...that several people are credited with the invention of the flush toilet? Most people have heard of Thomas Crapper (1837-1910), the sanitary engineer who invented the valve-and-siphon arrangement that made the modern toilet possible. Another claimant to "the throne" was British inventor Alexander Cumming who patented a toilet in 1775. Then there's a nameless Minoan (a native of ancient Crete) who lived 4,000 years ago who supposedly was ahead of his time and created the first flush toilet!
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 7357367 | Embedded high temperature valve A high temperature valve for controlling gas flow includes an outer vessel, a valve housing, and a valve element. The valve housing is disposed at least partially within, and is at least partially surrounded by, a propellant gas flow passageway that is formed in the... | 04/15/2008 |
| 7341236 | Pilot operated valve with a pressure balanced poppet A pilot operated valve has a main poppet that selectively controls flow of fluid between first and second ports in response to pressure in a control chamber on one side of the main poppet. The main poppet has an aperture extending between the control chamber and the... | 03/11/2008 |
| 7325781 | Automatic bathroom flushers with modular design A bathroom flusher includes a flusher body, a valve assembly, an electronic control system, and a flusher cover. The flusher body includes an inlet and an outlet, and is designed to accommodate the valve assembly that controls water flow between the inlet and the ou... | 02/05/2008 |
| 7296593 | Opening and closing valve A switching valve assembly 32 for use in a mixing faucet is disclosed. The switching valve assembly comprises a switching valve assembly 32 for use in a mixing faucet, which comprises a manual operation member 36 adapted to be moved in response ... | 11/20/2007 |
| 7261275 | Relief valve for use in a diaphragm flush valve An improved relief valve for use in a diaphragm flush valve is constructed having a sealing member provided with an exteriorly threaded shaft extending down into the diaphragm flush valve with a smaller diameter metal stem extending from the bottom of the shaft, a s... | 08/28/2007 |
| 7232106 | Tilted and stepped diaphragm for control valves A diaphragm operated valve having the diaphragm attached at its lower end to a valve closure plug, and movable therewith, and attached at its upper end to a portion of valve body that forms the pressure cavity. The diaphragm has a stepped portion between its upper a... | 06/19/2007 |
| 7216843 | Pilot-controlled electromagnetic valve system A pilot-controlled electromagnetic valve system has an electromagnetic valve block mounted on the top of a manifold block. A bearing surface is formed on the top of the electromagnetic valve block at a position adjacent to a screw accommodating recess formed on a jo... | 05/15/2007 |
| 7198249 | Electromagnetic shuttle valve An electromagnetic shuttle valve with two valve passages (5, 6) provides an increased cross-section of the second valve passage (6) by increasing the diameter of the second valve closure member (8). To this end, a compression spring (17) ... | 04/03/2007 |
| 7192002 | Piston guide for piston-type flushometer A flush valve includes a body having an inlet an outlet and a seat between the inlet and the outlet. The seat defines an opening therethrough. A cover is attached to the body. A piston is engageable with the seat and movable within the body and cover to an extent pe... | 03/20/2007 |
| 7188822 | Enclosures for automatic bathroom flushers A bathroom flusher includes a flusher body, a valve assembly, an electronic control system, and a flusher cover. The flusher body includes an inlet and an outlet, and is designed to accommodate the valve assembly that controls water flow between the inlet and the ou... | 03/13/2007 |
| 7156363 | Bathroom flushers with novel sensors and controllers A bathroom flusher (10) includes a body having an inlet (12) in communication with a supply line and an outlet (16) in communication with a flush conduit, a valve assembly in the body positioned to close water flow between the inlet and the outl... | 01/02/2007 |
| 7137406 | Self-cleaning filter A self-cleaning filter for use in a valve is disclosed. The valve can include a bore, an orifice disposed in the bore for accommodating a fluid flow therethrough, and a filter disposed in the bore between the input port of the fluid flow being filtered and the orifi... | 11/21/2006 |
