In the claims:
1. An anti-geyser shut-off valve assembly for a water sprinkler irrigation system comprising:
a valve housing having a tubular body portion having a vertically extending Y-axis, a top end, a bottom end, an outer surface and an inner surface; a vertically oriented elongated shaft member having a Y-axis, a top end, a bottom end, an outer surface and a bore hole extending from said top end to said bottom end; fixed support means connecting said inner surface of said tubular body portion to said outer surface of said shaft member to form a unitary structure;
a valve member having a vertically oriented tubular sleeve having a Y-axis, a top end, a bottom end, an outer surface and a vertical bore hole having an inner surface; a disc portion having a top surface, an outer edge, a bottom surface, a bore hole having a Y-axis and said top surface of said disc portion is connected to said bottom end of said tubular sleeve;
said shaft member of said valve housing being telescopically received in said bore hole of said tubular sleeve of said valve member;
spring means biasing said valve member away from said valve housing; and
means for restricting the distance that said valve member may be biased away from said valve housing.
2. An anti-geyser shut-off valve assembly as recited in claim 1 wherein said means for restricting the distance that said valve member may be biased away from said valve housing is a push nut that is pressed onto the bottom end of said shaft member of said valve housing; said push nut having a top surface against which said bottom surface of said disc portion of said valve member would be downwardly biased.
3. An anti-geyser shut-off valve assembly as recited in claim 1 wherein said spring means is a coil spring having a top end and a bottom end and a plurality of helical loops that surround said shaft member of said valve housing in a spaced relationship.
4. An anti-geyser shut-off valve assembly as recited in claim 3 wherein said top end of said coil spring presses against said fixed support means that connects said inner surface of said tubular body portion of said valve housing to said outer surface of said shaft member of said valve housing.
5. An anti-geyser shut-off valve assembly as recited in claim 3 wherein said helical loop of said top end of said coil spring has a larger diameter than said helical loop of said bottom end to give said coil spring an inverted conical configuration.
6. An anti-geyser shut-off valve assembly as recited in claim 3 wherein said coil spring is made of metal material.
7. An anti-geyser shut-off valve assembly as recited in claim 1 wherein said outer surface of said tubular body portion of said valve housing has a helically threaded surface so that said valve housing can be threaded into the internally threaded upstanding tubular sleeve of an inverted T-shaped coupling member.
8. An anti-geyser shut-off valve assembly as recited in claim 1 wherein said fixed support means comprises a plurality of rib members.
9. An anti-geyser shut-off valve assembly as recited in claim 1 further comprising a plurality of brace members extending upwardly from said top surface of said valve member; said brace members having an inner edge connected to said tubular sleeve; said brace members having a bottom edge connected to said top surface of said disc portion of said valve member; said brace members also having an outer edge and a top edge.
10. An anti-geyser shut-off valve assembly as recited in claim 9 wherein said inner surface of said tubular portion of said valve housing has a plurality of vertically oriented alignment grooves that receive said outer edges of said respective brace members to provide reciprocal tracking means for the upward and downward travel of said valve member.
11. An anti-geyser shut-off valve assembly as recited in claim 1 in combination with a PVC T-shaped pipe coupling member with internally threaded sleeves.
12. An anti-geyser shut-off valve assembly as recited in claim 1 further comprising attachment means connected to said top end of said tubular body portion of said valve housing for gripping the interior wall of a tubular member that would be connected to said top end of said valve housing.
13. An anti-geyser shut-off valve assembly as recited in claim 12 wherein said attachment means comprises a plurality of spring fingers.
14. An anti-geyser shut-off valve assembly as recited in claim 12 further comprising locking means for securing said attachment means in the interior of a tubular member that would be connected to said top end of said valve housing.
15. An anti-geyser shut-off valve assembly as recited in claim 14 wherein said locking means comprises a plurality of locking springs each having a top end and a bottom end; compartments for capturing said bottom ends of said locking springs are formed on said inner surface of said tubular portion of said valve housing.
16. An anti-geyser shut-off valve assembly as recited in claim 15 wherein said compartments are each formed by a pair of laterally spaced wedging members that extend inwardly from said inner surface of said tubular body portion of said valve housing.
17. An anti-geyser shut-off valve assembly as recited in claim 1 further comprising a plurality of extraction tool sockets formed in said top end of said tubular body portion of said valve housing.
18. An anti-geyser shut-off valve assembly as recited in claim 12 in combination with a metal T-shaped pipe coupling member having internally threaded sleeves.
