Title: Composite lip seal for lavatory or sink valve

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Claims: Intending to claim all novel, useful and unobvious features shown or described, I make the following claims:

1. In a valve structure:

a. a valve body member;

b. a valve control member;

c. said valve body member having an inlet port opening at a surface opposed to said valve control member;

d. means guiding said valve control member for movement transverse to said inlet port for controlling the flow of fluid, said valve control member having a closed position in which a surface of said valve control member is opposed to and spaced from said valve body member surface;

e. a flexible seal member interposed between said valve control member and said valve body member, said seal member having a passage to conduct fluid from said inlet port to the valve control member, said passage having a multi-sided configuration with corners between the sides;

f. said passage having an intermediate enlargement forming a continuous inner lip and a continuous outer lip respectfully cooperable with the valve body member surface and said valve control member surface the distal edges of which lips define said multi-sided configuration; said lips being subjected to fluid pressure conducted to said enlargement via said inlet port to urge said lips into sealing engagement with said surfaces; and

g. compressible and resilient endless ring means fitted in the bottom of said enlargement and about said corners, said ring means having a nominal thickness slightly greater than the nominal spacing between said lips thus providing a mechanical assist to the sealing engagement of said lips to said surfaces and to prevent distortions of said lip from precluding an operative seal, said ring means having a substantially D-shaped cross-sectional configuration with the flat located on the inside of the ring, said D-shaped configuration minimizing lateral bulge at said corners.

2. The valve structure as set forth in claim 1 in which said surfaces are correspondingly concave and convex, said ring means having a multi-sided non-circular ring contour corresponding substantially to that of said passage.

Other info:

Inventors: Tolnai, Julius L. (Los Angeles, CA, US)

Application Number: 623436
Filing Date: 1975-10-17
Publication_date: 1977-03-01
Assignee: Price Pfister Brass Mfg. Co. (Pacoima, CA)
Primary Class(es): 251/172 251/174, 277/345
Other Classes:
US Patent Ref:

2901271	Aug, 1959	Zoldak	285/112.
2943838	Jul, 1960	Skei	251/175.
3661181	May, 1972	Palmer et al.	251/175.
3680874	Aug, 1972	Schwarz	285/111.

Other Refs:
Primary Examiner: Weakley, Harold W.
Assistant Examiner:
Attorney: Flam & Flam