Universal mechanical seal gland
Universal mechanical seal gland formed of plastic has a central aperture positionable over a shaft extending from a housing for positioning a stationary seal against a rotary seal on the shaft. The central aperture is formed of a plurality of cylindrical and radial surfaces which define sealing surfaces permitting the gland to be used with a variety of differently sized and shaped seal members and housings and differently sized shafts.
A wide variety of devices such as pumps, compressors and the like employ rotary shafts supported for rotation in a housing in which pressurized liquid engages the shaft on the interior of the housing and tends to leak outwardly along the shaft tothe exterior of the housing. Such leakage is obviously undesirable for a variety of reasons such as environmental contamination where the liquid is a hazardous chemical, cost of the lost liquid, cleanup costs and maintenance costs and the loss of energyresulting from such leakage. A common and well-known expedient for reducing leakage around a shaft is that of providing a stuffing box surrounding the shaft with packed stuffing material being held in contact with the shaft.
Improvements over thestuffing box concept have included rotary mechanical seals which basically consist of an annular rotary seal member fixed to the shaft for rotation therewith and having a radial surface engageable with a radial surface of a fixed annular seal member heldin position against the rotary seal by a gland member machined to provide the necessary geometry and spacing for effecting a satisfactory contact between the contacting radial surfaces of the rotary annular seal member and the fixed annular seal member.
The present universal gland member inventionavoids the need for using such specially designed seal members, eliminates the need for adapter rings and also permits the usage of the universal gland member with a wide variety of mechanical seal constructions and different shaft sizes.
Therefore, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a new and improved mechanical seal gland.The further object of the present invention is the provision of a new and improved mechanical seal gland capable of usage with a wide variety of mechanical seal constructions, different shaft sizes and different gland bolting configurations.
Achievement of the foregoing objects is permitted by the preferred embodiment of the present invention through the provision of a mechanical seal gland comprising a polypropylene body having an axially extending aperture extending betweenparallel front and rear planar surfaces with the axially extending aperture being defined by a plurality of cylindrical surfaces connected by radial surfaces with the cylindrical surfaces being of different diameters.
The smallest diameter cylindricalsurface is centrally positioned midway between the front and rear surfaces of the polypropylene block with adjacent cylindrical surfaces respectively being provided between the smaller diameter surface and the front and rear surfaces. The cylindricalsurfaces in conjunction with their adjacent radial surfaces define step annular seal engaging surfaces which engage an annular stationary seal member formed of ceramic material or the like for holding the seal member in contact with a shaft-mountedrotary seal component of a mechanical seal combination. The plurality of such annular surfaces on the gland permit its usage with a wide variety of fixed stationary seal members as occur with different sizes of shafts with the only limitation being thatthe diameter of the shaft must be less than the diameter of the centrally positioned smallest diameter cylindrical surface of the gland.
The gland member is provided with a plurality of concentric circles formed in its front surface for providing a guide for permitting mounting apertures to be bored at desired radial distances from the center of the gland for permitting connectionof the gland to tapped openings in a particular pump or compressor housing. Additionally, the gland body can be provided with inwardly extending bolt-receiving slots which extend inwardly from the cylindrical periphery of the gland or it can be providedwith pre-bored mounting bolt receiving holes if desired. Another variation of the gland resides in the provision of chordal surfaces forming a portion of the outer periphery of the gland so as to permit it to be fitted onto housings having spacelimitations which would not accommodate a gland having a cylindrical outer periphery of the same diameter as the diameter of the cylindrical portions of the gland.
A better understanding of the construction and usage of the preferred embodiments of the present mechanical seal invention will be achieved when the following detailed description is considered in conjunction with the appended drawings in which like referencenumerals are used for the same parts in the different views.
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