Patent ID: 7770593

Claim:
A bleed valve for the fuel tank of a vehicle, said bleed valve comprising: a cylindrical housing having a housing base, the housing being intended for attachment to a wall of the fuel tank, said housing having a topside with an outlet orifice and a longitudinal axis; at least one inlet orifice for communicating with the head space of the fuel tank; a floating body within the housing; a spring supporting the floating body on the housing base, said floating body being moveable longitudinally within the housing; a valve seat for the outlet orifice defined by a rim; a sealing element moveable according to movement of the floating body between a position which closes the outlet orifice and a position which opens the outlet orifice, said sealing element comprising a projection forming a fluid conduit extending from said sealing element towards said floating body, said fluid conduit having an open end facing said floating body; a guide mandrel fixedly attached to an end of the floating body facing said valve seat for movement with said floating body, said guide mandrel being configured to close said fluid conduit opening when said valve is in the closed position, said sealing element fluid conduit extending towards said mandrel such that said mandrel is capable of sealingly engaging said open end of said fluid conduit and urging said sealing element against said valve seat when said valve is in the closed position; a support disk connected to said floating body, the support disk having an integral annular flange and a counter surface facing said sealing element such that in the closed position of the bleed valve the sealing element is fixed between the valve seat and the counter surface, said support disk being mounted for pivotal movement about mutually perpendicular pivot axes; and a pair of mutually diametrically opposed axially extending retainer elements attached to the floating body, each retainer element extending upwardly from the floating body and terminating in an abutment section that extends over said annular flange for engagement therewith, and wherein said retainer elements are differently dimensioned with respect to one another such that the abutment sections are at different elevations with respect to the annular flange thereby causing one of said mutually perpendicular pivot axes to be inclined relative to said longitudinal axis of the housing as said retainer elements engage said annular flange when said valve moves from the closed position to the open position, said differing elevations of the abutment sections establishing said pivot axis which is inclined with respect to the longitudinal axis of the cylindrical housing, said floating body further including a ring-like arrangement of support fingers facing towards the support disk, the fingers being spaced apart in the peripheral direction and having radially inwardly facing surfaces for exerting a radial guiding effect upon a facing surface of the support disc.