Wear surface and seal construction

Claim 2

A wear surface for engaging a face of an element movable relative thereto in the presence of a lubricant; said wear surface comprising a multiplicity of closely spaced lands, an intervening surface separating the lands and located at a different elevation from the lands so as to form a depressed portion in the wear surface, a filler material in the depressed portion and being less resistant to wear than the lands, whereby during relative movement in the presence of the lubricant the filler material in the depressed portion will wear and to a limited extent will establish voids beneath the seal face so that the lubricant can flow through the voids and lubricate the engaging face of the element.

Claim 3

A wear surface according to claim 1 wherein the filler material is a plastic substance; and wherein the element is formed from an elastomeric substance.

Claim 4

A seal construction according to claim 1 wherein the initial depth of the depressed portion exceeds 100 microinches; and wherein the effective depth of the voids measured from the ends of the lands to the exposed surfaces of the filler material underlying the engaging face in the depressed portion remains between approximately 25 and 100 microinches as the lands and filler material wear due to the passage of the engaging face over the wear surface.

Claim 5

A wear surface for engaging an element movable relative thereto in the presence of a lubricant; said wear surface comprising a substantially interrupted surface area and a substantially continuous intervening surface area both presented toward the movable element, the interrupted surface area comprising a multiplicity of closely spaced individual surfaces substantially separated from each other by the intervening surface area so that each individual surface is generally surrounded by the intervening surface area, one surface area being located closer to and the other surface area being farther from the element, whereby one surface area is raised and the other surface area is depressed; and a filler material covering the depressed surface area, the filler material being less resistant to wear than the material from which the raised surface area is formed.

Claim 6

A wear surface for engaging an element movable relative thereto in the presence of a lubricant; said wear surface comprising a substantially interrupted surface area and a substantially continuous intervening surface area both presented toward the movable element, the interrupted surface area comprising a multiplicity of closely spaced individual surfaces substantially separated from each other by the intervening surface area so that each individual surface is generally surrounded by the intervening surface area, one surface area being located closer to and the other surface area being farther from the element, whereby one surface area is raised and the other surface area is depressed; and a filler material covering the depressed surface area, the filler material being less resistant to wear than the material from which the raised surface area is formed.

Claim 7

A wear surface according to claim 4 wherein the element is rotatable relative to the wear surface; wherein the triangular surfaces are arranged in circumferentially extending rows; and wherein the base walls of adjacent triangular surfaces in each circumferential row align.

Claim 8

A wear surface according to claim 5 wherein the sidewalls of the triangular surfaces align with the sidewalls of triangular surfaces in adjacent circumferential rows so that the triangular surfaces form a simple geometric array.

Claim 9

A wear surface according to claim 5 wherein the engaging face of the element extends across at least three circumferentially extending rows; and wherein the element is formed from an elastomeric substance.

Claim 10

A wear surface according to claim 7 wherein the interrupted surface area occupies approximately one-third to two-thirds of the outwardly presented surface areas of the wear surface.

Claim 11

A wear surface according to claim 4 wherein the intervening and interrupted surface areas are formed on and from the same material.

Claim 12

A wear surface according to claim 9 wherein the filler material initially extends outwardly to at least the raised surface areas whereby in the presence of the lubricant the filler material covering the depressed surface area will wear and to a limited extent will establish a void beneath the element so that the lubricant can occupy the void and lubricate the face of the element which engages the raised surface area.

Claim 13

A wear surface according to claim 4 wherein the intervening surface area is depressed and the interrupted surface area is raised whereby the interrupted surface area forms a plurality of lands.

