Functional description:

A ball valve is a form of quarter-turn valve which uses a hollow, perforated, and pivoting ball (called a “floating ball”) to control flow through it. It is open when the ball’s hole is in line with the flow and closed when it is pivoted 90-degrees by the valve handle. The handle lies flat in alignment with the flow when open, and is perpendicular to it when closed, making for easy visual confirmation of the valve’s status.

Ball valves are durable, performing well after many cycles, and reliable, closing securely even after long periods of disuse. These qualities make them an excellent choice for shutoff applications, where they are often referred to as gate and globe valves, but they lack their fine control in throttling applications.