| 7108006 | Subsea actuator assemblies and methods for extending the water depth capabilities of subsea actuator assemblies A hydraulic pressure compensation system for valve actuator assemblies is described having particular application for subsea wellhead installations. The compensation system includes at least one valve actuator assembly having a housing that retains a reciprocable pi... | 09/19/2006 |
| 7069137 | Valve flow metering control system and method A turbine valve control system is provided. The turbine valve control system includes a variable flow metering device, a first sensor, a second sensor, a third sensor, a fourth sensor, memory, and processing circuitry. The variable flow metering device is capable of... | 06/27/2006 |
| 7063103 | System for converting manually-operated flush valves Disclosed is a method and system for converting or retrofitting manually-operated flush valves. A conversion system for converting an installed manually-operated flush valve includes a power module, a control module, and a driver module mechanically coupled to a man... | 06/20/2006 |
| 7017885 | Solenoid valve In the region in which a coil and a connector are provided, the leakage of a fluid to which coil and connector is prevented by a seal member, a passage extending from the seal member to a position in the vicinity of a terminal of the connector is formed. At the time... | 03/28/2006 |
| 6971625 | Pilot operated valve with variable piston orifice A valve assembly having a valve body, a piston, a modulating plug, a valve cover adjoining the valve body, and a throttling member. The valve body has an inlet and outlet port, a partition with a valve seat separating the valve body into a first and second flow pass... | 12/06/2005 |
| 6959904 | Solenoid valve device of the bistable type, particularly for controlling the supply of water to a washing machine The device comprises: a solenoid valve of the bistable type controlled by means of an operating winding; a control circuit coupled for operation to a power supply source and capable of supplying to the operating winding of the solenoid valve a first and a second cur... | 11/01/2005 |
| 6934976 | Toilet flusher with novel valves and controls A tank-type flusher includes an intake valve, i.e., a fill valve, a diaphragm-operated flush valve, and a pressure control mechanism. The intake valve is connected to an external water source and is constructed to close water flow to a water storage tank at about a ... | 08/30/2005 |
| 6926247 | Piston-type flushometer with inner cover A flush valve includes a body having an inlet and an outlet. There is a main seat assembly at the outlet. An outer cover is attached to the body and an inner cover is attached to the body within the outer cover. A piston is movable within the body and inner cover an... | 08/09/2005 |
| 6923426 | Relief valve for use in a diaphragm flush valve An improved relief valve for use in a diaphragm flush valve is constructed having a sealing member provided with an exteriorly threaded shaft extending down into the diaphragm flush valve with a smaller diameter metal stem extending from the bottom of the shaft, a t... | 08/02/2005 |
| 6918902 | Irrigation and suction valve and method therefor The in-line hand operated valve controls the flow of at least the irrigation fluid or suction to a surgical site. First and second sources provide fluid and suction to the valve. Valve body source ports communicate with the source lines and a delivery port communica... | 07/19/2005 |
| 6913239 | Valve seat for piston-type flushometer A flush valve includes a body having an inlet, an outlet and a main seat assembly between the inlet and outlet. A piston moves within the body and with the body defines a pressure chamber which is used to normally maintain the piston closed upon the main seat assemb... | 07/05/2005 |
| 6796515 | One touch actuated valve A one touch valve for activating fluid flow between an inlet conduit and an outlet conduit is disclosed. The valve has a flow cylinder defining an inflow chamber in fluid communication with the inlet conduit and an outflow chamber in fluid communication with the out... | 09/28/2004 |
| 6691937 | One touch actuated valve A one touch valve for activating fluid flow between an inlet conduit and an outlet conduit is disclosed. The valve has a flow cylinder defining an inflow chamber in fluid communication with the inlet conduit and an outflow chamber in fluid communication w... | 02/17/2004 |
| 6588724 | On-off valves for high pressure fluids An on-off valve that operates between an open position and a closed position, particularly with high-pressure working fluids. has a valve body that defines a valve cavity. A valve poppet is slidably mounted within the valve cavity. A bushing is mounted wi... | 07/08/2003 |
