Seal for a joint or juncture – Seal between relatively movable parts – Relatively rotatable radially extending sealing face member
Patent
1981-07-07
1983-06-14
Ward, Jr., Robert S.
Seal for a joint or juncture
Seal between relatively movable parts
Relatively rotatable radially extending sealing face member
277 1, 277 27, 277226, 285 97, F16J 1546, F16L 1702
Patent
active
043878997
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
TECHNICAL FIELD
The invention relates to a sealing element comprising a flexible member adapted to be disposed in a slit-shaped, preferably annular space. More specifically, the invention relates to a sealing element having a flexible member which comprises an internal air-filled cavity with a hardening filling medium intended to be introduced into said cavity under pressure so that the cavity is filled and the member expands so that the slit is sealed.
BACKGROUND ART
Expansible sealing elements are generally known and used to a wide extent for various purposes. It is also known to expand such sealing elements by means of a filling medium which is forced into a cavity in the element after which the filling medium can harden so that the expanded sealing shape of the sealing element is retained. Examples of elements intended to be filled with a medium which, at least on injection into the cavity, has the form of a liquid are disclosed inter alia in FR Pat. No. 835 966, FR Pat. No. 1 375 644, DE Pat. No. 1 475 890 and U.S. Pat. No. 2,760,791. In the U.S. Pat. No. 3,341,974 there is disclosed a sealing element with an encircling cavity which expands from one side of a partition round the sealing element to the opposite side of the partition. Inlets and outlets for a liquid are disposed in both end portions of the cavity, that is to say in the region adjacent to the two sides of the partition.
A limitation of the sealing elements of the general kind given above is that, in the present stage of development, they are not particularly suitable when the filling medium consists of a material with a comparatively long hardening time. This is actually a serious disadvantage because some of the filling media most suitable for other reasons consist precisely of materials with comparatively long hardening times. The reason why long hardening times constitute a problem is that the filling medium must retain excess pressure until the material has solidified completely. With forms of embodiments of sealing elements hitherto known, therefore, the pressure source cannot be uncoupled until the material has solidified, which makes handling complicated and/or involves a low productivity expressed in number of sealing elements finished per unit of time. Against this background, rapid hardening filling media have hitherto mainly been used despite the fact that these have certain definite disadvantages, inter alia from the environment point of view.
DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION
One object of the invention is to provide a sealing element which does not have the limitations indicated above. One object of the invention is thus to produce a sealing element of the kind indicated in the preamble, in which the filling medium may consist either of rapid hardening of slow hardening material, the invention offering a specific advantage particularly in the case of slow hardening material.
This and other objects and advantages can be achieved in that the cavity in the flexible member extends from the inlet such as to embrace the space which shall be sealed and thereafter continues in a closed chamber adapted to be able to receive the air which is driven out of the liquid filling medium when this is pressed into the cavity through the inlet, and preferably to be able to receive an excess quantity of filling medium so that the air in the closed chamber can be compressed and exert a counter pressure on the filling medium in the flexible member while the filling medium is solidifying. The air-filled cavity and the closed chamber may appropriately have the form of two chambers in one and the same integrating body, the two chambers being in communication with one another through an outlet from the cavity which is to be filled with the filling medium. According to a preferred form of embodiment, the chamber which consists of said closed chamber extends along at least a portion of the chamber which consists of the internal air-filled cavity which is to be filled with said filling medium. For example, the sealing element has the form of a sleeve with
REFERENCES:
patent: 2306160 (1942-12-01), Freyssinet
patent: 2309974 (1943-02-01), Miller
patent: 2506359 (1950-05-01), Haslam
patent: 2822192 (1958-02-01), Beatty
patent: 3642292 (1972-02-01), Zeffer et al.
patent: 3695637 (1972-10-01), Satterthwaite
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