In Memoriam – Betty Hurley

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Web Seal is sad to announce the passing of one of its founders, Betty Hurley, age 93.

 

For nearly 50 years, Betty Hurley was a significant force behind the scenes at Web Seal.  When Don and Betty Hurley decided to create their business in 1960, Betty supported the undertaking with hands-on personnel and financial administration as well as moral support.  As co-founder and corporate treasurer of the company, she continued to serve a key role in the company’s success.  She died peacefully at home on February 5, 2021, at age 93.

Due to Covid restrictions, a private family service will be held on Feb. 8 (see links below to the services online).  A celebration of Betty’s life will take place when everyone can gather to celebrate her ability to turn the ordinary simply extraordinary.

Funeral Service:  https://client.tribucast.com/tcid/54453752

Graveside Service:  https://client.tribucast.com/tcid/8196177

Predeceased by Web Seal co-founder and former president Don, her husband of 54 years, Betty is survived by her 10 children, 18 grandchildren, and 4 great-grandchildren.

Born and raised in Macedon, NY, she graduated from Nazareth College in 1949 with a degree in social work.  She was widely known for creating a loving home for her large family and a welcoming place for all who attended any of the many gatherings she and Don hosted.

An ardent admirer of Dorothy Day of the Catholic Worker Movement, Betty lived out her faith every day, actively engaged in parish work, choirs, and social justice projects.  She enriched the Rochester community with decades of volunteer service, including Corpus Christi Health Center, St. Martin’s Soup Kitchen, and many others.  She was honored by Monroe Community Hospital after 30 years of weekly volunteering at the in-hospital store for patients.

Betty was a voracious reader and enjoyed being a member of numerous book clubs.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Betty’s honor to McQuaid Advancement Department, 1800 South Clinton Avenue, Rochester, NY 14618; ARC Foundation of Monroe, 2060 Brighton-Henrietta Townline Road, Rochester, NY 14623; Spiritus Christi Mental Health Outreach, 121 N. Fitzhugh Street, Rochester, NY 14616; Sisters of St. Joseph, 150 French Road, Rochester, NY 14618; or charity of choice.

 

 

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Covid-19 Update – Web Seal Essential Business

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An Essential Business in Covid-19 Crisis

Web Seal Designated as an Essential New York Business

Critical Tier 2 Supplier To Essential Industries

ROCHESTER, NY (March 30, 2020) Web Seal has received official New York State designation as an “essential business,” according to John F. Hurley, company president, as part of the governor’s Covid-19 protocols.

"On Friday, March 20, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo issued an executive order stipulating that all non-essential businesses must cease operations at 8:00 pm EDT on Sunday, March 22. Web Seal is continuing its fabrication, warehouse and shipping operations now to support other essential businesses and meet those critical customer needs, while balancing the health and safety of our employees" Hurley added.

Web Seal is a critical Tier 2 supplier to a wide range of essential industries including, but not limited to, food processing, filtration (air and water), medical equipment, power generation and transmission, pumps and municipal water systems, defense/aerospace, automotive and other transportation, and telecommunications.

Web Seal manufactures and supplies industrial sealing components and cushioning/padding required to assemble their products. In addition, Web Seal provides just-in-time storage and fulfillment operations, along with technical support and design assistance.

"All non-essential associates are working remotely from home. Each of our employees in manufacturing and fulfillment operations are individually stationed in work centers that are at least 12-15 feet apart," added Hurley. "We have suspended all site visits and group meetings, and have increased our cleaning and sanitizing frequency and protocols. We will continue to comply with all local, state and federal directives during the Covid-19 pandemic as well as recommendations from the state and federal departments of health."

"We are facing uncertain days ahead but we ask businesses, individuals and groups who are part of the country’s essential infrastructure to contact us if you have any questions about how Web Seal can support your vital production needs," continued Hurley.

Established in 1960, Web Seal is a privately-owned Certified Small Business and is ISO-2015 certified. The company provides a wide range of sealing solutions, including die-cutting, splicing, assembly and kitting.

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Web Seal promotes manufacturing careers to high schoolers

Promoting Manufacturing Careers to High Schoolers

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Web Seal Promotes Manufacturing Careers to High Schoolers

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High School Career and Trade Fair

Web Seal joined a group of local area businesses at a first-time high school Career and Trade Fair this morning, specifically to promote manufacturing as an important career choice.

