Nozzle construction to facilitate its opening and enhance the flow of fuel through the nozzle

Abstract

A fuel dispensing nozzle, incorporating a uniquely shaped gasket for the poppet valve, generally of truncated shape, enhances the flow of fuel through the nozzle when actuated. A handle lever for the nozzle, which is designed having an elongated and enlarged end, includes elongated slots, that are pivotally pinned through both the latch plate, and the handle link, in order to reduce the space between the interconnection between the front of the latch plate to the bottom of the automatic shutoff stem, such that by lessening the distance between these components, thereby reducing the fulcrum point for the calculation of the force necessary to open the nozzle by raising its handle lever, and reduces the force necessary to achieve nozzle opening and actuation, to less than 5 lbs pressure during usage and application.

Claims

1. A nozzle construction to lessen the force required to open the nozzle for fuel flow while simultaneously accelerating the flow of fuel through the nozzle for dispensing into a vehicle, comprising: a poppet valve provided within the nozzle and normally seating onto a valve seat to prevent the flow of fuel through said nozzle during non-usage, and when opened allowing for the flow of fuel through said nozzle, a gasket provided within the poppet valve and normally sealing upon said valve seat, said gasket being truncated in shape, a poppet stem, said poppet stem mounting said poppet valve, and said gasket, normally extending into said valve seat and upon a forced opening furnishing an enhanced flow of fuel through said nozzle, during dispensing; a hand lever, said hand lever contacting the bottom of said poppet stem and when said hand lever is raised, lifting said poppet stem and gasket to allow said enhanced flow of fuel through the nozzle during fuel dispensing; said gasket being truncated has a lesser diameter at its bottom than at its top, with a lesser diameter of said gasket fitting into the said valve seat, when securing the nozzle against fuel flow, said gasket being truncated has a compound slope, and said gasket being truncated is shaped at an approximate 30-50 angle from the vertical of said poppet valve and its stem; said nozzle includes an automatic shutoff, said hand lever cooperating with said poppet valve and its poppet stem to initiate the flow of fuel through said nozzle or to release said poppet valve and said poppet stem to shutoff fuel flow through said poppet valve, said hand lever also securing with the automatic shutoff to achieve closure of said poppet valve when the automatic shutoff detects a fuel filled vehicle; said hand lever including a handle, a handle link at one end pivotally connecting to said handle, a latch plate, said handle link at its other end pivotally connecting with said latch plate, at the location of connection of said handle link to said latch plate said handle end having an elongated slot such that as the handle link pivots it also shifts along said elongated slot and thereby lessens the force necessary to lift the valve stem to shift the poppet valve into an opened position during fuel flow through said nozzle; and said latch plate at its front end pivotally connecting with the automatic shutoff, a lock plate pivotally connecting with said hand lever, and at its other end engaging with the opposite end of said latch plate to secure the nozzle into an opened and fuel flowing condition for dispensing of fuel.

2. The nozzle construction of claim 1 wherein the force necessary to open the poppet valve through manipulation of said handle is less than 5 lbs of pressure.

3. The nozzle construction of claim 2, wherein the lessening of force to pull the handle into a nozzle opened position can be determined initially through summation of the moments about the connection between the front of the latch plate with the automatic shutoff stem through calculations made from the following formulation: Summation of moments about P.sub.1 to break static equilibrium $.Math.M_{P_1}=0_j{F}_{\mathrm{USER}}.Math.X_2-F_{\mathrm{STEM}}.Math.X_1=0.Math.F_{\mathrm{USER}}^{\mathrm{CURRENT}}=\frac{X_1}{X_2}{F}_{\mathrm{STEM}}$ and then moving the force control to the front of the handle link and the summation of moments of force about that pivot point to attain calculations from the following formulation: thereby providing for a determination of the reduction of force necessary to open the handle through calculations from the following formula: Percent reduction in force experienced by the user is F.sup.EZ.sup.user divided by F.sup.Current.sup.user $\%\mathrm{RED}=\frac{\left(X_1-d\right)}{\left(X_2-d\right)}.Math.F_{\mathrm{STEM}}.Math.\frac{X_2}{X_1.Math.F_{\mathrm{STEM}}}=\frac{\left(X_1-d\right)}{\left(X_2-d\right)}.Math.\frac{X_2}{X_1}$ resulting in a force reduction of over 50% from the force required to open the standard poppet valve.

