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New Marine Seal Provides Zero Leakage A ru'bber-to-metal bonded seal that provides zero leakage sealing for ship and iboat rudder stocks and other applications with a rotation range of plus or minus 45 degrees or more has been developed by The B.F. Goodrich Company and Luci- an Q. Moffitt, Inc. The new seal, called the Romor Seal, is the first of its type to pro- vide zero leakage sealing in marine applications, according to Claire A. Drach, president of Lucian Q. Mof- fitt, national and international dis- tributor of B.F. Goodrich marine products. The complete Romor Seal design consists of three precision com- ponents—a metal inner ring to which a resilient sealing web of oil-resistant synthetic rubber is bonded and then fitted into a con- centric metal outer ring. In marine application, the inner ring is mounted to the ship's rud- der stock and the outer ring to the rudder trunk. Under actual operat- ing conditions, the rubber web flexes to accommodate shaft rota- tion for most normal steering re- quirements. Where larger rudder angles are required, the web slides in relation to the outer component with no leakage. Functioning with oil on the upper surface and water on the lower surface, Romor provides a positive seal in both directions. "No water can dilute the lubri- cant and no oil can escape to con- taminate the surrounding water," Mr. Drach said. "The remarkable Romor leakproof qualities have been proved in hours of prototype testing under simulated operating conditions." Utilizing a steering gear from a decommissioned Victory-type ship, Goodrich and Moffitt engineers de- signed and built a special device for testing Romor Seals of all sizes. Mounted on this device, a test Romor Seal was subjected to shaft rotation up to plus or minus 35 de- grees while a water box fastened to the upper side of the seal ap- plied up to 15 psi of .water pressure. The lower side operated in air. A 39-1/4-inch ID rudder stock seal, built for a large steamship ap- plication, was thoroughly tested according to this procedure. It was also subjected to hydrostatic test- ing at 30 psi, during which it again performed with zero leakage. Other features of the Romor Seal include low torque requirements, complete seal integrity under all operating conditions and rugged durability. Each Romor Seal is designed and built to meet special require- ments of specific applications. The seals are completely assembled at the factory with inside and out- side diameters finished concentric. There are no loose parts for the user to put together at installation time. Additional information on Romor Seals may be obtained by writing to Lucian Q. Moffitt, Inc., Post Of- fice Box 1415, Akron, Ohio 44309. Third Quarter Of 71 Shipbuilding Returns Reported By Lloyds For the first time since December 1969 there was a decrease in the ton- nage of ships being built in the world, reports Lloyd's Register of Shipping in its report for the quarter ended September 30, 1971. Not including Communist China and Russia, for whom figures are not available, there are under construction 1,939 ships of 21,422,759 gross tons, which is 773,- 364 tons less than last quarter. However, the total order book which, apart from ships now building, also includes those on order but which have not been commenced, now stands at the record figure of 84,072,090 tons gross, which is 385,415 tons more than the previous quarter. Des- pite a high figure for ships completed during the quarter, Japan again shows an increase to her order book, which now totals 32,926,937 tons gross. With regard to the U.S.A., al- though the tonnage of ships under construction has fallen slightly to 1,028,502 tons gross, the total order book increased by 83,586 tons to 1,- 993,852 tons. Orders for tankers continue to be received and tankers now represent 51.6 percent of the worldwide total order book. 6,640,946 tons gross of the ships actually under construction now are being built under the supervision of Lloyd's Register. get the job done right JACKSON MARINE ROPES ... for the really big marine jobs Tying up the big ones requires a hawser that can take it. And, come back for more! Two husky new JACKSON ropes ideal for these heavyweight tasks, yet which are manageably lightweight and easy to handle, are the P-J Combo and P-C Combo. These fine new top-qualify com- bination ropes are designed for the toughest marine tasks and stand up over a lengthy lifetime of rugged use. See your JACKSON distributor or write us. JACKSON* i ROPE CORPORATION V niwlcirtn hf AQPPO Inr t Division Of ASPRO, Inc. Ninth and Oley Streets / Reading, Pennsylvania 19604 Rope Makers > —( Since 1829 L—, ,„.. P.O. BOX 790 / MORGAN CITY, LA. 70380 / PHONE 504-384-3060 Stock models available (also made to order) COMPLETE BARGE BUILT INDOORS UNIQUE TILT TABLE LAUNCHING ROLLER ACTION ELIMINATES STRESS 36 Maritime Reporter/Engineering News
