Patent ID: 7464941

Claim:
A sealing mechanism for sealing a vacuum chamber, comprising: a first member having an outer surface in the form of a cylindrical shape and extending in the atmosphere and said vacuum chamber; a second member having said first member received therein with a gap and extending in said atmosphere and said vacuum chamber; a seal ring positioned in said gap between said first member and said second member to hermetically seal the axially inside thereof in said gap from said atmosphere; stop means for stopping said seal ring from moving toward said vacuum chamber with respect to said first member and said second member; and a bearing positioned in said gap between said first member and said second member axially outside of said seal ring to be in said atmosphere, said first member being rotatably received in said second member through said bearing; said seal ring comprising a retaining member formed with a groove opening toward said atmosphere, and a spring member tightly received in said groove and retained by said retaining member to resiliently radially bias said retaining member, and said stop means being constituted by a stop ring fastened selectively to said first member and said second member.