Ball valves

Claim 1

A ball-valve including a valve-housing having a valve-chamber therein and an inlet thereto and an outlet therefrom opposite each other, a generally U-shaped valve-ball in said valvechamber, the U shape of said valve-ball being formed by a channel therethrough which extends thereinto beyond the axis thereof, said U-shaped valve-ball being supported in said valve-chamber out of contact with the walls thereof only by the below-described circular ball mounting and sealing rings and arranged to rotate about an axis at a right angle to the plane in which the axes of said inlet and outlet lie, said channel in said valve-ball forming a fluid passageway extending therethrough, said passageway being generally U-shaped in cross-section in a plane at a right angle thereto and in which its axis of rotation lies and being open on one side thereof to give the valve-ball its U shape, and the ends of said U-shaped fluid passageway operatively registering with said inlet and outlet, respectively, when the valve-ball is in its fully open position, the outer surfaces of the legs of the U of said valve-ball being spherical segments of the outer shperical surface of the valve-ball co-axial with its axis of rotation, said valve-ball being rotatably supported within said valve-chamber without contact with the walls thereof by the two below-described circular ball-mounting sealing-rings mounted in the valve-housing in operative juxtaposition to said inlet and outlet, respectively, and each of said ball-mounting sealing-rings supportingly contacting the outer spherical surface of the valve-ball in its fully open position along a continuous annulus-shaped area which is substantially more than a half circle and the downstream ball-supporting sealing-ring supportingly contacting the outer spherical surface of the valveball in its fully closed position along a full-circular annulusshaped area and the upstream ball-mounting sealing-ring supportingly contacting the outer spherical surfaces of the free ends of the legs of the U of the valve-ball in its fully closed position along two separated concentric and diametrically opposite annulus-shaped areas, one above and one below the median plane between the legs of the U, and intersecting flow-affecting edges at an end of said generally U-shaped through passageway of said valve-ball, said intersecting flow-affecting edges being generally disposed in proximity of the diametral plane of the valve-ball which is generally at a right angle to its axis of rotation and in which the axes of the inlet and outlet lie, the intersection of said flow-affecting edges being outside a fullcircular annulus-shaped sealing-contact area between said spherical surface and the ball-mounting sealing ring when the valve-ball is in its closed position, whereby there will be no flow past said interesecting edges when the valve-ball is in its fully closed position.