Sealing means

Claim 1

In a fluidtight joint of the type comprising a pair of annular radial flanges secured on abutting parts of structures to be coupled and opposed in face-to-face relationship, opposed annular grooves respectively formed in the opposed faces of said flanges and cooperating to form an annular space between the flanges, each of said grooves being defined by a bottom wall, a radially outer cylindrical sidewall and a radially inner conical sidewall, said inner sidewalls having diameters decreasing toward the opposed flange faces of the mating groove, an annular onepiece metallic gasket disposed in said annular space, and means for clamping said gasket between said flanges; the improvement comprising; said annular gasket, when not clamped, being of a rectangular cross section and having a radially inner cylindrical surface of a diameter within the range of the diameters of said inner conical walls of said grooves, a radially outer cylindrical surface of a diameter less than that of the outer sidewalls of said grooves, said gasket having a pair of radially inner annular corner edges engaging along lines of contact said conical sidewalls of said grooves, respectively; the diameter of said outer cylindrical surface of the gasket being dimensioned that upon the gasket being clamped and deformed radially outwardly by the action of said conical sidewalls of the grooves said outer cylindrical surface of the gasket is contacted and opposed by said outer cylindrical sidewalls of the grooves to produce a positive force resisting the action of the conical sidewalls, so as to provide a constant and firm sealing relationship between said conical sidewalls and said corner edges and said gasket and grooves being so dimensioned and arranged that said gasket will not contact said bottom walls and said flanges will not contact each other under clamping pressure.