US2288565A - Breathing apparatus supply valve - Google Patents

Description

June30, 1942. D. A; GREEN 2,288,565

BREATHING APPARATUS SUPPLY VALVE Filed May 51, 1940 i INVENTOR` nw 4.41m/

ATTORNEY' Patented June 30, 1942 BREATHING APPARATUS SUPPLY VALVE Daniel A. Green, North Braddock Township, Al-

legheny County, Pa., assigner to Mine Safety Appliances Company, Pittsburgh, Pa.

Application May 31, 1940, Serial No. 337,984

3 Claims.

This invention relates to a valve arrangement and more particularly to an arrangement which is adaptable in efiiciently connecting a breathing apparatus to any one of a series of supply stam tions incorporated in a manifold connected to a source of respirable` air.

It is among the objects of this invention to provide a valve arrangement which is adaptable to connect a breathing apparatus to a manifold air supply, which is compact, simple in operation, low in resistance to movement of air, and inexpensive in construction, which is adaptable to the various systems used in supplying respirable air, which enables rapid engagement and disengagement of an apparatus to a supply system, as may be necessary in connecting or disconnecting breathing apparatus to different stations of a manifold system, and which accomplishes these operations Without the loss of Vany material amount of respirable air from the supply and is operative to seal the inlet of the breathing apparatus during disengagement of the apparatus from the supply system.

In the drawing,

Fig. 1 is a sectional View of a valve arrangement and in which the separable parts are illustrated in a separated position;

Fig. `2 is a sectional vieW similar to that of Fig. 1 in which the separable parts are illustrated in connected position;

Fig, 3 is a sectional View taken along the line 3-3 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line Iii-4 of'Fig. l;

Fig. 5 is aY sectional view taken along the line Vcommonly-used infsuch a means of supply of respirable air. `It is operative in such a system to reduce the amount of leakage that ordinarily `occurs in connecting the breathing apparatus to an outlet of the manifold and the connection can be made quickly and without much effort. Furthermore, the valve is automatic in Vclosing off 4the apparatus to the outside atmosphere when the apparatus is disconnected fromthe supply system.

ment illustrated is of twoseparablelparts; the one part I forms a part of the manifold, While the other part la is connected to the Ainlet of a breathing apparatus. The part I comprises principally a casing 2in which is provided acentral passage 3 and from which an -outlet passage li leads to define a supply station for a breathing apparatus. Thiscentral passage 3 is provided in connecting thecasing 2 into a manifold system and the casing is provided'with threadedr ends Which engage coupling members-5 ands of the header 8. By this arrangement, the manifold header 8 is connected tightly to thevcasing 2 and air passing through the manifold passes through thecentralvpassage 3 of the casing. A spring loaded and normally closed valve 9 controls the movement of air to the outer passage ll and'is sealed to the casing by cooperation with a gasket I0. A cap 9b is threaded to the casing and seals off an opening 9d through which the valve S is inserted and this` permits ready replacement or repair of the valveV in the event such should be necessary during use of the system. l Also, the cap serves to support thespring 9c which acts against the valve and holds it normally closed. As is ap parent by comparing Figures '1 and 2, thevalve moves in the direction across thecentral passage 3 in moving the valve to `an open position. The valve remains closed untilthe connectable part la dening the inlet of a breathing apparatus or that part which is connected to the inlet of the apparatus is brought .into ,-sea-ledposition to the casing. This parta is composed of a receiving duct Il to which is connected an intermediate member l2 which contains'a radially directed flange I3 spaced afpredetermined distance from the -end lla of the outlet duct Il which'is to engage the valve lilin moving-it into Aan open position. The flangefsupports agasket 23 which engages the end of the `casing to provide a fluid tight seal when thev ductis moved vinto the pessage 4 sufficiently to open the valve'9. Y

In order to seal off the breathing apparatus tc the atmosphere when the apparatus is disengaged from the supply system, -a flexible flutter valve 2i! is fastened to the surface of the receiving duct and is hel-d thereto by thefpressure of `engagement produced by the intermediate member l2. This arrangement of connecting the valve onto the surface of the duct andof the cooperating intermediate member provides a simple method of assembly and also an effectivel means toseal the valve to the 'connecting parts. Inassembly, the valve is placed on utheputer surface of the Referring"tdthedrawingy the-valvearrange- 55v outlet-'ductproper-and thenbyassembly"ofthe intermediate member I2 to the duct, the valve is placed in positive sealing engagement with the duct.

A union or lock holding the parts I and I a in connected position is illustrated as an ordinary bayonet lock I4 in which lugs of part I 4a are provided integral with thecasing 2 and a hollow nut of part I4b having an integral inward flange composed of separated parts cooperates with the lugs and a recess of part Ma and the two parts may be quickly connected. A small pivoted lever II actuated by a spring I8 positioned in a recess in the part Ilib locks the nut to the casing proper when brought into engaged position. This is accomplished by the lever I'I engaging the forward side of one of the lugs of part Illa when the inward separated flange engages stops Ille in the recess of part I4a. Thegasket 23 is enclosed by the nut of part |41) and it suiiiciently engages the end of the casing to tightly seal off the joint when engagement of the two parts la and |417 is complete. Also, the end of the duct I Ia is moved sufficiently into the passage 4 to move the valve 9 to an open position when joinder of the bayonet lock is cornpleted. All of this depends upon the proper spacing of the ange I3 from the end IIa of the duct II. Since the end IIa of outlet duct II engages the face of the valve 9 when opened, it is necessary to provideinlet openings 24 through which air may pass and as illustrated specically in Fig. 2. A tube I9 represents the inlet of a breathing apparatus (not shown) and is connected directly to the intermediate member I2.

