Seal for irrigation valve

Claim 1

A seal structure for forming a watertight connection between a first elongated opening through the wall of a pipe and a conduit leading to a valve comprising the combination of a gasket comprising a unitarily molded, generally rectangular body of elastomeric material having front and back surfaces and a thickness at least three times the thickness of the pipe wall, a continuous groove extending inwardly from the periphery of said body to receive the edges of the pipe wall defining the first opening, and a second opening extending axially through said body forming first, second, third and fourth walls around said second opening, said first wall being significantly wider in a radial direction than the opposite one of said walls; and a conduit having a hollow interior opening at the distal end thereof, a generally rectangular outer surface shaped and dimensioned to be at least as large as said second opening before installation, first and second flanges protruding laterally from opposite sides of said conduit adjacent the distal end thereof, each of said flanges having a surface perpendicular to the adjacent portion of the outer surface of said conduit with the flange at one side being significantly radially longer than the flange at the opposite side, and a stop surface at one end of said conduit, the distance between said stop surface and said flanges being no greater than the thickness of said body; whereby said conduit can be coupled to said pipe by placing said gasket in said first opening with said first wall adjacent one side of said first opening and said back wall facing the interior of said conduit, inserting said longer flange on said conduit through said second opening and adjacent the inner surface of said first wall of said gasket, pushing said conduit toward said first wall to elastically compress said first wall, and inserting the other flange so that the stop surface is adjacent the outer, front surface of said gasket.