Facing up to pressure

Thordon Bearings has introduced a mechanical face seal under the trade name SeaLion. The face seal system avoids contact (and associated wear) with the tailshaft liner seen with lip seal arrangements.

To minimise wear, the contact faces are a carbon-graphite design that can operate with either seawater or with the company’s water-soluble lubricant Thor-Lube. The design is available in sizes up to 750mm and can incorporate an inflatable emergency seal to allow maintenance of the inboard unit without docking.

An inflatable emergency seal is also a feature of the company’s automatic stuffing box that uses elastomer spring elements to eliminate the risk of excessive pre-loading without the need for periodic adjustments.

Details of these latest products and Thordon’s traditional range of tailshaft and rudder stock bearings are given in a new brochure published by the company.