With the declining number of high school-age students across the country entering the workforce, along with the impending retirement of many seasoned professionals in the trades and manufacturing, industries across the country are challenged to find enough young talent for their businesses.

Most students today have little or no knowledge about the manufacturing field.  Julia Magone, director of employee development at Web Seal, sparked interest in students participating in the fair through several activities:  having students match Web Seal fabricated parts with the correct blueprints, guessing the function of selected parts, and demonstrating simple hand-held measuring tools.  Once students had gained some basic insights into Web Seal’s job shop operations, they were intrigued about the little-known world of industrial sealing components as well as the larger world of industrial manufacturing.

The expo was a perfect opportunity to speak to students directly about the wide variety of jobs available in manufacturing and STEM fields, from the production floor, materials management, and warehousing to quality, R&D, supply chain management, engineering, and packaging.  Students were interested in learning what kind of educational preparation would be needed for manufacturing jobs, what on-the-job training is typical, and salary ranges.

Greece Arcadia High School, part of a large suburban school district outside Rochester, NY, sponsored the fair to introduce sophomores and juniors from three schools to a wide range of career opportunities, challenging them to broaden their ideas about the workplace.  Web Seal offers entry-level manufacturing jobs and on-the-job training to high school graduates.

PUR-GARD™ FDA-Compliant Seals for Food Processing

PUR-GARD™ FDA Compliant Seals

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Garlock PUR-GARD™ FDA Compliant Seals for Food Processing

[floatbox title="PUR-GARD Bearing Isolator Seals" style="width: 39%; float: right; margin: 15px;"]

PUR-GARD FDA-Compliant Seals

Garlock's PUR-GARD FDA compliant seals, available from Web Seal, are the newest bearing isolator seal in Garlock's FDA-compliant Klozure® series.

The unique Cam-Lock O-ring groove design includes a 316 stainless steel stator and rotor and FKM O-rings, with a unitizing ring that eliminates metal-to-metal contact between the stator and the rotor.

This non-contact assemblage reduces both energy use and shaft drag.[/floatbox]

PUR-GARD™ FDA-compliant seals use a patented labyrinth design that meets IP66 (ingress protection) standards and provide superior sealing solutions for rotating equipment in food and beverage processing applications.

Designed with materials that are FDA-compliant, metal detectable and x-ray inspectable, PUR-GARD bearing isolator seals are a new type of seal that improve overall process purity and safety, even in the most challenging environments.

These bearing isolator seals are typically used in pumps, motors, gearboxes and other rotating equipment exposed to heavy wash down and /or zone 1 and 2 applications. They can withstand temperature ranges of -22°F to 400°F (-30°C to 204°C), surface speeds to 12,000 FPM max (60.9 m/s), axial motion to +/-0.015" (0.38mm), and ambient pressure.

Downtime and maintenance concerns are often caused by the effects of daily wash down processes wearing away bearings and equipment. High-pressure sprays and dust particulates are also problematic. The improved sealing technology of PUR-GARD™ isolator bearing extends the life of processing equipment, saving substantial time and costs while providing the highest safety and product integrity.

Installation is easier also, with an assembled construction that will not come apart during installation, can be simply installed hand without the need for an arbor press tool.

Web Seal can provide PUR-GARD bearing isolator seals in various configurations, including flanged, split option, vertical, step shaft, split pillow block, small cross-section (all IP66), flangeless and flangeless narrow width (both IP55).

More information about Garlock's PUR-GARD™ FDA-Compliant Seals is available from Web Seal or on the Garlock website. You can also download a PUR-GARD™ bearing isolator PDF brochure.

server stand

Protect Your Electronics with Custom Enclosure Gaskets

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enclosure gaskets for electronics cage

To protect your sensitive electrical and electronic equipment, a high-performing gasket – designed to NEMA / IP standards and customized for your enclosure – is critical. With UL50/508 design and materials selected for your specific environmental conditions, you ensure a reliable, long-lasting, leak-tight seal with custom enclosure gaskets from Web Seal.

