GB983139A - An improved seal for use between relatively rotatable elements - Google Patents

Abstract

983,139. Seals; bearings. G. BLAIR. Aug. 18, 1961 [May 20, 1960; Aug. 12, 1960], Nos. 17905/60 and 28030/60. Headings F2A and F2B. An annular gap between relatively rotatable elements, such as an axle 4 and the end cover 2 of a railway axle box 3, Fig. 1, is sealed, to prevent escape of lubricant, by a resilient ring supported by a non-rotatable carrierplate 8 and having a cellular, slitted, pitted or equivalent by interrupted surface layer, e.g. at its inner periphery, which engages with that one or each of the elements which is movable with respect to the ring. The interrupted surface of the ring 7 serves to retain lubricant so as to reduce friction between the ring and the shaft and may be grooved or slotted to facilitate entry and distribution of the lubricant. The ring may be of plastic or rubber, e.g. neoprene, and is secured by pins 9 to the carrier-plate 8 which is transversely floating and abuts an obliquely surfaced annular lip 11 within the end cover 2 so that a small portion 12 of the inner periphery of the ring is exposed as a lip to catch lubricant. The ring is surrounded by an annular tension spring 10. A wick 20 located in a gap at the lower end of the ring dips into lubricant in a cup 22 formed in the axle box 3. The plate 8, which is substantially square, is urged against the lip 11 by springs 18, Fig. 2, located in recesses in the interior of the axle box. A pair of buffer springs 19 secured to the plate 8 bear against the inner surface of the cover 2. In a modification, Fig. 4, the sealing ring 23 is slidably held between two rectangular plates 24, 25 supported by part-annular surfaces of four spacers 27 located between the corner portions of the plates. The seal assembly is constrained against rotation by a lug engaging a gap in one of the plates. The contact pressure between a surface of the seal ring and the corresponding surface of a rotatable element may also be wholly or partly controlled by a shoulder or a support member for the ring or by internal stiffening of the ring.