Importance

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Abstract

A media control valve used to meter and dispense an amount of abrasive media from a supply pot to a compressed airline for blast cleaning comprises; a media passage communicating with the supply pot and an airflow tube, a bore disposed in the valve and communicating with the media passage, a media control sleeve placed within the bore disposed between the media passage and the airflow tube and containing a plurality of spaced restricting orifices, a valve stem slidable within the media control sleeve and capable of opening and closing the orifices, the valve stem being secured to an activating means to move the valve stem in a manner such that the valve stem will self-align itself within the interior of the media control sleeve. The self-alignment feature is provided by dividing the valve stem into a lower valve stem portion and an upper valve stem portion which is secured to the activating means. The lower valve stem portion and upper valve stem portion are linked together by a self-aligning linkage which comprises an oversized bore in the upper valve stem portion which receives the upper end of the lower valve stem portion thus allowing the lower valve stem to move laterally in the space provided by the oversized bore. A novel indexing means for aligning a desired orifice on the media control sleeve in communication with the media passage is also provided.

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First Claim