Patent Application
20130180608
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a position indicator for a valve, and more specifically to a position indicator which visually indicates when the valve is in an open or a closed position.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is often not easy to inspect at a glance to determine whether a valve is open or closed. This problem is of particular concern in consumer goods, such as with valves on propane gas tanks, where harmful gases could escape without notice and potentially cause serious injury, or with valves connecting with diving cylinders, where gas could flow to the scuba diver through the demand valve of a diving regulator without notice before entering the water and instantly cause life risk. Typically, the known indicating devises are generally not well suited for use in valve-containing consumer goods because these indicating devises are integrated with the valve assembly which increase the possibility of malfunction and also increase the manufacturing cost.
The present invention is, therefore, intended to obviate or at least alleviate the problems encountered in the prior art.
According to the present invention, a visual position indicator for a valve includes a knob, inner and outer sleeves. The knob is rotatably mounted on the valve and attached to a stem operating to open and close the valve. The inner sleeve is connected on the valve and includes a first colored band and an outer thread portion. The outer sleeve is engaged with the knob and includes a second colored band and an inner thread portion. The outer and inner thread portions are engaged with each other so that the outer sleeve is movable with respect to the inner sleeve. The first and second colored bands respectively have a color different to each other. While the valve is closed, the outer sleeve fully conceals the inner sleeve to cause the second colored band visible. While the valve is open, the outer sleeve is fully concealed by the knob to cause the first colored band visible.
In a preferred embodiment, the visual position indicator of the present invention is utilized in a valve connecting with a diving cylinder.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a visual position indicator that visually indicates when the valve is in an open or a closed position.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an indicator that is advantageously suited for use in consumer goods containing valves.
It is an additional object of the present invention to enhance the safety of a valve by providing visual indication of the valve open position.
For the present disclosure to be easily understood and readily practiced, the present disclosure will now be described for the purpose of illustration not limitation, in conjunction with the following figures, wherein:
All figures are drawn for ease of explanation of the basic teachings of the present invention only; the extensions of the figures with respect to number, position, relationship, and dimensions of the parts to form the preferred embodiments will be explained or will be within the skill of the art after the following teachings of the present invention have been read and understood. Further, the exact dimensions and dimensional proportions to conform to specific force, weight, strength, and similar requirements will likewise be within the skill of the art after the following teachings of the present invention have been read and understood.
Where used in the various figures of the drawings, the same numerals designate the same or similar parts. Furthermore, when the terms “first”, “second”, “third”, “inner”, “outer”, “side”, “end”, “portion”, “section”, “longitudinal”, “clockwise”, “counterclockwise”, and similar terms are used herein, it should be understood that these terms have reference only to the structure shown in the drawings as it would appear to a person viewing the drawings and are utilized only to facilitate describing the invention.
Referring to
The knob 20 is rotatably mounted on the valve 10 and attached to the stem 11 operating to open and close the valve. The knob 20 includes a plurality of lugs 21, two flanges 22, a first distal surface 23, and groove 24. The plurality of lugs 21 radially extends oppositely from an inner periphery of the knob 20 to a radial extent. The two flanges 22 radially extends oppositely from an outer periphery of the knob 20 to a radial extent to provide increasing lever arms for a user to effectively rotate the knob 20. The groove 24 is formed in the inner periphery of the knob 20 and selectively receives the outer sleeve 40.
The inner sleeve 30 is connected on the valve 10. The inner sleeve 30 includes a first colored band 31 and an outer thread portion 32 both formed on an outer periphery thereof. In this embodiment, the first colored band 31 is coloured green.
The outer sleeve 40 includes a second colored band 41 formed on an outer periphery thereof, an inner thread portion 42 formed in an inner periphery thereof, a plurality of recesses 43 radially retracting oppositely from the outer periphery thereof to a radial extent, and a second distal surface 44 formed on the second colored band 41. In this embodiment, the second colored band 41 is coloured red. The plurality of lugs 21 are respectively engaged with the plurality of recesses 43 to result in the outer sleeve 40 able to be actuated by rotating the knob 20 to move axially with respect to the stem 11. The outer thread portion 32 of the inner sleeve 30 is engaged with the inner thread portion 42 of the outer sleeve 40 to result in the outer sleeve 40 movable with respect to the inner sleeve 30.
When the valve 10 is closed, the shoulder 12 of the valve 10 is abutted against the second distal surface 44 of the outer sleeve 40, so that the outer sleeve 40 fully conceals the inner sleeve 30 to cause the second colored band 41 visible and the first colored band 31 invisible to result in the user could only see red coloured on the second colored band 41.
When the valve 10 is open, the outer sleeve 40 moves respect to the stem 11 and the inner sleeve 30 to cause the outer sleeve 40 is received in the groove 24 and the first distal surface 23 of the knob 20 and the second distal surface 44 of the outer sleeve 40 are arranged on a same plane, so that the outer sleeve 40 is fully concealed by the groove 24 of the knob 20 to cause the first colored band 31 visible and the second colored band 44 invisible to result in the user could only see green coloured on the first colored band 31.
Referring to
As demonstrated by the detailed description of the preferred embodiment, the improved arrangement of the present invention allows the user of the valve to readily determine whether the valve is open or closed. The simplistic construction achieves long-term performance of the indicator at a nominal cost of production.
Thus since the invention disclosed herein may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or general characteristics thereof, some of which forms have been indicated, the embodiment described herein is to be considered in all respects illustrative and not restrictive. The scope of the invention is to be indicated by the appended claims, rather than by the foregoing description, and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are intended to be embraced therein.
