first orifice with a system signal passageway before the second orifice, and fluidly communicates both the first and second orifices with the system signal passageway when the valve element is in the flow passing position, and wherein the valve element does not fluidly communicate the first orifice with the system signal passageway when the valve element is in the flow blocking position.