Safety valve

Claim 1

In a safety valve, the combination of a valve body defining a valve chamber having a longitudinal axis with valve ports at opposite ends of said axis, annular shoulders in said valve ports, and a valve seat on at least one of said ports facing said chamber, a valve member of a smaller cross section than said chamber disposed in the chamber and movable axially toward and away from said valve seat for sealing engagement with and disengagement from the latter, said valve member including an intermediate disclike portion and a pair of diametrically reduced lands at opposite sides of said intermediate portion, and means for supporting said valve member in said chamber in a normally axially spaced relation from said seat, said supporting means comprising a pair of coil springs disposed at opposite sides of said valve member, said springs having adjacent inner ends seated on the respective lands in abutment with said intermediate portion of the valve member and having outer ends extending into the respective ports for abutment with said annular shoulders together with a rod secured in and extending axially through said valve member with end portions of the rod projecting into said ports, and bearing means provided in said ports, said bearing means having the end portions of said rod slidably journaled therein, whereby to assist in supporting said valve member in said chamber, said bearing means comprising integral radially inward extensions of the outer ends of said springs.