The history of ball valve

Ball Valve history does not go back to ancient Greece or the American Revolution? The modern ball vale was invented in 1967 or about 1957 according to different sources. The first sphereical ball-type valve was patented in 1987 by John Warren and assigned jointly to John Chapman, the founder of Chapman Valve Co, this was an brass valve-brass and brass seats. Apparently it was not a commercial success. The quarter-turn ball valve was developed in 1949 in response to a US Navy requirement for a quick-acting and compact valve.

A ball valve is a valve that opens by turning a handle attached to a ball inside the valve. The ball has a hole, or port, through the middle so that when the port is in line with both ends of the valve, flow will occur. When the valve is closed, the hole is perpendicular to the ends of the valve, and flow is blocked. The handle or lever will be inline with the port position letting you "see" the valve's position.

A ball valve includes a valve seat assembly having a lower valve seat, an upper valve seat, pickings located in openings formed by apertures in abutting sides of the valve seats, and annular retainers located in central holes through the pickings. Each of the components has a profiled inner surface for slidable contact with the ball controlling communication between the fluid passages in the valve box. The use of such components for the valve seat simplifies manufacture, gives a wider choice of materials to be used and reduces costs of repairs. Ball valves are durable and usually work to achieve perfect shutoff even after years of disuse. They are therefore an excellent choice for shutoff applications. In general, ball valves offer many advantages when contrasted with other valve types. They provide superior ease of operation and can maintain and regulate high volume, high pressure and high temperature flow. Most ball valves offer rugged construction providing for a long service life, and a comparably low cost. Additionally, the design of the regulating element allows the valve to function without the complications of side loads, typical of butterfly or globe valves, and the valve design permits inspection and repair of seats and seals without removing the valves’ body from the line. Because they are very versatile ball valves are used extensively.

Take a look around to see where the ball valve is indispensable. For example, the ball valveis crucial to the petroleum industry, water, electric power, chemical, paper, pharmaceuticals, food, steel and other fields. There are four general types of ball valves: full port, standard port, reduced port, and v port. A full port ball valve has an over sized ball so that the hole in the ball is the same size as the pipeline resulting in lower friction loss. Flow is unrestricted, but the valve is larger. A standard port ball valve is usually less expensive, but has a smaller ball and a correspondingly smaller port. Flow through this valve is one pipe size smaller than the valve's pipe size resulting in slightly restricted flow. In reduced port ball valves, flow through the valve is one pipe size smaller than the valve's pipe size resulting in restricted flow. A v port ball valve has either a 'v' shaped ball or a 'v' shaped seat. This allows the orifice to be opened and closed in a more controlled manner with a closer to linear flow characteristic. When the valve is in the closed position and opening is commenced the small end of the 'v' is opened first allowing stable flow control during this stage. This type of design requires a generally more robust construction due to higher velocities of the fluids, which would quickly damage a standard valve.