In the operation of this valve arrangement, the valve 9 being normally closed by aspring 9c closes off the movement of air to the outlet passage 4. When it is desired to connect a breathing apparatus to this station, assuming the outlet 4 to represent one of several like stations or outlets in the manifold 8, the part la connected to the breathing apparatus is brought into receiving position by inserting the outlet duct II into the passage 4 and then moving it sufl'iciently inwardly so that the nut of part |419 can be locked into position to the lugs of part I 4a by the operation of lever I'I and the parts sealed together by means of thegasket 23. When this is accomplished, the outlet duct will have moved to such a position to force the normally closed valve open and allow the air to move therein and thence to the breathing apparatus after having passed through therubber valve 20.

If it is desired to move the connection of the breathing apparatus from this station to another similar station, the breathing apparatus can be rapidly disconnected by operation of the lever I'I and by disengagement of separable parts of the lock I4 so that the part Ia is quickly disconnected and by such disconnection the valve 9 closes, sealing off thecentral passage 3 from the atmosphere. By the operation of vthe rubber Valve 20, the breathing apparatus inlet is sealed from the atmosphere since the rubber valve is operative to allow the passage of air only in one direction, and by my arrangement air is allowed to move only in a direction towards the apparatus from the outlet duct II. Thus, all of the air contained in the apparatus lat the time of disconnection is conserved and by proper design can be made sufficient to supply the user until the apparatus is connected to another station.

It is to be recognized that the pressure differential existing in a supply system to breathing apparatus and especially the pressure differential v existing on the opposite sides of a valve directly controlling the supply to the breathing apparatus may be very small and it is necessary that any arrangement used be operative by small differentials. In addition to fullling the essential requirements of the device in controlling an air supply to a breathing apparatus, the whole valve arrangement is compact and positive in action and effective in preventing leakage when the apparatus is engaged or disengaged from a supply system and does not resist to a material extent the movement of air from the source to the apparatus.

It is to be understood that this valve system is directed to controlling the flow of air to breathing apparatus and is especially adaptable in providing a manifold system of supply in which the apparatus can be connected to any one of the series of supply stations provided along a manifold which may be located in a compartment. It is intended that the claims dene the scope of this invention.

I claim:

l\. In a coupling device to connect a source of respirable air under pressure to a breathing apparatus comprising a housing section adapted to be connected into a manifold arrangement and having a passage therethrough to a connectable outlet, a removable section adapted to be quickly connected and sealed to the connectable outlet of the housing, a normally closed Valve in the housing, the removable section having a means engageable with the valve to open the valve when the sections are connected and a duct portion to be attached to an inlet tube of'a breathing apparatus, and a low resistance valve sealed to the removable section to control the flow of air in either direction through the duct and positioned within the duct and operative on small diierences in pressure on each side of the Valve to move from one position to another and eective to seal the breathing apparatus from the atmosphere when the removable section is detached from the housing by the force of pressure in the inlet tube of the breathing apparatus acting on the outer opposite surfaces of the valve.

2. In a coupling device to connect a source of respirable air under pressure to a breathing apparatus comprising a housing section adapted to be connected into a manifold arrangement and having a passage therethrough to a connectable outlet, a hollow removable section adapted to be quickly connected and sealed to the connectable outlet of the housing, a normally closed valve in the housing, the removable section having a means engageable with the valve to open the valve when the sections are connected and having a duct portion to be attached to an inlet tube of a breathing apparatus, and a tubular respiratory flutter valve mounted to and supported by the removable section and positioned within the removable section so that the tubular portion of the valve is arranged to receive the flow of air from the manifold to close oil air to the apparatus through the removable section except through the valve and operative to seal the breathing apparatus from the atmosphere when the removable section is detached from the housing by the force of pressure in the inlet tube of the breathing apparatus acting on the outside and opposite surfaces of the valve.

3. In a coupling device to connect a source of respirable air under pressure to a breathing apparatus comprising a housing section adapted to be connected into a manifold arrangement and having a passage therethrough to a connectable outlet, a removable section adapted to be quickly connected and sealed to the connectable outlet of the housing, a normally closed valve in the housing, the removable section having a means engageable With the valve to open the valve when the sections are connected, a duct attachable to an inlet tube of a breathing apparatus and attachable to an intermedite outside portion of the removable section, the removable section having a cylindrical portion at its outlet end extending within the duct, a tubular rubber utter valve mounted onto the outer surface of the cylindrical portion, the duct portion having a surface cooperative With the cylindrical portion to seal the valve material thereto, the tubular Hutter valve being positioned in the duct and operative to pass air to the breathing apparatus from the housing section and effective to seal the breathing apparatus from the atmosphere when the removable section is detached from the housing by force of pressure in the inlet tube of the breathing apparatus on the opposite outside surfaces of the valve.

DANIEL A. GREEN.

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