High pressure valve and method

Claim 1

A valve comprising: a valve body haVing a valve seat disposed between inlet and outlet passageways; a valve actuating stem, said stem having a bifurcated inner end defined by a transverse bore extending through said stem and an axially directed slot extending from said bore to the inner end of said stem, said slot having a breadth somewhat smaller in magnitude than that of said bore; a valve needle having a cylindrical body, a generally spherical enlarged surface at one end thereof, and a tip at the other end thereof adapted to cooperate with said seat; said one end of said valve needle adapted to be received in said bifurcated end of said stem with said spherical surface in contact with the wall defining said bore; said bore being generally cylindrical, and in which the contact between said bore and the enlarged spherical surface of said needle is substantially on a line; alignment and sealing means for said valve needle; a rigid seal washer having a bore slightly larger than the diameter of said needle body and providing a sliding fit for said needle body; a sealing member adjacent said seal washer; a stem alignment bushing adjacent said sealing member, said bushing having a bore slightly larger than the diameter of said needle body providing a sliding fit for said needle body; a packing nut threadedly received in said valve body and adapted to contact said bushing and apply a compressive force to said sealing member; and a threaded liner sleeve provided in said packing nut and said valve stem being threadedly received in said liner.