PATENT CLAIM ANALYSIS

Application Number: 15949786
Application Type: Utility
Filing Date: 2018-04
Publication Date: 2018-09
Patent Classification: ["122", "014300"]

Abstract:
The T&P relief valve includes a valve casing. A valve assembly is carried by the valve casing and includes a moveable valve shaft and associated valve head sealingly biased against a valve seat by a valve spring which is sealed within a protective chamber configured to contain a first protective fluid. The valve spring is protected, by the protective chamber and first protective fluid, from corrosion, calcification and/or mineral deposits which would affect the valve assembly. A thermal element assembly is carried by an internal tongue of the valve casing. A plunger casing, encasing the upper end of the elongated plunger body and sealing around the captive plunger, is configured to contain a second protective fluid to protect the upper end and captive plunger from corrosion, calcification and/or mineral deposits which could affect the thermal element. An end cap assembly includes a casing seal held against the protective chamber by an end cap that is secured to, and closes, the open top of the valve casing.

Claim (Index 16):
A method of making a temperature and pressure relief valve for use with a water heater tank, the method comprising:\n providing a valve casing including an open top, a valve seat, a threaded inlet port, a threaded outlet port and an internal tongue positioned adjacent the inlet port and the valve seat; inserting a thermal element assembly into the valve casing to be carried by the internal tongue; inserting a valve assembly into the valve casing, the valve assembly including a moveable valve shaft and associated valve head sealingly biased against the valve seat by a valve spring which is sealed within a protective chamber to contain a first protective fluid, wherein the valve head is configured to be moved off the valve seat against a bias force of the valve spring when a pressure in the water heater tank exceeds a pressure threshold to allow water to flow from the water heater tank via the inlet port and the outlet port, and wherein the valve spring is protected, by the protective chamber and first protective fluid, from corrosion, calcification and/or mineral deposits which would affect the valve assembly; wherein the thermal element assembly carried by the internal tongue of the valve casing includes an elongated plunger body having a lower end configured to extend out of the inlet port and into the water held in the water heater tank, and includes a captive plunger extending out of an upper end of the elongated plunger body, opposite the lower end, and configured to push the valve head off the valve seat when a temperature of the water exceeds a temperature threshold; wherein a plunger casing, encases the upper end of the elongated plunger body and seals around the captive plunger, and contains a second protective fluid to protect the upper end and captive plunger from corrosion, calcification and/or mineral deposits which could affect the thermal element; securing an end cap assembly, comprising an end cap holding a chamber seal against the protective chamber, to the valve casing to close the open top of the valve casing; and attaching a release mechanism to the valve shaft extending out of the end cap assembly, the release mechanism being configured to manually release the valve head off the valve seat when actuated.

Metadata:
- Claim Count in Document: 41.0
- Percentile: 91.0
- Lexical Diversity: 2.49315
- Patent Class: 122.0
- Transitional Phrase Type: open
- Component Type: 1
- Foreign Priority: False
- Related Applications: ['15220559', '11151692', '12353569', '15794486', '14721113']

Analysis Scores:
- 35 USC 101 Eligibility (BERT): 0.7435982130524713
- 35 USC 102 Novelty (BERT): 0.532668028614247
- Combined Prediction Score: 0.7225051946086489
- Mean Citation Score: 247.465754
- Max Citation Score: 376.29193
- Similarity Product: 310.9791276879185

Labels:
- Claim Label 101: 1
- Claim Label 102: 1
- Claim Label 103: 1
- Claim Label 112: 1
- Combined Label: 1
- Label 101 Adjusted: 1

Dataset: test