Skirt Valve for Kitchen Sink, and Method of Disposing of Food

Abstract

The inventive subject matter provides apparatus, systems, and methods in which a valve mechanism is incorporated into a drain to reduce or prevent noise or food fragments from emitting out of an operating garbage disposal. The valve mechanism is generally a skirt valve biased to a closed position, disposed within a housing, and inserted into a drain such that food or fluid passes through the valve into a downstream grinding device. Once the food or fluid has passed through the valve, the valve closes.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A valve device, comprising:
 a valve housing defining an upper housing rim and an opposite lower valve seat;   a housing post suspended vertically within the valve housing;   a downwardly-sloping skirted valve positioned within the valve housing and configured to be biased to a closed position, the skirted valve disposed about the housing post so as to extend toward and make selective contact with the valve seat; and   at least one housing support extending radially inwardly from an interior wall of the valve housing at a location below the housing rim to the housing post at a location at or below the housing rim so as to suspend the housing post within the valve housing, whereby the housing rim is unobstructed about its entire perimeter and no part of the device extends above the housing rim.   
     
     
         2 . The device of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one housing support extends from the interior wall of the valve housing at an angle away from the valve seat and toward the housing rim. 
     
     
         3 . The device of  claim 1 , wherein the angle of the at least one housing support in a vertical plane relative to a horizontal plane through the device is in the range of zero to fifty-five degrees (0-55°). 
     
     
         4 . The device of  claim 3 , wherein the angle of the at least one housing support in the vertical plane relative to the horizontal plane through the device is in the range of twenty to thirty degrees (20-30°). 
     
     
         5 . The device of  claim 4 , wherein the angle of the at least one housing support in the vertical plane relative to the horizontal plane through the device is twenty-five degrees (25°). 
     
     
         6 . The device of  claim 1 , comprising two housing supports. 
     
     
         7 . The device of  claim 6 , wherein the two housing supports are at an angle to each other in a horizontal plane through the device in the range of sixty to one-hundred-eighty degrees (60-180°). 
     
     
         8 . The device of  claim 7 , wherein the two housing supports form a one-hundred-eighty degree (180°) angle to each other in the horizontal plane through the device, rendering the two housing supports coplanar in a vertical plane. 
     
     
         9 . The device of  claim 6 , wherein the two housing supports each extend from the interior wall of the valve housing at an angle away from the valve seat and toward the housing rim. 
     
     
         10 . The device of  claim 9 , wherein the angle of each of the two housing supports in a vertical plane relative to a horizontal plane through the device is in the range of zero to fifty-five degrees (0-55°), such that the angle between the two housing supports in the vertical plane is in the range of seventy to one-hundred-eighty degrees (70-180°). 
     
     
         11 . The device of  claim 10 , wherein the angle of each of the two housing supports in the vertical plane relative to the horizontal plane through the device is in the range of twenty to thirty degrees (20-30°), such that the angle between the two housing supports in the vertical plane is in the range of one-hundred-twenty to one-hundred-forty degrees (120-140°). 
     
     
         12 . The device of  claim 11 , wherein the angle of each of the two housing supports in the vertical plane relative to the horizontal plane through the device is twenty-five degrees (25°), such that the angle between the two housing supports in the vertical plane is one-hundred-thirty degrees (130°). 
     
     
         13 . The device of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one housing support is substantially linear. 
     
     
         14 . The device of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one housing support and the skirted valve are substantially parallel. 
     
     
         15 . The device of  claim 1 , wherein the skirted valve has radially decreasing rigidity.