Patent ID: 6962176

Claim:
A portable suction system for allowing a user to safely and efficiently create a negative pressure within a container comprising, in combination: a vacuum valve subassembly fabricated of a rigid metallic material and having a body and an upper ball valve and a lower ball valve and an actuating linkage, the body having a lower mounting portion a for a tank and an upper valve housing portion with the tank mounting portion having a generally round solid cylindrical configuration with a threaded lower diameter and a plurality of flat faces for allowing the firm gripping of the tank mounting portion with a wrench to enable the user to turn the threads of the valve with a moderate force, with the tank mounting portion having a venturi passageway and a feed passageway through the lower portion in an upward direction near the center of the threaded lower diameter, with the valve housing portion having a generally rounded solid cylindrical configuration with the venturi passageway and the feed passageway from the tank mounting portion continuing upward between about 50 percent and 75 percent of the length of the upper valve housing portion, with the feed passageway extending more upwardly than the venturi passageway, the body having a venturi blow-through line passageway intersecting with the venturi passageway in a perpendicular orientation to the passageway with the blow-through passageway having a pressurized end and an exhaust end, with the pressurized end having a threaded internal diameter and the exhaust end having a nipple projecting from the outside diameter of the valve body, with the feed passageway running upward and then turning to run parallel with the venturi passageway with the feed line exiting the valve body and having at the exit location of the feed passageway a threaded aperture, with the ball valves being located within the passageways of the valve body, the ball valves being coupled to the actuating linkage with an operator controlled trigger and with an associated coil spring which rotates the ball valves into one of the positions from the category which includes only the venturi ball valve open, and only the feed ball valve open, and neither ball valve open, with the linkage being coupled to and firmly held in position on the outside surface of the valve body; a pressurized gas source having a coupling line mating with and coupling to the threaded internal diameter of the blowthrough passageway of the valve body; a suction line having a semi-rigid hollow cylindrically tubular configuration with a threaded end portion sized to be received into and securely held by and coupled to the threaded aperture of the feed passageway of the valve body; and a hollow container fabricated of a rigid metallic material having a threaded opening 66 into the container sized to receive and firmly hold the threaded lower portion of the valve body.