Ball valve having resilient seats

Claim 1

A BALL VALVE COMPRISING: A MAIN BODY PORTION DEFINING A SUBSTANTIALLY CYLINDRICAL CHANNEL; AN INPUT END PIECE MOUNTED ON ONE END OF SAID CHANNEL AND DEFINING AN EXTENSION OF SAID CHANNEL; AN OUTPUT END PIECE MOUNTED ON THE OTHER END OF SAID CHANNEL AND DEFINING ANOTHER EXTENSION; A BALL CONTAINED IN SAID CHANNEL AND HAVING A CYLINDRICAL INTERNAL PASSAGE; SAID BALL BEING ROTATABLE BETWEEN AN OPEN POSITION WHEREIN ITS INTERNAL PASSAGE IS PARALLEL WITH SAID CHANNEL AND A CLOSED POSITION WHEREIN ITS INTERNAL PASSAGE IS TRANSVERSE TO SAID CHANNEL; AN OPENING IN A TOP SURFACE OF THE MAIN BODY PORTION; A COVER REMOVABLY MOUNTED ON SAID MAIN BODY FOR ENCLOSING SAID OPENING; MEANS FOR ROTATING SAID BALL COMPRISING A ROTATABLE HANDLE WHICH EXTENDS THROUGH SAID COVER; MEANS FOR MAINTAINING THE HANDLE WITHIN THE COVER COMPRISING A PIN WHICH IS REMOVABLY MOUNTED WITHIN SAID HANDLE, WHICH EXTENDS FROM THE HANDLE TOWARD THE BODY PORTION, WHICH IS CONTIGUOUS WITH THE INNER SURFACE OF SAID COVER, AND WHICH IS LONGER THAN THE DISTANCE FROM THE HANDLE TO THE BODY PORTION; MEANS FOR LIMITING THE ROTATION OF SAID HANDLE COMPRISING A STEPPED PORTION ON THE INTERIOR SURFACE OF SAID COVER WHICH IS ADAPTED TO ABUT AGAINST SAID PIN; FLAT ANNULAR SUBSTANTIALLY NON-COMPRESSIBLE PRIMARY SEALS MOUNTED ON SAID END PORTIONS WHICH ARE CONTIGUOUS TO SAID BALL; SAID PRIMARY SEALS SURROUNDING SAID INTERNAL PASSAGE WHEN THE BALL IS IN ITS OPEN POSITION AND BEING DEFLECTABLE TO A CONE SHAPE WHEN THE BALL IS ROTATED TO ITS CLOSED POSITION; SAID PRIMARY SEALS COMPRISING MEANS FOR PHYSICALLY RAISING THE CENTER OF SAID BALL TO THE CENTER OF SAID CHANNLE WHEN THE BALL IS ROTATED TO ITS CLOSED POSITION; SAID PRIMARY SEALS HAVING SUFFICIENT ELASTICITY TO REVERT TO AN UNSTRESSED FLAT CONFIGURATION WHEN THE BALL IS ROTATED TO ITS OPEN POSITION; SECONDARY SEATS BEING DEFINED BY ANGULAR FLANGES ON SAID END PIECES AGAINST WHICH SAID SEALS BEAR WHEN THEY ARE DEFLECTED, SAID SECONDARY SEATS FURTHER COMPRISING MEANS FOR SEALING SAID BALL IN THE EVENT THAT SAID PRIMARY SEALS SHOULD DISINTEGRATE.