| 6443420 | Wide-ranging valve The solenoid valve has two fluidic connections (3, 4), a solenoid (5) and a core (8) guided in a cylinder (7) within the solenoid body (6). The solenoid valve (1) is opened as a result of the movement of the core (8) when the solenoid (5) becomes magnetiz... | 09/03/2002 |
| 6398182 | Pilot solenoid control valve with an emergency operator A discharge valve is provided to open an electrically controlled pilot valve in emergency situations such as during an electrical or hydraulic failure. The discharge valve has a poppet that operates in response to a pressurized control signal, which may b... | 06/04/2002 |
| 6318406 | Pilot operated relief valve A pilot operated safety relief valve (14) having a main piston valve member (26). A dome chamber (42) is provided in the valve body (18) over piston valve member (26) and a cap (44) forms a closure for dome chamber (42). A pilot valve (46) is mounted on t... | 11/20/2001 |
| 6299127 | Solenoid valve piston A flush valve for use on toilet devices such as urinals and water closets includes a body having an inlet and an outlet. There is a valve seat in the body and a valve member movable within the body toward and away from the valve seat to control water flow... | 10/09/2001 |
| 6267349 | Precision valve control A precision valve control for an hermetically sealed hydraulic valve system which operates with a solenoid driven magnetic actuator. The magnetic actuator forms a toroidal magnetic force field of varying strength which causes controlled movement of a core... | 07/31/2001 |
| 6220565 | Safety valve assembly A main valve (5) has a first valve seat (11) to which a compression spring (21) urges a first closure member (14). A restricting passage (16) and an actuation chamber (17) for valve closing are arranged within the first closure member (14) in order. A val... | 04/24/2001 |
| 6149124 | Pilot solenoid control valve with pressure responsive diaphragm A pilot operated control valve has a body with an inlet and an outlet. A main valve poppet is movable within the body to selectively control flow of fluid between the inlet and outlet. The main valve poppet has a flexible diaphragm with a pilot passage th... | 11/21/2000 |
| 6098647 | Load-holding brake valve A hydraulically controllable valve for double-acting consumers that in the lowering mode drains off a flow of load volume from connection B to connection A in throttled fashion. To that end, the valve has a valve seat (5), which communicates with a sealin... | 08/08/2000 |
| 6076550 | Solenoid and solenoid valve A solenoid comprising a solenoid coil having a longitudinal hole at the center of a bobbin made of a non-magnetic material and a coil winding wound around the peripheral wall of the bobbin. A yoke comprising a peripheral side plate, an upper end plate and... | 06/20/2000 |
| 6036167 | Solenoid-actuated control valve with mechanically coupled armature and spool valve Solenoid-actuated control valves having low hysteresis include an annular flux housing with an axial bore extending therethrough. A coil configured to generate a magnetic field is disposed within the flux housing. A magnetic pole piece is disposed within ... | 03/14/2000 |
| 6017015 | Magnetically operated drain valve of an electrohydraulic lifting module In a magnetically operated drain valve of an electrohydraulic lifting mod comprising a closing element which in the closing direction is assigned to a main valve seat, a pilot valve which is actuable by the magnet and arranged in a control chamber of the... | 01/25/2000 |
| 5954311 | Low power pilot valve actuated by transverse or perpendicular action A valve (1, 2) of the kind that is caused to open and close in consequence of the opening and closing of a bleed orifice (15) by a movable pilot valve element (3, 4, 5), characterised in that said element (3, 4, 5) is displaced from sealing relationship w... | 09/21/1999 |
| 5904334 | Quiet high flow control valve A dispensing valve for dispensing a liquid including a valve housing having a fluid inlet and a fluid outlet, an armature positioned in the housing, the armature being reciprocal between an open and closed position, a sealing disk fixedly secured to a sea... | 05/18/1999 |
| 5887848 | Flush valve bypass and filter A diaphragm type of flush valve for use with toilet devices such as urinals and water closets includes a body with an inlet and an outlet and there is a valve seat therebetween and a valve member movable to a closing position on the valve seat. The valve ... | 03/30/1999 |