Claim 14

A wear surface for engaging the face of an element movable relative thereto in the presence of a lubricant; said wear surface comprising a substantially interrupted surface area and an intervening surface area both presented toward the face of the element, the interrupted surface area comprising a multiplicity of closely spaced triangular surfaces generally surrounded by the intervening surface area and substantially separated from each other by the intervening surface area, one of the surface areas being located closer to the movable element than the other surface area and the distance between the two surface areas being between approximately 10 microinches and 100 microinches whereby one surface area is raised and the other is depressed, each triangular surface being peripherally defined substantially by a base wall which extends in the general direction of relative movement and a pair of angularly related sidewalls which intersect at an apex pointing transversely of the direction at relative movement, the included angles between both sidewalls and the base wall being acute angles whereby the sidewalls will function as pump impellers for pumping the lubricant generally transversely of the direction of relative movement, the dimension of each triangular surface measured transversely of the direction of relative movement being between approximately 0.005 and 0.040 inches, the triangular surfaces being arranged in nonoverlapping rows extending in the direction of relative movement and the face of element traversing a plurality of the rows.

Claim 15

A wear surface for engaging the face of an element movable relative thereto in the presence of a lubricant; said wear surface comprising a substantially interrupted surface area and an intervening surface area both presented toward the face of the element, the interrupted surface area comprising a multiplicity of closely spaced triangular surfaces generally surrounded by the intervening surface area and substantially separated from each other by the intervening surface area, one of the surface areas being located closer to the movable element than the other surface area and the distance between the two surface areas being between approximately 10 microinches and 100 microinches whereby one surface area is raised and the other is depressed, each triangular surface being peripherally defined substantially by a base wall which extends in the general direction of relative movement and a pair of angularly related sidewalls which intersect at an apex pointing transversely of the direction at relative movement, the included angles between both sidewalls and the base wall being acute angles whereby the sidewalls will function as pump impellers for pumping the lubricant generally transversely of the direction of relative movement, the dimension of each triangular surface measured transversely of the direction of relative movement being between approximately 0.005 and 0.040 inches, the triangular surfaces being arranged in nonoverlapping rows extending in the direction of relative movement and the face of element traversing a plurality of the rows.

Claim 16

A wear surface according to claim 12 wherein the intervening surface area is depressed and the interrupted surface area is raised, whereby the interrupted surface area forms a plurality of individual lands.

Claim 17

A wear surface according to claim 13 wherein the sidewalls bounding the triangular surfaces in any row align with the sidewalls of triangular surfaces in adjacent circumferential rows so that the triangular surfaces form a simple geometric array.

Claim 18

A wear surface according to claim 13 wherein the lands are substantially nondeformable and the element is formed from an elastomeric substance.

Claim 19

A wear surface engaged by the face of an element movable relative thereto in the presence of a lubricant; said wear surface comprising a substantially interrupted surface area and an intervening surface area both presented toward the movable element, the interrupted surface area comprising a multiplicity of triangular surfaces generally surrounded by the intervening surface area and substantially separated from each other by the intervening surface area, one of the surface areas being located closer to the movable element than the other surface area whereby one surface area is raised and the other is depressed, each triangular surface area being defined by a base wall extending in the general direction of relative movement and a pair of angularly related sidewalls which intersect at an apex pointing transversely of the direction of relative movement whereby the sidewalls function as pump impellers for pumping the lubricant transversely of the engaging face of the element, a majority of the triangular surfaces having their apexes pointing in the same transverse direction and a minority of the triangular surfaces having their apexes pointing in the opposite transverse direction, whereby the lubricant is distributed thoroughly across the engaging face of the element.

Claim 20

A wear surface engaged by the face of an element movable relative thereto in the presence of a lubricant; said wear surface comprising a substantially interrupted surface area and an intervening surface area both presented toward the movable element, the interrupted surface area comprising a multiplicity of triangular surfaces generally surrounded by the intervening surface area and substantially separated from each other by the intervening surface area, one of the surface areas being located closer to the movable element than the other surface area whereby one surface area is raised and the other is depressed, each triangular surface area being defined by a base wall extending in the general direction of relative movement and a pair of angularly related sidewalls which intersect at an apex pointing transversely of the direction of relative movement whereby the sidewalls function as pump impellers for pumping the lubricant transversely of the engaging face of the element, a majority of the triangular surfaces having their apexes pointing in the same transverse direction and a minority of the triangular surfaces having their apexes pointing in the opposite transverse direction, whereby the lubricant is distributed thoroughly across the engaging face of the element.

