Patent ID: 7185826

Claim:
An expansion valve, comprising: a valve body including a central valve body portion having a hole extending longitudinally therethrough, the hole having a small diameter hole portion and a large diameter hole portion communicating with the small diameter hole portion in a stepped-down manner to form an annular wall extending radially outwardly at a location where the small diameter portion and the large diameter portion communicate with each other; a seal member sized to be received in the large diameter hole at least adjacent to the annular wall; a valve actuating member for actuating a valve means to be opened and closed with the valve actuating member being in a form of a rod having a first rod portion and a second rod portion integrally connected to the first rod portion, the first rod portion having a first rod diameter sized to be received by the small diameter hole portion for close-fitting slidable movement therein; and a stopper integrally formed to the valve actuating member at an intermediate position on the first rod portion, the stopper extending radially from the first rod portion and sized for close-fitting slidable movement within the large diameter hole portion, wherein the seal member is interposed between the stopper and the annular wall.