Did You Know...
...that the inventor of the electric motor was a blacksmith named Thomas Davenport? Described as "a brilliantly unsuccessful inventor", Davenport invented the first rotary electric motor. In 1836 he headed out -- on foot -- from his Vermont home to file a patent application at the Patent Office in Washington, D.C. By the time he got there, he had squandered away his money and couldn't afford the $30 filing fee so he turned around and went home. When he later mailed in his application with money he'd raised, the Patent office was destroyed in a fire. He did finally get credit for his invention on Feb. 5, 1837.
PatentStorm News
Make the Most of Our Site
See this month's Top Inventors and Most Cited Patents.
Stay on top of the latest innovations by subscribing to an RSS feed.
Registered users: Manage your profile.
| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 6786487 | Actuated brush seal An actuated seal assembly for controlling flow in a fluid path in turbomachinery comprising a seal and a seal carrier coupled to the seal is provided. A displacement apparatus is coupled to the seal carrier for positioning the seal so as to control the flow in the f... | 09/07/2004 |
| 6725464 | Rotary joint for diving suits A rotary joint used for armored diving suits which joint allows rotary motion and which seals the internal portions of the diving suit from the high pressure water in which the user is operating. The rotary joint allows axial movement during operation and reduces pr... | 04/27/2004 |
| 5873574 | Bellows seal with reverse pressure capability A seal for sealing a low pressure area from a high pressure area for containing a process fluid. The high pressure area is located along a rotatable shaft extending from a machine body. The seal includes an outboard seal positioned along the shaft, and an... | 02/23/1999 |
| 5487550 | Secondary gas/liquid mechanical seal assembly A secondary mechanical seal assembly is used on a shaft that is rotatable within a housing to seal both gaseous and liquid medium. The assembly includes a stationary seal face element that is fixed relative to the housing and a rotating seal face element ... | 01/30/1996 |
| 5171024 | Reactor coolant pump shaft seal utilizing shape memory metal A shutdown seal is provided in a pump for activation to prevent passage of fluid along a shaft relative to a fluid-containing housing of the pump through which the shaft extends. The shutdown seal is an annular member having a mounting flange and a sealin... | 12/15/1992 |
| 5074568 | Shaft seal The shaft seal between a fixed housing wall (2) and a revolving shaft (1) consists of a collar (6) fixedly connected to the shaft (1), respectively one leg of the U-shaped sealing rings (69, 71) pressing against this collar. The cavities (14, 15) of the s... | 12/24/1991 |
| 5058905 | Seal The sliding face (22) of a gas lubricated slide ring seal has a slide ring (20) which is displaceable in the axial direction at a wall (4) to be sealed and lies against the sliding face (21) of a mating ring (10) which is fastened on an intermediate sleev... | 10/22/1991 |
| 4900039 | Twin face seal A redundant seal arrangement employs first and second face-type seal assemblies for sealing between a housing and rotary member. A drain passage communicates with an intermediate area disposed between the first and second seal assemblies. During normal op... | 02/13/1990 |
| 4865332 | Sealing arrangement between a shaft and a housing of a fluid flow engine A sealing arrangement between a shaft and a housing of a fluid flow engine consists of a blocking gas space acted upon with blocking gas, which is delimited by two sealing rings guided in annular grooves of the shaft and radially sealingly abutting at the... | 09/12/1989 |
| 4865333 | Seal protection apparatus The seal protection apparatus is intended to provide protection for a main mechanical seal. It comprises a first seal ring fast on the shaft of a pump and a second seal ring which is connected to the casing of the pump by means of a flexible, annular diap... | 09/12/1989 |
| 4848774 | Reactor coolant pump hydrostatic sealing assembly with externally pressurized hydraulic balance chamber A pump having a shaft and housing containing pressurized system fluid variable between low pressure at pump startup and high pressure at pump operation, employs a hydrostatic sealing assembly for sealably and rotatably mounting the shaft within the housin... | 07/18/1989 |
| 4673332 | Lubrication seals A seal continuously maintains a condition of fluid sealing between a housing and a shaft rotatably mounted in the housing, independently of the speed of rotation of the shaft. The seal includes a higher speed seal and a lower speed seal each disposed betw... | 06/16/1987 |
