Hydraulic directional control valves

Claim 2

In a releasably locked multiposition supply and release control valve device for controlling the operation of a fluid motor; a. valve means for controlling the supply of fluid under pressure to and the release of fluid under pressure from the fluid motor, said valve means comprising: i. a casing having a bore at the wall surface of which opens the longitudinally spaced-apart one end of a plurality of passageways extending through said casing to the exterior thereof, ii. a ported hollow spool-type valve slidably mounted in said bore and movable therein in opposite directions, and wherein the improvement comprises: iii. a one-way flow valve means mOvable mounted in said hollow spool-type valve and operable in cooperation with said spooltype valve to establish a first communication between one and another of said passageways upon movement of said spool-type valve from a first position, in which said spool-type valve solely establishes a second communication between said one passageway and a third one of said plurality of passageways, to a second position in which said communication between said one and said third passageways is closed and said communication between said one and another passageways is open, and b. means cooperable with said casing and said spool-type valve and operable, upon said spool-type valve establishing said communication between said one and another passageways, by the difference in the pressure in said one and another passageways to inhibit said one-way flow valve means from closing said communication.

Claim 3

In a releasably locked multiposition supply and release control valve device, as recited in claim 1, further characterized in that said one-way flow valve means comprises: a. a valve, b. a hollow cylindrical member provided with a valve seat at one end and with a peripheral annular groove having an inclined surface at the end thereof opposite the valve seat, said cylindrical member being movably mounted in said hollow spool-type valve, and c. biasing means normally biasing said valve into seating contact with said valve seat, and said means cooperable with said casing and said spool-type valve comprises: a. a cam surface formed on the wall surface of said bore in said casing, and b. means interposed between said peripheral annular groove on said hollow cylindrical member and said cam surface, c. said cam surface and said inclined surface cooperating to provide for radial movement of said means in the direction away from said peripheral annular groove and in one direction along said cam surface by said inclined surface upon movement of said cylindrical member in the direction to establish said pressure differential, and radial movement in the direction toward said groove and in the opposite direction along said cam surface upon movement of said cylindrical member in an opposite direction in response to cessation of said pressure differential.

Claim 4

In a releasably locked multiposition supply and release control valve device, as recited in claim 2, further characterized in that said hollow spool-type valve is provided with a plurality of radially extending ports, and said means interposed between said peripheral annular groove and said cam surface comprises a plurality of balls disposed in said radially extending ports.

Claim 5

In a releasably locked multiposition supply and release control valve device, as recited in claim 1, further characterized in that said valve means also comprises: a. a second one-way flow valve means spaced-apart from said first one-way flow valve means and movably mounted in said hollow spool-type valve, said two one-way flow valve means being successively operable to establish respectively a first communication between said one and said another passageway and a second communication between said one and a fourth one of said plurality of passageways upon the respective successive movements of said spool-type valve in opposite directions from a first position in which said spool-type valve solely establishes a third communication between said one passageway and a fifth one of said plurality of passageways to a second position, and from said first position to a third position, in each of which second and third positions said third communication is closed.

Claim 6

In a releasably locked multiposition supply and release control valve device, as recited in claim 4 further characterized in that said second one-way flow valve means comprises: a. a valve, b. a hollow cylindrical member provided with a valve seat at one end and with a peripheral annular groove intermediate its ends, said groove having an annular inclineD surface at the end thereof opposite said valve seat, and c. biasing means normally biasing said valve into seating contact with the corresponding valve seat, d. said pair of one-way flow means being slidably mounted in the respective opposite ends of said hollow spool-type valve.

Claim 7

In a releasably locked multiposition supply and release control valve device, as recited in claim 5, further characterized in that said means cooperable with said casing and said spool-type valve comprises: a. a pair of spaced-apart and oppositely arranged cam surfaces formed on the wall surface of said bore in said casing, and b. a plurality of spherical members interposed between said peripheral annular groove on each hollow cylindrical member and a corresponding one of said pair of cam surfaces, c. each of said cam surfaces and the inclined surface on a corresponding hollow cylindrical member cooperating to provide for radial movement of corresponding ones of said spherical members in the direction away from the peripheral annular groove on said corresponding hollow cylindrical member and in one direction along the corresponding cam surface by said inclined surface upon movement of said corresponding hollow cylindrical member in the direction responsive to the establishment of a corresponding pressure differential, and radial movement of said corresponding ones of said spherical members in the direction toward said peripheral annular groove on said corresponding hollow cylindrical member and in the opposite direction along said corresponding cam surface upon movement of said corresponding hollow cylindrical member in an opposite direction in response to the cessation of said corresponding pressure differential.

Claim 8

In a releasably locked multiposition supply and release control valve device, as recited in claim 4, further characterized in that said spool-type valve is ported, and said pair of spaced-apart one-way flow valve means comprises: a. a hollow cylindrical valve member slidably mounted within said hollow spool-type valve member for movement in opposite directions with respect to said hollow spool-type valve, said hollow cylindrical valve member having an annular valve seat at each end thereof, and being provided with a peripheral annular groove intermediate its ends, said groove having an annular inclined surface at each end thereof, b. a pair of valves, each cooperative with a corresponding one of said annular valve seats to control flow past the respective valve, and c. biasing means normally biasing each of said valves into seating contact with its corresponding valve seat, and said means cooperating with said casing and said spool-type valve comprises: a. a pair of spaced-apart oppositely arranged cam surfaces formed on the wall of said bore in said casing, and b. a plurality of movable members normally disposed in certain of said ports in said spool-type valve and normally interposed between said peripheral annular groove on said hollow cylindrical valve member and the wall of said bore in said casing extending between said pair of cam surfaces, c. said plurality of movable members being movable radially with respect to said spool-type valve and said cylindrical valve member in the direction away from said peripheral annular groove on said cylindrical valve member by one or the other of said inclined surfaces thereon and into abutting relationship with one or the other of said cam surfaces upon movement of said cylindrical valve member from a normal position in one direction or in an opposite direction with respect to said spool-type valve to establish one or another of said pressure differentials, and movable radially in the direction toward said peripheral annular groove on said hollow cylindrical valve member by one or the other of said cam surfaces upon return of said hollow cylindrical valve member to said normal position in response to cessation of said one or another of said pressure differentials.

Claim 9

In a releasably locked multiposition supply and release control valve device, as recited in claim 7, further characterized in that each of said pair of cam surfaces formed on the wall of said bore in said casing comprises a first internal cylindrical wall surface connected to a second coaxial internal cylindrical wall surface of larger diameter by an internal truncated conical wall surface.