Dual-action ball valve

Claim 1

A rotatable valve structure comprising: a valve body having a flow passageway therethrough, a valve seat surface in said body around said flow passageway and facing in one direction, a rotor, a valve disc having a working surface thereon pivotably carried on said roTor and adapted to engage said seat surface and block flow of fluid through said passageway, a bearing sleeve on said body generally parallel to said valve seat and displaced therefrom in said one direction, a main shaft member rotatably received in said bearing sleeve on one side of said rotor, an oblique cylindrical cam member on the inner end of said shaft member, a complementary oblique cylindrical ramp receptacle on said rotor slidably receiving said cam member, said ramp receptacle being disposed closely adjacent said bearing sleeve, and a pivotable and rotatable ball-and-socket connection between said rotor and said body diametrically opposite said main shaft member and closely adjacent said rotor, said ball-and-socket connection comprising substantial, slidably engaging, complementary internal and external spherical surfaces on said rotor and said body, said valve disc when aligned with said valve seat being held in sealing engagement therewith in one axial position of said main shaft member and being displaced therefrom in said one direction when said shaft member is moved axially from said one axial position, said valve disc comprising: a disc carrier pivotably mounted on said rotor about a pivot axis normal to the axes of said main shaft member and said flow passageway, a disc with said working surface thereon supported on said disc carrier for movement thereon toward and away from said pivot axis.