US Patent 7117883 Valve key alignment assembly for curb stop box

A self-aligning curb box assembly is provided. The curb box includes a cylindrical conduit extending from the ground surface downwardly and has a detachable cover at its upper, surface end. The conduit has an inverted “U” shaped passageway formed at its lower end through which a generally horizontally oriented supply line, such as for water or gas, passes. The supply line has a valve body and an “open-to-shut” valve cock located in the line positioned within the passageway at the lower end of the curb box, the valve cock extending upwardly. The assembly includes a positioning insert placed within the curb box at its lower end thereof. The insert limits lateral movement of the valve body in any direction throughout 360° in the plane about the valve when the insert is installed. The insert prevents substantial movement, both laterally and vertically, of the valve body relative to the curb box, thereby permitting ease of access to the valve cock by a valve key extending through the curb box to the valve to turn the valve off (or on). Also provided are the curb box alignment insert itself and a method of its use in aligning the curb box and valve in order to gain access by a valve key from ground level to the valve cock in said buried valve.