Patent ID: 7367544

Claim:
A valve apparatus comprising, a ball valve having a valve housing, a valve member, and a skewed seat bearing, the housing defining a flowpath, the valve member being mounted in the flowpath for selective rotation about an axis of rotation and having a cylindrical through bore of substantially constant diameter therein having a first end and a second end thereof, the bore defining a fully open position of the ball valve when the valve member is rotated to substantially align the bore with the flowpath, the skewed seat bearing being disposed between the first end of the bore of the valve member and the valve housing and extending partially across the flowpath for blocking fluid flow through the bore and defining a closed position of the ball valve when the valve member is rotated away from the fully open position through an angle of rotation of substantially less than 90 degrees, the second end of the bore being open to the flowpath when in the closed position, the skewed seat bearing having a spherical surface configured to provide a flow characteristic approximating that of a paddle valve wherein full on-off flow capability is provided over the angle of rotation.