4. A nozzle construction to lessen the force required to open the nozzle for fuel flow while simultaneously accelerating the flow of fuel through the nozzle for dispensing into a vehicle, comprising; a poppet valve provided within the nozzle and normally sealing onto a valve seat to prevent the flow of fuel through the nozzle during non usage, and when opened allowing for the flow of fuel through the nozzle, a gasket provided within the poppet valve and normally sealing upon said valve seat, a poppet stem, said poppet stem mounting said poppet valve and said gasket normally extending into said valve seat and upon a forced opening furnishing an enhanced flow of fuel through said nozzle, during dispensing; a hand lever, said hand lever contacting the bottom of said poppet stem and when said hand lever is raised, lifting said poppet stem and gasket to allow said enhanced flow of fuel through the nozzle during fuel dispensing; said nozzle including an automatic shutoff, said hand lever cooperating with said poppet valve and its poppet stem to initiate the flow of fuel through said nozzle or to release said poppet valve and said poppet stem to shutoff fuel flow through said poppet valve, and said hand lever also securing with the automatic shutoff to achieve closure of said poppet valve when the automatic shutoff detects a fuel filled vehicle; said hand lever including a handle, a handle link at one end pivotally connecting to said handle, a latch plate, said handle link at its other end pivotally connecting to said latch plate, at the location of connection of said handle link to said latch plate, said handle end having an elongated slot such that as the handle link pivots it also shifts along said elongated slot and thereby lessen the force necessary to lift the valve stem to shift the poppet valve into an opened position during fuel flow through said nozzle; said latch plate at its front end pivotally connecting with the automatic shutoff, a lock plate pivotally connecting with said hand lever, and at its other end engaging with the opposite end of said latch plate to secure the nozzle into an opened and fuel flowing condition for dispensing of fuel; and wherein the force necessary to open the poppet valve through manipulation of said handle is less than 5 lbs of pressure.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) In referring to the drawings:

(2) FIG. 1 shows a sectional view of a prior art style of fuel dispensing nozzle;

(3) FIG. 2 shows a sectional view of the inventive nozzle of the current design;

(4) FIG. 3 shows the positioning of the operative components of the fuel dispensing nozzle of FIG. 2, while opened and dispensing fuel;

(5) FIG. 4 discloses the fuel dispensing nozzle of this design, immediately after the automatic shutoff has initiated closure, and just before the poppet valve is shifted and dropped into a closed position;

(6) FIG. 5 shows the truncated gasket of the poppet valve of this invention, in closed position;

(7) FIG. 6 shows the gasket of the poppet valve of this invention in its opened and fuel flowing condition;

(8) FIG. 7 discloses an exploded view of the various operative components of the hand lever and latch plate for the nozzle of this invention; and

(9) FIG. 8 shows the chart and calculations indicating the lesser force required through usage of the nozzle of this invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

(10) In referring to the drawings, and in particular FIG. 1, therein is shown a prior art style of nozzle construction 1, which as known, includes a housing 3 having an inlet 4 and an outlet 6 generally at the location of the formation and location of the spout 7 to the nozzle. The nozzle includes a main valve 8 that includes a poppet valve 9 that rests upon a valve seat 10, with the poppet valve having a poppet stem 11 that extends downwardly through the nozzle body, as at 12. Usually, the handle lever 5 includes a hand gripping portion 13 which is configured in a rather S shape, having an intermediate portion 14 and a forwardly extending integral portion 15 that secures by a pinned connection, as at 16, to the bottom of the automatic shutoff stem 17 for the shown nozzle. Thus, when the handle lever 5 is elevated, it pushes the poppet stem 11 upwardly, at the location of 18, to provide for an opening of the poppet valve and the flow of fuel through the nozzle, for dispensing into a vehicle fuel tank (not shown). To retain the handle lever 5 in a opened position, a latch plate 19 engages with a lock plate 20 to maintain the handle in an opened condition, until such time as the handle lever is released from its latch plate connection, through the release of the lock plate 20, to allow the nozzle poppet valve to quickly enter into closure. This is normally achieved through the automatic shutoff means, in a manner as known in the art, being released, so that its stem 17 will abruptly drop, releasing the lock plate, to allow the handle to drop downwardly, allowing the poppet stem 11 to allow the poppet valve to enter into prompt closure, immediately shutting off any further fuel flow through the nozzle. As generally can be seen, with the location of the handle lever 5, that extends all the way integrally to its pinned connection, as at 16, with the shutoff stem 17, there is significant distance from the end of the hand lever, as at 21, to the pinned connection 16, and further distance between the pinned connection 16, to the bottom of the poppet stem, as at 18, so that the fulcrum for the handle lever to open the nozzle, against the pressure of the poppet spring, is significant, and as previously summarized, generally somewhere in the vicinity of 8-10 lbs, or more, of pressure that is required to open the hand lever for dispensing of gasoline.

