Sealed joint having a socket

Claim 1

A sealed pipe joint comprising means defining a socket having an entrance, means defining a male end extending through said entrance into the socket with a radial clearance and capable of angular deviation relative to the socket, two annular planar faces axially defining an inner annular groove in the socket, a first of said annular planar faces adjacent said entrance having an inner peripheral edge defining an annular clearance with the male end, and an annular elastically yieldable sealing element coaxial with the socket and having at one end of the sealing element an annular substantially smooth solid heel portion disposed in the groove of the socket and a single annular lip portion extending from the heel portion axially inwardly of the socket, the lip portion having an annular end portion which is remote from the heel portion and is in gripping relation to the male end and an annular intermediate portion which is flexible and capable of acting as a hinge, the socket radially defining with the end portion of the lip portion an annular space which allows an angular and radial deviation between the male end and the socket and allows fluid pressure in the pipe access to a side of the end portion radially remote from the male end, the heel portion having, when the sealing element is in a free undeformed state, a width axially of the sealing element which is of the same order of magnitude as the thickness of the heel portion radially of the sealing element and exceeds the axial width of the groove so that the heel portion is compressed between said two annular planar faces, the axial width of the groove being greater than the greatest radial clearance which can exist between the male end and said inner peripheral edge of said first one of said annular planar faces.