US1844593A - Valve operating device - Google Patents

Description

' Feb. 9, 1932. w. H. PAuLsN VALVEl OPERATING DEVICE Filed Dec. 13

Patented Feb. 9, 1932 l l UNiTED STATES PATENT. orrica WALTER II. PAULSON, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO HARRY D. LATHROP, OF

4 CHICAGO, ILLINOIS VALVE OPERATING DEVICE Application 'filed December 13, 1829. "Serial No. 413,795.

This invention relates to valve operating means, and 1t has more particularly to do with a device of this character for use 1n con `necticn with the valves which control the application of the treating fluid in machines for washing milk` cans and the,` like, and other mechanism wherethe valves are subjected to continuous and rather rough usage.

rllhe invention has for its principal object to minimize wear upon the permanent operating parts of the valve mechanism and to secure an easy yet positive automatic actuation of the valve controlling mechanism, together with adjustability. Other objects and advantages to be attained will hereinafter more fully appear.` The invention consists in the parts and in the combinations and arrangements of parts hereinafter described and pointed out with 'C particularity inthe appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings, forming ypart of this specification and illustrating a practical adaptation of the invention,-

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary plan View of a p0rtion of a can washing machine, in the region of the controlling valve thereof;

Fig. 2 is a view, partly in elevation and partly in cross-section, of the parts shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is adetail View of the supplemental valve operating element detached; and

Fig. 4 is a detail View of the adjustable bracket for the supplemental Valve controlling element.

Referring now to thedrawings, the numeral 5 designates generally one of the side frame members of a can washing machine which, as shown, is of angle iron section. Ad jacent to the frame member 5 are the usual can guide members 6, below which are located the parallel trackways 7 said guide members 6 and traclway members 7 being of angle iron section and suitably supported in the frame ofthe machine by obvious means, which it is deemed unnecessary to illustrate in the drawings. Cooperating with the trackway members 7 is the usual can feeding mechanism comprising the reciprocatory carriage members 8 which ride on rollers 9, frag-` ments of said rollers only being shown. The

mittently engaged by the respective pairs of pawls 12 during the reciprocationV of the feeder frame on the rollers `9, whereby the cans are fed successively through the machine. different places throughout the length of the machine, where the respective cans are brought to rest momentarily during the reciprocation of the feeding mechanism, they are subjected to washing` and sterilizing treatments by having directed thereon and therein jets of cleansing and rinsing solutions or water, either hot or cold or both hot and cold 1n alternation, and finally steam treated and dried by the application of heated air.

In machines of the above noted character the various controlling valves for the diiferent treatments are actuated automatically by the engagement of the respective cans with a lever or tripping device disposed in the path of the can, and it is in connection with this part of the machine that the present invention is more particularly concerned. As shown in the drawings, the controlling valve 111 is of the self-closing check type, and is usually provided for the purpose with a spring element (not shown) for yieldably holding the valve in closed condition. Connected to the valve 14 is a nipple extension 15 which, in practice, is connectedthrough a suitable pipe to a source of supply, which may be either a tank of cleansing solution or an ordinary water service pipe. At the opposite side of the valve isa pipe 16 which is connected to the usual perforated discharge pipes or nozzle members (not shown), from which the jets of cleansing solution or rinsing water are directed upon thecans, or, ob

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viously, said valves may control the steam sterilizing and the drying treatments.

The valve 14 is provided with the usual normally projected stem 17 with which the cam portion 18 of the actuating lever 19 is adapted to cooperate, said lever 19 being hingedly supported on a stud 2O (see Fig. 1) extending upwardly from the horizontal flange of the frame member 5. Normally, the lever member 19 extends transversely over the can trackway of the machine, and it is yieldably held in this position against a stop element 21 which is secured to the adj acent can guide member 6 and projects upwardly therefrom, a spring 21 being provided for the purpose, said spring being coiled around the pivotstud 2O with one of its ends bearing against a stud 22 on the lever arm 19 and its opposite end portion bearing against a stud 23 on the horizontal flange of the main frame member 5. It will thus be seen that as the respective milk cans come into engagement with the lever arm 19 overhanging the trackway, said lever arm is rocked on its pivot 20, thereby bringing the cam portion 18 into engagement with the end of the valve stem 17, whereby said valve stem is forced inwardly and the valve 14 is opened.

Obviously, due tothe continued sliding engagement of the cam portion 18 with the end of the valve stem 17, there is bound to be considerable wear upon either or both of said parts, which will eventually affect the operation of the valve to an appreciable extent and, furthermore, owing to the rough usage to which these cooperating parts are subjected in machines of the character herein set forth, said valve stem is liable to become bent so as to interfere with the proper operation thereof.'V To this end, therefore, the invention consist-s primarily in the interposition of a supplemental wear plate 24, preferably composed of sheet metal of some degree softer than the metal comprising either the valve stem 17 or cam 18. This supplemental wear plate, of course, is necessarily movably mounted to compensate for the operation of the cooperating cam 18 and valve stem 17, and, preferably, it is hingedly mounted and it is also adjustable, to bring different portions thereof into cooperative engaging relation with the valve stem 17 and cam. 18.

Preferably, the supplemental valve operating member 24 is hingedly mounted on a stud 25 projecting upwardly from a bracket element 26, which latter is-mounted on the main frame member 5 of the machine. As shown, the bracket member 26 is provided with a vertical elongated slot 27, through which the screw-stud 28 is projected from the vertical flange port-ion of the main frame member 5, said stud 28 having a wing nut 29 thereon so as to clamp the bracket member 26 in different vertically adjusted positions. Obviously, by raising and lowering the bracket member 26, different portions of the supplemental valve operating plate 24 are brought into working range of the cam 18 and the end of the valve stem 17. As a convenient means of hinging the plate 24 on the stud 25, it has its end portion 30 rolled, as more clearly shown in Fig. 3 of the drawings.

By the interposition of the pivotally mounted plate 24, not only is the actuation of the valve stem 17 accomplished in an easy and smooth manner and without any tendency to bend and thereby cause binding of the stem 17, but, as hereinbefore set forth, there is the further advantage in the adjustment of said plate 24 to compensate for wear rupon the plate in any one spot.

Obviously, the structural arrangements of the device and its particular application and use, admit of considerable modification without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as herein described and defined by the appended claims. rPhe invention, therefore, is not limited to the specific oonstruction and arrangement shown in the accompanying drawings.

Having thus described my invention, what l claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a machine of the character described, a valve having a normally projected reciprocatory operating stem, a pivotally mounted actuator element having a cam portion working transversely Vin cooperative relation to the end of said valve operating stem, and a supplemental element comprising a plate of metal interposed between said valve operating stem and the cam portion of said pivotal actuator element, said interposed plate being pivotally mounted and adjustable longitudinally of its pivotal axis.

2. The combination of a valve having a reciprocatory operating stem, an actuator element having a cam portion movable transversely of the end portion of said valve oper-- ating stem in cooperative relation thereto, a n adjustable sup porting bracket, and a supplemental plate pivotally mounted on said supporting bracket and being interposed cooperatively between said valve operating stem and the cam portion of said actuator element.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specilication.

VALTER H. PAULSON.

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