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I was recently asked a question about what exactly is meant when a horn has “hollow valves.”
To understand the term in a general way you first need to know how rotary valves are made. Normally the valve itself is turned and machined from a solid rod of brass. The valve itself is one piece of metal and very solid. This has been the standard way to make the interior part of a rotary valve for years and years.
A hollow rotary valve is also machined and turned from brass but it is made from a valve blank that has been fabricated from several pieces of brass tube, sheet, and rod stock. The inside part of the valve that you can’t see is actually hollow. What this means in practical terms is the valve should have a lighter, quicker action as the valve has less mass.
Hollow valves are not seen that often on horns. The first triple horn I owned was an old Paxman and it had hollow valves. My current triple however has titanium rotors. These are solid but have less mass than they would have if they were solid brass.
