Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 12
Claim 1
Independent Claim
165 words
A method of making a valve bonnet with cage unit for a valve for controlling transmission of critical fluids, comprising the step of: (a) stacking a plurality of thin metal discs; (b) sandwiching said stacked discs between a pair of annular members, at least one of which is compatible to be welded to said bonnet; (c) maintaining said discs in said position between said annular members and applying a weld completely around the peripheral edges of said discs and said annular members to thereby form a peripherally sealed cage unit; (d) deforming said sandwiched metal discs to a selected contour; (e) heat treating said cage unit by subjecting the same to an annealing and aging process resulting in stress relieving and in the material of said discs having extreme fatigue strength; and (f) orientating said cage unit on said valve bonnet and securing the same thereto by peripherally welding a selected one of said annular members to said bonnet to provide a sealed joint therebetween.
Claim 2
Independent Claim
165 words
A method of making a valve bonnet with cage unit for a valve for controlling transmission of critical fluids, comprising the step of: (a) stacking a plurality of thin metal discs; (b) sandwiching said stacked discs between a pair of annular members, at least one of which is compatible to be welded to said bonnet; (c) maintaining said discs in said position between said annular members and applying a weld completely around the peripheral edges of said discs and said annular members to thereby form a peripherally sealed cage unit; (d) deforming said sandwiched metal discs to a selected contour; (e) heat treating said cage unit by subjecting the same to an annealing and aging process resulting in stress relieving and in the material of said discs having extreme fatigue strength; and (f) orientating said cage unit on said valve bonnet and securing the same thereto by peripherally welding a selected one of said annular members to said bonnet to provide a sealed joint therebetween.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
45 words
A method for making a valve including a valve bonnet as defined in claim 1 including the step of assembling said valve bonnet with cage unit to a valve body, including peripherally welding said bonnet to said valve body to provide a sealed joint therebetween.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
24 words
A method as defined in claim 1 wherein said welding around the peripheral edges of said discs and annular members comprises electron beam welding.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
27 words
A method as defined in claim 1 wherein said stacking a plurality of thin metal discs comprises stacking in the range of between five and ten discs.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
26 words
A method as defined in claim 3 wherein said stacking of thin metal discs comprises stacking discs ranging in thickness of between 0.006 and 0.008 inches.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
27 words
A method as defined in claim 5 including the step of making said discs from Inconel 718 material and said annular members from Inconel 600 bar material.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
38 words
A method as defined in claim 1 including stacking said discs in such manner that the direction of the material grain flow in the discs is displaced one to another in substantially equal angular intervals throughout the stack.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
37 words
A method as defined in claim 1 including heat treating said cage unit such that the material of said discs has a high yield strength of 150,000 psi with 115,000 psi fatigue strength at 10 5 cycles.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
19 words
A method as defined in claim 2 including constructing said valve bonnet and valve body from austenetic stainless steel.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
29 words
A method as defined in claim 1, including the step of contouring said annular members with diverging portions at inner surface portions adjacent to where said discs are sandwiched.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
70 words
A method as defined in claim 2, including forming peripheral heat-sink grooves on said annular members in flanking relation on opposite sides of the peripherally-sealing cage weld whereby one of said heat-sink grooves is disposed between the peripherally-sealing cage weld and the peripherally-sealing weld assembling the cage unit to said bonnet so that assembling of the cage unit to said bonnet does not deteriorate the preweld of the cage unit.