(11) One of the significant improvements of the current invention, as can be seen in FIGS. 2, 5 and 6, is the usage of a particular designed poppet valve gasket, as at 22, which is truncated of shape, having a downwardly sloping edge, as at 23, so that when the poppet valve is opened, as can be seen in FIG. 6, a much greater spacing, as at 24, is provided between said gasket and the valve seat, that allows for a more abundant flow of the fuel to pass through the nozzle, as at F, at the location of the poppet valve, to provide for a more accelerated flow of fuel through the nozzle, during dispensing. It can be seen how the gasket 22 and its downwardly sloping compound contoured surfaces 23 seat within the opening 24 of the nozzle, as noted in FIG. 5, where the poppet valve is shown in closure. Nevertheless, when opened, as noted in FIG. 6, it provides an abundant flow path through which the vehicle fuel can pass, through the nozzle, for accelerating the fill-up of the vehicle fuel tank, to which the nozzle is applied.

(12) The hand lever mechanism and its associated components for this invention are disclosed in FIG. 7. The hand lever 5, with its hand gripping portion 13, is formed to the unique shape as further reviewed, having an intermediate portion 14 and a forwardly and integrally extending portion 15, as explained. The latch plate 19 can be seen, and it has a forwardly extending portion 25 and the rearwardly extending latch plate 26 which includes a series of ridges, as at 27, and into which the end of the lock plate 20 can temporarily engage, when the handle lever is raised to allow for automatic dispensing of fuel through the nozzle, and is held into an opened position, due to such engagement. The handle lever 5 further includes the handle link 28 whose upper surface 29 is what contacts the bottom of the poppet stem 11, to hold it into an opened condition, during fuel dispensing. The assembly of these various parts can be described as follows. The lock plate 20 is secured by means of the pivot pin 30 through the pin seat apertures 31 which also holds, within the handle, the biasing spring 32 which normally urges the lock plate to pivot upwardly, during normal disengagement of it from the latch plate 26. Thus, when the handle lever 5 is raised, the user of the nozzle must pivot the lock plate 20 downwardly, to engage it within the ridges 27 of the latch plate 19, to keep the poppet valve open, as can be understood.

(13) The handle link 28 has an aperture 33 at one end, and it is secured for pivotal movement, by means of the pivot pin 34 seating within the apertures 35 of the hand lever. That allows for the link to pivot relative to the handle lever, as can be understood.

(14) The opposite end of the latch plate 19 includes forwardly extending arms, as at 36, and these arms are secured to the pivot point 16 at the bottom of the automatic shutoff stem 17, to attain pivotal movement relative thereto.

(15) The opposite end of the link 28 secures by the pin 37 through the latch plate apertures 38, and the pin arranges these arms to either side of the enlarged end 39, of the hand lever, with the pin extending also through the elongated slots 40 of said handle lever, as can be noted. Thus, when the handle lever is raised, its forward end 39 shifts downwardly, the front end of the link, as at 41, as pinned therein, shifts upwardly within the elongated slots 40, and since the shutoff stem 17 is secured in its upward position, as can be seen in FIG. 3, the link 28 biases against the poppet stem 11, raises it, opening the poppet valve, and its gasket 22 into an opened condition, during fuel flow. Thus, because of the slotted arrangement 40, within the hand lever, this shifts the length of the fulcrum of the contact of the valve stem 17 with the link, closer to the hand levers pivotal connection, as at 16, to the bottom of the shutoff stem 17. The shorter that distance, and the longer the distance between that pivotal point 16 to the end of the handle, increases the fulcrum power of the hand lever, when opening the nozzle, and provides for a lesser force requirement to attain the opening of the nozzle, than has heretofore been achieved in nozzle construction. As can be calculated through the various formulations provided within this disclosure, that lessening of force is approximately 50% less than the force usually required for opening the prior art style of nozzle (as in FIG. 1), and therefore, reduces that force below 5 lbs of pressure, which has been determined through research and experimentation. Such can also be calculated from the various formulations as identified and shown in the summary of this particular invention.

(16) Then, when the automatic shutoff means 42 is rendered operative, as when fuel fills up the vehicle fuel tank, and the fuel blocks the tip end of the nozzle spout, the automatic shutoff means is actuated, provides for an immediate drop in its stem 17 to a lower position, which automatically releases the lock plate 20 from engagement with its latch plate 19, and allows the poppet valve 9 to drop with the valve stem 11, into closure, in the manner as shown in FIG. 5. Thus, as previously reviewed, the concept of this invention is to provide for a lesser force requirement to open the poppet valve, during its usage, and at the same time, to increase fuel flow, because of the unique shape and construction of its poppet valve, and the associated gasket, of the shown nozzle.

(17) Variations or modifications to the subject matter of this invention may occur to those skilled in the art upon review of this invention, as described. Such variations, within the scope of this invention, are intended to be encompassed within the scope of any claims to patent protection issuing hereon. The description of the preferred embodiment, and its depiction in the drawings, are primarily set forth for illustrative purposes only.