Claims
- 1. A quick-opening valve for release of gas to suppress a hydrocarbon or the like fire, comprising an elongate body with a central bore characterized by a chamber cavity and a cylindrical valve-member land at an upstream end, a discharge port communicating with the chamber cavity, a cylindrical valve member deriving resiliently sealed support from said land, an inlet port at said upstream end in communication with said bore at said land and adapted for removable attachment of a pressure-charged container of liquified suppressant gas, with the gas continuously loading said valve member for displacement from a first position of closure engagement with said land to a second position in axial offset from said land, means including a stem for providing valve-member support on the axis of said bore throughout valve-member displacement from one to the other of said positions, mechanical-latch means positively retaining said valve member and stem against pressure-loaded displacement from said first position, said latch means comprising a collet with fingers providing body-referenced restraint against such displacement at angularly spaced locations symmetrical about the axis of said bore, and electrically responsive latch-release means including an axially shiftable cylindrical actuating sleeve element surrounding said fingers and guided by the axis of said bore and simultaneously operable to release said latch means at all said angularly spaced positions, said sleeve element having a bore characterized by two axially spaced radially inwardly projecting cylindrical lands, and said fingers being characterized by two axially spaced radially outwardly projecting feet which radially abut said lands in the engaged condition of said latch means, said latch means being released upon sleeve displacement of said lands axially away from foot-to-land radial-abutting relation.
- 2. The valve of claim 1, in which said collet has an annular base end surrounding said stem and clamped to said body, said stem being characterized by a circumferentially continuous shoulder in axial register with said collet fingers when said valve member is in said first position, said collet fingers each having a heel engaged to said shoulder when said fingers are radially inwardly retained by said lands.
- 3. The valve of claim 2, in which said shoulder-to-heel engagement is via coacting sloped surfaces at an acute angle to the valve axis, the direction of inclination being to radially outwardly cam said fingers in response to gas pressure on the inlet side of said valve member.
- 4. The valve of claim 1, in which said latch-release means includes a solenoid mounted to said body in coaxial relation to said axis for operation of said actuating sleeve element.
- 5. The valve of claim 4, in which said latch-release means further comprises manually operable mechanical means for operation of said actuating sleeve element.
- 6. The valve of claim 1, in which said latch-release means includes an explosive squib mounted to said body for operation of said actuating sleeve element.
- 7. The valve of claim 5, in which said latch-release means further comprises manually operable mechanical means for operation of said actuating sleeve element.
- 8. The valve of claim 1, in which said valve member is a piston having a circumferentially continuous annular abutment surface near its outer diameter, an annular snubber ring of elastomeric material concentrically seated in said body on the bore axis and presenting an annular snubber abutment surface ot the abutment surface of said piston.
- 9. The valve of claim 1, in which the axial spacing of said lands is at least as great as the axial extent of the feet which are displaceable into the space between lands for a release from latched retention of said first valve-member position.
- 10. A quick-acting valve having a body and a valve member and stem movably guided by a bore of said body between valve-open and valve-closed positions, loading means carried by said body and continuously loading said valve member and stem in the direction from one to the other of said positions, and mechanical-latch means positively retaining said valve member and stem in said one position and against loaded displacement to said other position, said latch means comprising a collet with fingers providing body-referenced restraint against such displacement at angularly spaced locations symmetrical about the axis of said bore, and electrically responsive latch-release means including an axially shiftable cylindrical actuating sleeve element surrounding said fingers and guided by the axis of said bore and simultaneously operable to release said latch means at all said angularly spaced positions, said sleeve element having a bore characterized by two axially spaced radially inwardly projecting cylindrical lands, and said fingers being characterized by two axially spaced radially outwardly projecting feet which radially abut said lands in the engaged condition of said latch means, said latch means being released upon sleeve displacement of said lands axially away from foot-to-land radial-abutting relation.
- 11. A quick-opening valve for release of gas to suppress a hydrocarbon or the like fire, comprising an elongate body with a central bore characterized by a chamber cavity and a cylindrical valve-member land at an upstream end, a discharge port communicating with the chamber cavity, a cylindrical valve member deriving resiliently sealed support from said land, an inlet port at said upstream end in communication with said bore at said land and adapted for removable attachment of a pressure-charged container of liquified suppressant gas, with the gas continuously loading said valve member for displacement from a first position of closure engagement with said land to a second position in axial offset from said land, means including a stem for providing valve-member support on the axis of said bore throughout valve-member displacement from one to the other of said positions, mechanical-latch means positively retaining said valve member and stem against pressure-loaded displacement from said first position, said latch means comprising a collet with fingers providing body-referenced restraint against such displacement at angularly spaced locations symmetrical about the axis of said bore, and latch-release means including an axially shiftable cylindrical actuating sleeve element surrounding said fingers and guided by the axis of said bore and simultaneously operable to release said latch means at all said angularly spaced positions, said sleeve element having a bore characterized by two axially spaced radially inwardly projecting cylindrical lands, and said fingers being characterized by two axially spaced radially outwardly projecting feet which radially abut said lands in the engaged condition of said latch means, said latch means being released upon sleeve displacement of said lands axially away from foot-to-land radial-abutting relation.
- 12. The valve of claim 11, in which said latch-release means comprises manually operable mechanical means for operation of said actuating sleeve element.
- 13. The valve of claim 11, in which said latch-release means comprises a solenoid mounted to said body for imparting an axial shift to said actuating sleeve element.
- 14. The valve of claim 11, in which said latch-release means comprises a squib mounted to said body for imparting an axial shift to said actuating sleeve element.
RELATED CASE
This application is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 446,499, filed Dec. 3, 1982, now abandoned.
US Referenced Citations (4)
Foreign Referenced Citations (1)
Number |
Date |
Country |
3036140 |
Jul 1981 |
DEX |
Continuation in Parts (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
446499 |
Dec 1982 |
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