Patent ID: 6524007
Filing Date: 2003-02-25
Classification: F16J

Abstract:
A shaft bearing-seal assembly comprising:at least one bearing-seal, each having a laminate stack formed of a multiplicity of apertured flat or contoured alternate laminations of elastomeric and inelastic materials bonded or sealed together and having opposed first and second apertured outer layer members, each having a respectively associated first or second load face and conforming on its inner surface to one of the two opposed underlying laminations of said laminate stack and being bonded or sealed to the same to form an impervious unit having a periphery and an aperture associated respectively with the external and aperture edges of said laminations and outer layer members; and a shaft having top and bottom ends and an enlargement in its mid-section that has at least a bottom-oriented load face that engages the first load face of one of said at least one bearing-seals to define a bottom bearing-seal whose aperture is penetrated by said shaft; and a wall of a pressure vessel, said wall having top and bottom skies and incorporating a radially inward load-supporting seat encircling an aperture through the wall, and the bottom end of said shaft extends through the aperture in said wall so that said seat engages the second load face of said bottom bearing-seal; and sealing means between said shaft and the first outer layer member of said bottom bearing-seal and between said wall and the second outer layer member of said bottom bearing-seal; and top and bottom fluid media on the top and bottom sides of said wall, each extending toward the periphery or aperture of said at least one bearing-seal; whereby complete sealing is established between said shaft and said wall against the flow of either said fluid medium toward the other despite substantial differential pressure between them, and said shaft can carry limited movement from a coupled mechanism on one side of said wall through to a coupled mechanism on the other side by means of shear strain in said elastomeric laminations; and wherein said shaft bearing-seal assembly contains one bearing-seal and has retaining means secured relative to said wall and acting relative to the top-oriented side of said shaft enlargement, thereby restraining said shaft against substantial upward axial movement while permitting lateral movements.