19. An anti-geyser shut-off valve assembly as recited in claim 12 in combination with a PVC T-shaped pipe coupling member whose inner surfaces are smooth and lacking internal threads.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. (canceled)
2. (canceled)
3. (canceled)
4. (canceled)
5. (canceled)
6. (canceled)
7. (canceled)
8. A composite comprising:
(i) 30 to 98.995 weight percent polypropylene base resin;
(ii) 1 to 70 weight percent dispersed component which is a polymer incompatible with said polypropylene base resin selected from the group consisting of ethylene-vinyl alcohol copolymer, polyamide, polyester, polyvinylchloride, polyvinylidenedichloride, ethylene-carbon monoxide copolymer and terpolymer, polycarbonate, polyether, high impact polystyrene, styrene-acrylonitrile copolymer and acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene terpolymer; and
(iii) 0.005 to 10 weight percent functionalized propylene polymer composition comprising (a) 5 to 95 weight percent, based on the weight of the functionalized composition, propylene-ethylene impact copolymer grafted with maleic anhydride and having a graft to melt flow rate ratio of 0.5 or above, said impact copolymer being a reactor-made intimate mixture of propylene homopolymer and ethylene-propylene copolymer rubber produced in a gas-phase, stirred-bed, multi-stage polymerization process, and (b) 95 to 5 weight percent, based on the weight of the functionalized composition, propylene homopolymer grafted with maleic anhydride.
9. The composite of claim 8 wherein the base resin is a highly crystalline propylene homopolymer having a tacticity index greater than 94% and melt flow rate from 0.5 to 100 g10 min.
10. The composite of claim 9 wherein the dispersed component is a polyamide selected from the group consisting of polytetramethylene adipamide, polyhexamethylene adipamide, polyhexamethylene azelamide, polyhexamethylene sebacamide, polyhexamethylene dodecanoamide, polycaprolactam, polybutyrolactam, polypivalolactam and poly-11-aminoundecanoic acid.
11. The composite of claim 19 wherein the base resin is a highly crystalline propylene homopolymer having a tacticity index greater than 94% and melt flow rate from 0.5 to 100 g10 min.
12. The composite of claim 11 wherein the dispersed component is glass fiber.
13. The composite of claim 11 wherein the dispersed component is a fibrous cellulosic material derived from natural sources.
14. The composite of claim 9 wherein (a) has a molecular weight distribution of 7 or less and contains 20 weight percent or more ethylene-propylene copolymer and is grafted with from 1 to 3.5 weight percent maleic anhydride and (b) is grafted with from 0.75 to 1.5 weight percent maleic anhydride.
15. The composite of claim 14 comprising 50 to 97.49 weight percent polypropylene base resin, 2.5 to 60 weight percent dispersed component and 0.01 to 5 weight percent functionalized propylene polymer composition.
16. The composite of claim 15 wherein the functionalized propylene polymer composition is comprised of 25 to 75 weight percent (a) and 75 to 25 weight percent (b).
17. The composite of claim 16 wherein (a) is grafted with 1.5 to 2.8 weight percent maleic anhydride and the propylene-ethylene impact copolymer has an ethylene content from 5 to 30 weight percent.
18. The composite of claim 17 wherein (b) is grafted with 0.8 to 1.25 weight percent maleic anhydride.
19. A composite comprising:
(i) 30 to 98.995 weight percent polypropylene base resin;
(ii) 1 to 70 weight percent dispersed component which is a filler material selected from the group consisting of inorganic compounds, siliceous materials, cellulosic materials and nanofillers; and
(iii) 0.005 to 10 weight percent functionalized propylene polymer composition comprising (a) 5 to 95 weight percent, based on the weight of the functionalized composition, propylene-ethylene impact copolymer grafted with maleic anhydride and having a graft to melt flow rate ratio of 0.5 or above, said impact copolymer being a reactor-made intimate mixture of propylene homopolymer and ethylene-propylene copolymer rubber produced in a gas-phase, stirred-bed, multi-stage polymerization process and (b) 95 to 5 weight percent, based on the weight of the functionalized composition, propylene homopolymer grafted with maleic anhydride.
20. The composite of claim 11 wherein (a) has a molecular weight distribution of 7 or less and contains 20 weight percent or more ethylene-propylene copolymer and is grafted with from 1 to 3.5 weight percent maleic anhydride and (b) is grafted with from 0.75 to 1.5 weight percent maleic anhydride.
21. The composite of claim 20 comprising 50 to 97.49 weight percent polypropylene base resin, 2.5 to 60 weight percent dispersed component and 0.01 to 5 weight percent functionalized propylene polymer composition.
22. The composite of claim 21 wherein the functionalized propylene polymer composition is comprised of 25 to 75 weight percent (a) and 75 to 25 weight percent (b).
23. The composite of claim 22 wherein (a) is grafted with 1.5 to 2.8 weight percent maleic anhydride and the propylene-ethylene impact copolymer has an ethylene content from 5 to 30 weight percent.
24. The composite of claim 23 wherein (b) is grafted with 0.8 to 1.25 weight percent maleic anhydride.