US 6,981,702 B2
Sealing gasket with flexible stopper
Martin Novil, Northville, Mich. (US); Yingjie Kong, Canton, Mich. (US); Scott M. Anderson, Canton, Mich. (US); and Ronald W. Wangerow, Novi, Mich. (US)
Assigned to Freudenberg-NOK General Partnership, Plymouth, Mich. (US)
Filed on Aug. 28, 2003, as Appl. No. 10/650,339.
Prior Publication US 2005/0046120 A1, Mar. 03, 2005
Int. Cl. F02F 11/00 (2006.01)
U.S. Cl. 277—591 73 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An improved gasket for sealing between longitudinally opposed mating surfaces of at least a pair of members adapted to be forcibly mated together to clamp said gasket therebetween, the mating surfaces having openings therein laterally aligned in longitudinal communication with each other when the members are mated together, said gasket comprising:
a relatively rigid carrier having first and second laterally-extending sides defining a longitudinal thickness therebetween, said carrier having at least one gasket opening therethrough adapted to be laterally aligned in longitudinal communication with the openings in the mating surfaces of the members when said gasket is clamped between the mated members;
a resilient sealing material substantially more flexible than said carrier and being disposed on at least portions of said laterally-extending sides of said carrier for sealingly engaging the mating surfaces of the members adjacent the openings therein when said gasket is clamped between the mated members;
a longitudinally flexible inner sealing portion of said carrier disposed laterally adjacent and substantially defining the periphery of said gasket opening, said inner sealing portion being longitudinally offset relative to the remainder of the carrier, said inner sealing portion being offset in a longitudinal direction toward a first of the members when said gasket is clamped between the mated members, said inner sealing portion having said resilient sealing material disposed on at least portions of its laterally-extending sides for sealing engagement with the mating surfaces of the members when said gasket is clamped between the mated members; and
a longitudinally flexible outer stopper portion of said carrier spaced laterally away from said gasket opening and disposed laterally outward relative to said inner sealing portion, said flexible outer stopper portion and said inner sealing portion being in close lateral proximity with each other and in close lateral proximity with the same said gasket opening, said flexible stopper portion being longitudinally convex relative to the remainder of said carrier on a side of said flexible stopper oriented toward said first of the members and being longitudinally concave relative to the remainder of said carrier on an opposite side of said flexible stopper oriented toward a second of the members, said flexible stopper acting in conjunction with said inner sealing portion and with respect to the same said gasket opening to flexibly limit the amount of longitudinal compression of said inner sealing portion and being less flexible than said inner sealing portion, said inner sealing portion being thereby maintained in said sealing engagement with the mating surfaces of both of the members during relative movement between the members when the members are mated together.