Patent ID: 8905407

Claim:
A segment of a seal assembly for sealing against a rotating member, the segment comprising: a radial external surface; a radial internal surface for sealing against said rotating member; a circumferential face groove which runs along substantially all of the segment of the seal assembly; a secondary sealing surface; and a radial feed groove; wherein the face groove has an axial depth from the surface of the secondary sealing surface that is greater than an axial depth of the radial feed groove; wherein the face groove includes a circumferential first portion disposed at the axial position of the secondary sealing surface; the face groove includes a circumferential second portion axially offset from the secondary sealing surface and axially inward of the first portion; the first and second portions are disposed along the entire face groove; the second portion does not include the first portion; and the second portion includes a maximum radial length of the face groove that is greater than a maximum radial length of the first portion of the face groove.