Patent ID: 7600739

Claim:
A gate valve for controlling the flow of a medium through a suitable plumbing line or system, comprising: a valve housing for coupling the gate valve to the suitable plumbing line or system; a detachable drive unit having a movable blade arranged therein; detachable blade seals or blade seal cartridge for slidably arranging in the valve housing in order to receive the movable blade to control the flow of the medium through the gate valve and to prevent the medium from entering the drive unit; and a latching mechanism for detachably coupling both the drive unit and blade seals or blade seal cartridge to and from the valve housing so as to enable replacement of either the drive unit, the blade seals, or both, without having to remove the valve housing from the suitable plumbing line or system, the latching mechanism including corresponding apertures in the detachable drive unit and blade seals or blade seal cartridge that align with associated apertures in the valve housing and corresponding fastening devices for passing through the corresponding apertures to detachably couple the drive unit and blade seals or blade seal cartridge to and from the valve housing.