Patent ID: 7694359

Claim:
A valve assembly for controlling a flow of water therethrough comprising: a housing having an inlet wherein the water enters the housing and an outlet wherein the water exits the housing; a valve disposed within the housing, the valve capable of articulating between an open position wherein fluid flow communication between the inlet and the outlet is allowed and a closed position wherein fluid flow communication between the inlet and the outlet is denied, the valve rotatably connected to the housing via a pin passing through the valve, wherein said valve is a ball valve; and a pull-chain assembly attached to the housing, the pull-chain assembly controlling the articulation of the valve between the open position and the closed position, the pull-chain assembly comprising a clutch plate rotatably disposed about the pin within the pull-chain assembly and attached to the valve, a ratchet plate rotatably disposed within the pull-chain assembly and keyed to the clutch plate so that clockwise rotation of the ratchet plate rotates the clutch plate and counterrotation of the ratchet plate does not rotate the clutch plate such that a series of evenly spaced teeth are disposed about the entire outer periphery of the ratchet plate such that a gap is located between each pair of adjacent teeth such that a ratchet pawl is biased into the gap between an adjacent pair of the teeth in order to prevent free wheeling of the ratchet plate, said pin passing through both said clutch plate and said ratchet plate, a spring disposed between an outer plate and said ratchet pawl in order to bias said ratchet pawl against said ratchet plate, and a pull-chain attached to the ratchet plate for rotating the ratchet plate, wherein said ball valve, said clutch plate and said ratchet plate together rotate in a direction that is perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of said pin.