A pressure regulating fire valve comprising a body having an inlet chamber associated with a valve inlet and an outlet chamber associated with a valve outlet, a valve seat in said body separating said inlet and outlet chambers and defining a passage between said chambers, FORGED STEEL VALVESa housing connected to said body, said housing positioned above said valve seat and having a chamber formed therein, a valve stem extending from said housing chamber and having a lower end terminating in said outlet chamber, a valve part carried by said valve stem at its lower end engageable with said valve seat, Reducing Valves means guiding said valve stem for vertical shiftable movement wherein said valve part is shifted within said outlet chamber into and out of sealing engagement with said valve seat, piston means slidably housed within said housing chamber, said piston means carried by said valve stem and serving to vertically shift said valve stem and said valve part toward said valve seat, Ball Valvessaid piston means and valve part each having a selected fluid contact area, handle means rotatable between open and closed positions, said handle means contacting said valve stem and urging said valve part into sealing engagement with said valve seat when in its said closed position, said handle means being spaced from said valve stem when in its said open position with said stem being freely shiftable within said guide means for said vertical movement, means placing said outlet chamber and housing chamber above said piston means in flow communication wherein fluid pressure acting upon said piston means during fluid flow through said valve seat passage in conjunction with the relative fluid contacting areas of said piston means and valve part causes said valve part to be urged by said piston means toward said valve seat thereby creating a selected fluid pressure differential within said inlet and outlet chambers, said piston means and valve part constituting free-floating means for sealing said valve seat at cessation of fluid flow from said inlet chamber into said outlet chamber to prevent fluid back-flow through the valve. This invention relates to a valve and has specific but not limited application to a pressure reducing fire valve for use in high-rise buildings or in other installations where the water supply pressure exceeds safe nozzle or sprinkler pressure. The fire valve of this invention includes a body having an inlet chamber and an outlet chamber. A valve seat is located within the valve body and separates the inlet and outlet chambers. A valve stem carrying a valve part at its lower end is shiftably positioned within the valve body. The valve stem is of the floating type and has a piston which is operatively associated with its upper end and which is housed within a chamber. A handle having a stem connected thereto is threaded into the piston chamber and upon rotation abuts the valve stem to urge the valve part connected thereto into sealing engagement with the valve seat. A flow passage places the outlet chamber of the valve in communication with the piston chamber above the piston so that upon opening of the valve handle the valve stem will be freed to shiftably float within the valve body with the fluid pressure within the outlet chamber acting upon the piston, causing the valve stem and valve part connected thereto to be spaced from the valve seat and thus regulate the pressure of the outlet flow from the valve. The fire valve of this invention can be utilized where the water supply pressure to the valve exceeds safe nozzle or sprinkler pressure. This would occur particularly in high-rise buildings where it is necessary to maintain a pressure of nearly 300 p.s.i. at the ground floor inlet to accommodate a feasible valve pressure of 50 or 60 p.s.i. at a building height of several floors. It is therefore one of the purposes of this invention to provide a pressure- reducing fire valve which can be utilized at the lower levels of a high-rise building for the purpose of reducing the fluid pressure to an acceptable use level for a connected hose or sprinkler.

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