Safety vent valve

Claim 1

In a safety valve of the kind including a pair of spring-loaded valve bodies, one displaceable to pressure-vent an associated container, to prevent explosion thereof, and the other displaceable to provide relief of vacuum within the container, to permit withdrawal of fluid therefrom, the improvements which comprise: a valve shell structure which consists of a tube capped toward one end thereof and apertured in the region of that end, said tube having in the region of an opposite end, a threaded portion for association with a container; a pair of shelf-like abutments spaced along the axis of the tube, extending inwardly of the tube, and peripherally of interior wall portions thereof; and a plurality of interior valve components all nested within said tube and supported by said abutment surfaces, said components including a pair of valve bodies, flame-retardant screen means, valve seat structure with respect to which the mentioned valve bodies are displaceable, and a pair of springs each of which urges an associated one of said valve bodies toward said seat structure, the improvements being further characterized in that said seat structure bears against one of said abutments; and said screen means includes two screens, one of which is seated upon the surface defined by the other of said abutments and extends across the open end of said tube, and the other of which screens extends across the apertured portion of said tube and has spaced, generally annular, portions one of which rests against the tube cap and the other of which bears against a surface portion of said seat structure, to maintain said other screen in position.