20110175299 | DEFORMABLE COMPOSITE SEAL FOR BEARING SURFACES WITH A GREAT LACK OF FLATNESS - A seal including an outer envelope that may be made of PTFE, and an inner core including an air-permeable sack partially filled with a granular fluid. When bearing surfaces that are to be sealed are near one another, the sack is squashed, an upper volume of air escapes to the outside, and grains transmit a substantial contact pressure between lips of the envelope and the bearing surfaces. They may have moved during the squashing movement so as to even out the pressure by redistributing themselves in the sack even if there is a significant lack of flatness between the bearing surfaces. | 07-21-2011 |