| 4629196 | Coupler and manifold assembly with differential vacuum seal means A coupler and manifold assembly which makes it possible to turn the shaft and impellers of an absorption chiller circulating pump with an external drive means instead of a hermatically sealed drive means, comprising an interconnecting combination of a plu... | 12/16/1986 |
| 4552368 | Backup seal with bush in form of radially floating washer A backup seal for a main seal (not shown) sealing a rotary shaft (10) to a housing (12) comprises a rotary seal element (20) sealed (22) to the shaft (10) and a stationary seal element (16) sealed (18) to the housing (12). The seal elements (16,20) have o... | 11/12/1985 |
| 4541638 | Emergency shaft seal device by deformation of packing ring This invention discloses an emergency shaft seal device wherein a packing ring of elastic material the inside diameter of which is larger than the outside diameter of a rotatable shaft is received in an annular groove along the periphery of the rotatable ... | 09/17/1985 |
| 4537407 | Apparatus for testing pipes by a pipe tester A sealing arrangement around an end of a pipe received in a testhead of a hydraulic pipe testing apparatus, which sealing arrangement consists of an elastic sealing ring and an adjacent, rigid support ring of varying diameters. Both rings are mounted in r... | 08/27/1985 |
| 4517804 | Condenser vacuum retaining apparatus for steam power plant A vacuum retaining arrangement for retaining a vacuum within a condenser of a steam power plant during a short term outage or shutdown. At least a portion of a turbine gland packing near the condenser, with respect to a sealing steam supply portion, is co... | 05/21/1985 |
| 4484752 | Rotating-lip bidirectional hydrodynamic oil seal A rotating-disc bidirectional hydrodynamic oil seal, for use between a shaft and a bore, one of which is stationary while the other rotates. A rigid member has a peripheral portion engaging the stationary member and has a frustoconical portion with a disc... | 11/27/1984 |
| 4477088 | Face seal means with back-up seal In a twin spool gas turbine engine, a bellows serves to bias a carbon seal against its seal plate and a piston ring back-up seal spaced radially outward and axially from the carbon seal provides a controlled leak path in the event the bellows fails.... | 10/16/1984 |
| 4451048 | High speed shaft seal A dynamic shaft seal for bidirectionally sealing fluid flow along a shaft comprising a disc of carbon material positioned between a pair of spaced flat rings mounted for rotation with the shaft. The carbon disc is allowed a range of axial movement forced ... | 05/29/1984 |
| 4431199 | Self-hydraulic pressure generating and maintaining device for shaft-seal mechanism A pressurizing device for a pump seal includes a cylindrical chamber fitted over an extension of a pump shaft external of the seal with a sliding piston inside the chamber being mounted for reciprocation relative to the external shaft portion in dividing ... | 02/14/1984 |
| 4426089 | Dust-proof device for mechanical seal A dust-proof device for preventing dust from entering into sliding surfaces from the inside thereof in a mechanical seal for avoiding the leakage of fluid from the outside into the inside of the sliding surfaces, which mechanical seal comprises a seating ... | 01/17/1984 |
| 4415165 | Integral elastomeric/graphite dynamic face seal A shaft seal is presented which combines the attributes of the low pressure ealing of an O-ring and the high pressure sealing of a carbon face seal. This invention provides a dynamic shaft seal with the advantage of a very reliable, positive elastomeric O-... | 11/15/1983 |
| 4410186 | Sealing system for pressurized flanged joints A sealing system for pressurized flanged joints such as for use in flow line systems, wellhead assemblies, vessel joints, etc. The flanges of the pressure containing system are formed to define circular seal grooves having oppositely tapered circular side... | 10/18/1983 |
| 4406460 | Anti-weepage valve for rotating seals For a rotating carbon seal that requires lubrication a rotating self-actuating weepage valve responding to speed and/or pressure for closure of the valve at a given operating condition.... | 09/27/1983 |
| 4395048 | Pump safety device The safety device insures the longitudinal tightness of a pump shaft in the case where the pump dynamic gasket separating the high pressure chamber from the low pressure chamber of the pump brakes. According to the invention, the device comprises a cylind... | 07/26/1983 |
