Sealing construction

Claim 2

A sealing construction comprising a stack of nested sealing rings, at least one of the rings having inwardly and outwardly disposed legs symmetrically arranged, said inwardly directed legs having a line contact sealing edge defined by surfaces that diverge with respect to the axes of the rings, the angle included by said surfaces being at least 90* and less than 180* , and a spreader ring disposed at each end of the stack and mating with the adjacent sealing ring.

Claim 3

A sealing construction in accordance with claim 10 including a housing within which the stack of rings is disposed, a rod extending through the rings with the sealing edge on the inwardly disposed legs being in line contact with the outer periphery of the rod, the sealing edge on the outwardly disposed legs being in line contact with said housing, a spring means for biasing one spreader ring toward the other, said housing having a wall, said spring means being between said wall and said one spreader ring, and the housing having a portion in contact with the other of the spreader rings to oppose the bias of the spring means.

Claim 4

A sealing construction in accordance with claim 10 wherein said rings are made from carboxylate butadiene-acrylonitrile copolymer.

Claim 5

A sealing construction in accordance with claim 10 wherein the sealing rings are Y-shaped in cross section with a cavity between the legs on each ring receiving an annular coaxial stem on an adjacent ring.

Claim 6

A sealing construction in accordance with claim 10 wherein said included angle is approximately 115*.

Claim 7

A sealing ring for use in a sealing construction comprising an annular body portion having inwardly and outwardly directed legs symmetrically arranged with each leg having generally parallel top and bottom surfaces oblique with respect to the axis of the ring, the terminal ends of the surface being connected to converging surfaces, the converging surfaces meeting at a sealing edge adjacent to but spaced from the terminal end of the top surface, the angle between said converging surfaces being approximately 115*, one of said converging surfaces being longer than the other, said ring being made from a polymeric material, and means on the body to facilitate stacking the ring with corresponding rings.

Claim 8

A sealing ring for use in a sealing construction comprising an annular body portion having inwardly and outwardly directed legs symmetrically arranged with each leg having generally parallel top and bottom surfaces oblique with respect to the axis of the ring, the terminal ends of the surface being connected to converging surfaces, the converging surfaces meeting at a sealing edge adjacent to but spaced from the terminal end of the top surface, the angle between said converging surfaces being approximately 115*, one of said converging surfaces being longer than the other, said ring being made from a polymeric material, and means on the body to facilitate stacking the ring with corresponding rings.

Claim 9

A sealing ring in accordance with claim 6 wherein said last-mentioned means includes coaxial cavity and stem on opposite sides of the body, the stem and cavity being of subsTantially the same size so that the cavity may receive the stem on an adjacent ring, with the cavity being disposed between the legs.

Claim 10

A sealing ring in accordance with claim 7 wherein said top surface extends from the upper edge of said cavity.

Claim 11

A sealing ring in accordance with claim 6 wherein said top and bottom surfaces are of substantially the same length.