Pressure-actuated valve for use with positive displacement filling machine

Claim 1

For use with a positive-displacement receptacle-filling machine having a base frame with an open bottom dispensing channel extending therein along a vertical axis, a valve comprising: a. a valve upper body adapted to be joined to said base frame and having a passageway therethrough forming part of said dispensing channel and extending along said axis; b. means on the bottom of said valve upper body defining an annular seat disposed around said passageway and concentric with said axis; c. a cylindrical plug including a ring having an upper ring portion, a lower ring portion, and a central transverse plate provided with a plurality of apertures through said plate connecting an upper manifold chamber marginally defined by said upper ring portion and a lower manifold chamber defined by said lower ring portion; d. a hub on said plate concentric with said axis, said plurality of apertures surrounding said hub in concentric relation, the bottom of said hub being at a predetermined elevation above the bottom annular surface of said lower ring portion; e. an elastomeric diaphragm of circular outline in plan and mounted on the bottom of said hub concentric with said axis, said diaphragm being of sufficient diameter and thickness so that in uppermost position the peripheral portion of said diaphragm engages and is biased downwardly by the adjacent circular corner edge of said bottom annular surface of said lower ring portion, said diaphragm being of a material possessing a restorative force capable of tightly sealing said peripheral portion of said diaphragm against said corner edge of said lower ring portion; and, f. a nozzle fitting threadably engageable with said valve upper body, said nozzle fitting including a bore adapted to receive said plug and to clamp said ring against said annular seat as said nozzle fitting is threaded on said valve upper body, said nozzle fitting further including inverted conical side walls extending below said ring and said diaphragm and defining a product stream-shaped chamber having a bottom discharge port concentric with said axis, said peripheral portion of said diaphragm being flexed downwardly by a vertical head pressure in excess of a predetermined amount to permit product flow from said upper manifold chamber to said lower manifold chamber and around the rim of said diaphragm into said product flow shaping chamber and out said bottom discharge port.