Patent ID: 7896352

Claim:
A seal for sealing a circumferential gap between a first machine component and a second machine component which is rotatable relative to the first machine component about a longitudinal axis, comprising: at least one shoe extending along one of said first and second machine components in a position to create a non-contact seal therewith, said at least one shoe being formed with a slot; at least one spring element adapted to be connected to one of the first and second machine components and being connected to said at least one shoe, said at least one spring element being effective to deflect and move with said at least one shoe in response to the application of fluid pressure to said at least one shoe; at least two sealing elements oriented side-by-side, each of said sealing elements comprising an outer ring formed with a number of circumferentially spaced openings, a spring member mounted within each of said openings and an inner ring segment connected to each of said spring members, said inner ring segments of each of said at least two sealing elements extending into said slot formed in said at least one shoe.