Centrifugal separator having valve in passageway beneath distributor foot

Claim 1

In a centrifugal separator comprising: a. a rotatably mounted drum having an upper end member and a lower end member enclosing a drum chamber for the separation, and having at least one discharge passageway disposed at the radially outward periphery of the drum, b. a piston valve disposed within the drum defining one side of the drum chamber and movable vertically to open and close the discharge passageway(s), c. a distributor coaxial within the drum for receiving feed to the separator and conveying the feed along the axis of the separator, the distributor having a distributor foot extending radially outwardly from adjacent the drum axis and over at least a portion of the piston valve and terminating at the radially outwardly disposed end thereof in spaced relation with the piston valve so as to define an annular gap between the piston valve and distributor foot communicating the radially extending passageway with the drum chamber, d. at least one opening in the distributor foot adjacent the drum axis for passage of the feed from the distributor to the drum chamber, the improvement which comprises: e. a valve plate mounted either on the piston valve or the distributor foot and extending either toward the distributor foot or toward the piston valve for engagement therewith to close the radially extending passageway at a location radially outwardly of said opening(s) in the distributor foot, with the piston valve in the closed position and open the radially extending passageway with the piston valve in the open position.