Bradley Corporation

Scott H Gumm

William A Smart, Jr

A remote actuated metering valve system for supplying water to a washing fixture includes a main metering valve and at least one remote actuating relief valve connected to the main valve by tubing. The main metering valve has an inlet and an outlet with a valve seat between them and a movable piston which when the valve is in the normal closed position has its front face seated on the valve seat and its elongated nose projecting through the valve seat. The piston is maintained in the closed position by supply line pressure which is transferred via a bypass timing circuit to a pressure chamber behind the piston where it is sensed by the rear face of the piston. The pressure chamber of the main valve is connected by tubing to a normally closed remote push button relief valve. A second length of tubing leads from the relief valve to the supply source at a point downstream of the valve seat. When the push button of the relief valve is depressed, the relief valve is opened allowing the pressure in the pressure chamber of the main valve to be reduced. Inlet pressure acting on the front face of the piston forces it off the valve seat and forces fluid out of the pressure chamber out through the remote relief valve. As soon as the push button is released, the relief valve closes and the timing of the flow period starts. Inlet fluid flowing through the bypass timing circuit passes through a timing mechanism refilling the pressure chamber at a controlled rate. The preferred timing mechanism comprises a disc of deformable material which is positioned in a bore in the bypass circuit and has an axial opening through which fluid must pass to reach the pressure chamber and an adjustable member which is employed to selectively exert an axially directed force upon the disc to deform the material of the disc into the axial opening thereby effectively reducing its effective diameter. The more the disc is compressed the smaller the effective diameter of the disc and the longer the flow period.

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West Bend, WI, United States of America

Scott H Gumm