Poppet valves have found substantial use in a large variety of applications. In a typical poppet valve, a poppet is reciprocated toward or away from a valve seat against which it may seal to halt the flow of fluid or be spaced from the valve seat to permit the flow of fluid. While in most instances, the valve seat is rigidly mounted within a body housing both the seat and the poppet, in some instances it may be desirable to resiliently mount the valve seat or even provide a resilient valve seat. In a number of instances this is intended to enhance sealing, typically by allowing the sealing surface of the valve seat to adjust for radial, axial, and angular mismatches in the alignment of the sealing surface on the poppet and the sealing surface on the valve seats.
In other instances, resilient mounting of the valve seat may be to accommodate the possible presence of solid material carried in a slurry or the like that happens to be interposed between the sealing surfaces on the poppet and on the valve seat when the latter is to be closed against the former.
Illustrative of constructions used for the foregoing are U.S. Pat. No. 3,870,071 issued Mar. 11, 1975 to Graham et al and U.S. Pat. No. 4,505,292 issued Mar. 19, 1985 to Osterode, respectively.
In addition, the resilient mounting of the valve seat provides some cushioning action as the valve is closed thereby reducing wear and promoting longer life of the sealing components. This feature in valves of this type is recognized in U.S. Pat. No. 2,840,336 issued June 24, 1958 to Suthann.