BALL VALVES are commonly used for opening and closing fluid communication in a flow line and generally include a spherical valve element. The opening and closing of the spherical valve element may be performed by a variety of mechanisms such as mechanical or pneumatic actuation.

In many industrial applications, such as the regulating of the flow of hydrocarbons in flow lines in production, refining and oil transportation industries, large diameter flow lines are necessary in order to provide for adequate flow rate. Consequently, the inner diameter of the spherical valve elements are usually large. Also, due to pressure testing requirements mandated by industry and government regulations, the body which houses the spherical valve element must be all one forged-body (also known as a welded-body ball valve) and not contain any portions which are threadedly connected. The welded-body Ball Valves generally comprise a forged body and ball, and exhibit the feature of being able to withstand high internal pressure.

Many times, the internal sealing mechanism on the welded-body ball valve will have to be replaced, or the spherical ball valve element seal area has become unsuitable for use as a sealing area. Heretofore, the repair of the seal means or seal area of these forged body valves has been very difficult in that the welds must be broken, and the spherical valve elements are physically removed, and the seal means are replaced or the seal area is refinished.

Furthermore, the repair of ball valves by breaking the welds is costly and complex, and many times technically and economically unsuccessful. BALL VALVES Thus, the operators are forced to buy new valves instead of repairing the old valves, which is a very expensive alternative. Therefore, the present invention solves this problem by allowing the insertion of new seal means and preparing a new seal area thereby preventing the breaking of the welds contained on the housing of the ball valve.

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