| 4375291 | Back-up mechanical seal A pump assembly having an impeller for pumping a fluid from an intake to an outlet, a prime mover for driving the impeller, and a primary mechanical seal assembly between the prime mover and the impeller which is located in a housing. The mechanical seal ... | 03/01/1983 |
| 4188039 | Bulkhead shaft seal A normally non-contacting rotary seal is disclosed which prevents fluid from leaking from one zone, or compartment, to the next through an opening in the compartment separating wall, or bulkhead, through which a rotating shaft passes. The passage of fluid... | 02/12/1980 |
| 4174843 | Self-adjusting tandem seal A dynamic seal has a primary and secondary seal ring connected in series ween first and second fluid zones, with an intermediate fluid zone between the seal rings. When leakage occurs between the first and intermediate zones, the pressure in the intermed... | 11/20/1979 |
| 4161316 | Gastight penetration A gastight seal arrangement for an actuating rod that passes through a wall of a gas-filled enclosure is described. The actuating rod includes a pair of flanges that are spaced longitudinally of the rod and are positioned on opposite sides of the wall of ... | 07/17/1979 |
| 4139203 | Labyrinth type rotary seal with intermittent feature of contact type seal The invention is an improved rotary seal which is particularly well suited for protecting the bearing area in a conveyor idler roll. The seal has inner and outer annular members which normally rotate freely without contact relative to each other. The memb... | 02/13/1979 |
| 4127275 | Self-disengaging static seal A static seal is utilized to provide a fluid boundary in place of a dynamic eal during underwater storage. The static seal is formed by an O-ring disposed between a threaded collar and retainer. The collar is held in alignment with a shaft by means of slot... | 11/28/1978 |
| 4114059 | Grooved visco seal for stationary discharge chamber of water-cooled turbine generator A discharge chamber seal arrangement for a water cooled turbine generator rotor. The discharge chamber seal arrangement comprises a gland seal operable during high speed operation of the rotor and a contact seal operable during low rotor speed and at stan... | 09/12/1978 |
| 4114058 | Seal arrangement for a discharge chamber for water cooled turbine generator rotor A discharge chamber seal arrangement for a water cooled turbine generator rotor. The discharge chamber seal arrangement comprises a gland seal operable during high speed operation of the rotor and a contact seal operable during low rotor speed and at stan... | 09/12/1978 |
| 4105040 | Temperature responsive valve seal A butterfly valve with a conventional resilient seal of rubber or plastic or the like is provided with a secondary seal of a hard, fire resistant material such as metal. The secondary seal is in the form of a split ring which is held in an expanded condit... | 08/08/1978 |
| 4076260 | Sealing device for rotary machines containing hydraulic fluid A sealing device for rotary machines containing hydraulic fluid, such as centrifugal pumps, compressors, steam turbines and the like. An annular gasket/valve has a flexible lip which seals around the pump or other type machine shaft when the machine is in... | 02/28/1978 |
| 4067583 | Sealing device with closure system for compressor The device comprises a driving mechanism, disconnectable coupling means, a otor in which is conveyed a toxic gas, and an annular seal clamped between stationary knife-edges on the rotor and movable knife-edges associated with a movable annular support unit... | 01/10/1978 |
| 4058320 | Generator seal oil supply system A system supplying oil to the seal plates of a generator. Seal oil is provided by a primary pump and a secondary pump which acts as a backup for the primary pump. Under normal operating conditions a portion of the seal oil supplied by either pump is diver... | 11/15/1977 |
| 3994503 | Sealing assembly An assembly for sealing against the escape of gas round a rotary shift where it exits from apparatus containing gas under pressure, such as a compressor, comprising an oil (or other sealing liquid) film seal means arranged where said shaft exits from the ... | 11/30/1976 |
| 3985365 | Remotely actuated emergency shaft seal Disclosed is an emergency shaft seal for remote actuation in the event the primary shaft seal fails. The emergency shaft seal includes a seal housing rotatably mounted on an element rotatable with the shaft. At least one end face seal is carried by and ro... | 10/12/1976 |