Claim 21

A wear surface according to claim 16 wherein the majority of triangular surfaces are arranged in rows extending in the direction of relative movement, and wherein the width of the engaging face on the element is at least as wide as the width of three rows of triangular surfaces.

Claim 22

A wear surface according to claim 16 wherein the intervening surface area is depressed and the interrupted surface area is raised, whereby the interrupted surface area forms a plurality of individual lands.

Claim 23

A wear surface according to claim 18 wherein the lands are relatively nondeformable, and the engaging element is formed from an elastomeric material.

Claim 24

A wear surface according to claim 19 wherein the element which engages the wear surface is a flexible seal element whereby the seal element and wear surface in combination form a seal construction having an oil side and an ambient side; and wherein the net pumping effect of the sidewalls along the triangular surfaces is toward the oil side of the seal construction.

Claim 25

A wear surface according to claim 16 wherein the element and wear surface form a lubricant barrier having an oil side beyond which a supply of lubricant is maintained, and wherein the net pumping effect of the sidewalls along the triangular surfaces is toward the oil side.

Claim 26

For use in forming a lubricant barrier with a flexible elastomeric seal element having a seal face; a wear surface formed from a rigid material and engaged by the seal face; said wear surface comprising a multiplicity of closely spaced triangular lands and an intervening surface generally surrounding each land and substantially separating the lands from each other, both the lands and the intervening surface being presented toward the seal element face with the intervening surface being located further from the seal element face than the lands so as to form a depression between the lands for enabling the lubricant to pass under and lubricate the seal face when the wear surface and element move relative to each other, the effective distance between the lands and the intervening surface being between approximatelY 10 and approximately 100 microinches, each triangular land being peripherally defined by a base wall extending generally in the direction of relative movement between the wear surface and seal element and a pair of angularly related sidewalls located oblique to the direction of movement between the wear surface and seal element, the sidewalls intersecting at an apex pointing transversely of the direction of relative movement and the included angle between each sidewall and the base wall being an acute angle; the triangular lands being arranged in rows extending in the direction of relative movement, the base walls of the lands in each row being in alignment and the apexes of the lands in each row pointing in the same direction, the width of three successive rows of lands being less than the width of the seal face whereby the seal face will traverse at least three rows of triangular lands.

Claim 27

For use in forming a lubricant barrier with a flexible elastomeric seal element having a seal face; a wear surface formed from a rigid material and engaged by the seal face; said wear surface comprising a multiplicity of closely spaced triangular lands and an intervening surface generally surrounding each land and substantially separating the lands from each other, both the lands and the intervening surface being presented toward the seal element face with the intervening surface being located further from the seal element face than the lands so as to form a depression between the lands for enabling the lubricant to pass under and lubricate the seal face when the wear surface and element move relative to each other, the effective distance between the lands and the intervening surface being between approximatelY 10 and approximately 100 microinches, each triangular land being peripherally defined by a base wall extending generally in the direction of relative movement between the wear surface and seal element and a pair of angularly related sidewalls located oblique to the direction of movement between the wear surface and seal element, the sidewalls intersecting at an apex pointing transversely of the direction of relative movement and the included angle between each sidewall and the base wall being an acute angle; the triangular lands being arranged in rows extending in the direction of relative movement, the base walls of the lands in each row being in alignment and the apexes of the lands in each row pointing in the same direction, the width of three successive rows of lands being less than the width of the seal face whereby the seal face will traverse at least three rows of triangular lands.

Claim 28

The structure according to claim 22 wherein the sidewalls of the triangular lands of one row align with the sidewalls of triangular lands of the adjacent rows so that the triangular lands form a simple geometric array.