Servers, traffic control equipment, water treatment controls, and outdoor lighting are among the many areas where conditions can endanger components, create safety hazards, or reduce efficiency.

Enclosures, with doors, ports, and accessories, involve irregular mating surfaces that require careful selection of a seal technology to keep your products secure. Such enclosures may involve:

  • Semiconductors
  • Digital equipment
  • Manual, magnetic, and solid-state starters and controllers
  • Thermal, magnetic, and solid-state overload relays
  • Pushbutton stations, selector switches, and pilot lights
  • Control circuit switches and relays
  • Float, flow, pressure, and vacuum-operated switches
  • Resistors and rheostats, including those for heating and lighting, and motor generator fields
  • Proximity switches
  • Time-delay relays and switches
  • Control devices for industrial heating and lighting
  • Programmable controllers

Enclosure gaskets that safeguard your products from outside environmental elements can be designed for ingress protection against human interference, moisture absorption, gases, vapors, dirt, dust, and other particulates; to resist mildew, UV and ozone intrusion; and to shield against electromagnetic and radio frequency interference (EMI/RFI). Enclosure gaskets can also be designed to block out noise or other interference created by internal components.

A wide selection of materials is available from Web Seal including solid elastomers; thermoplastic elastomers; flexible cellular sponges and foams; O-rings, shaft seals, and special forms; composite gasketing; and coated fabrics.

Web Seal’s custom enclosure gaskets meet the following industry standards:

  • UL 157 – Standard for Safety of Gaskets and Seals
  • UL50 /UL50E – Enclosures for Electrical Equipment Standards
  • UL508A – Standard for Industrial Control Equipment/Panels
  • UL94 – Flammability Standards
  • NEMA – rating system of the National Electrical Manufacturers Association regarding types of environments in which electrical enclosures can use used and the ability of fixed enclosures to withstand certain environmental conditions
  • IEC – a rating that defines levels of protections against foreign objects entering electrical enclosures

From simple to complex geometry, and from miniature to extra-large sizes, Web Seal can provide the optimal custom enclosure gaskets for your specifications as well as rapid prototypes and material samples.

Gasket fabricated from Garlock Multi-Swell Style 3760

Sealing Low-Compressive Loads with Multi-Swell™ Style 3760

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The New Multi-Swell™ Style 3760 Gasketing Material

When you can’t get an effective seal because the compressive load on a gasket is too low, or because the flanges aren’t rigid enough to compress standard gasketing material in the areas between bolts, Web Seal recommends the new Multi-Swell Style 3760 gasketing material from Garlock.

Multi-Swell™ is a combination of aramid fibers with a unique rubber binder, producing a highly compressible material.  Aramid fibers are composed of lightweight, high-strength reinforcement polymers that provide great flexibility as well as resistance.  The Multi-Swell™ material, interacting with water or oil, creates a seal by causing the gasketing material to swell, thereby creating load.

Ideal for compressors, generators, pumps, fuel pumps, gear boxes, cast water flanges, transformers, access, and other covers, Multi-Swell™ minimizes waste and reduces maintenance.  It can help cut down on inventory, too, by replacing gaskets that swell in oil only.

Benefits of Multi-Swell Gasketing Material

There are a number of advantages in fabricating gaskets using Multi-Swell™ Style 3760 over standard elastomeric or cloth-inserted gaskets:

  • More compressible and seals with low loads
  • Handles much higher flange loads
  • Operates at much higher internal pressures
  • Does not weep, improving plant safety

Use in environments between -100˚F and 400˚F (continuous operation), with maximum pressure of 500 psi.

For NSF 61 requirements (drinking water), specify Multi-Swell™ 3760-U.

Web Seal can provide prototypes and custom fabricated parts from Multi-Swell™ Style 3760 for your specific applications.

A variety of ProTech bearing isolator sealsr Seals

ProTech™ Bearing Isolator Seals

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Parker’s ProTech™ bearing isolator seals feature a unique labyrinth design that provides unmatched two-way sealing for both zero lubricant leakage and total exclusion of contaminants.

Its advanced proprietary PTFE compounds make ProTech well-suited for caustic, high-speed, and high-temperature environments. These highly chemical-resistant seals perform well in high-speed and high-temperature environments.  For example, ProTech is well suited for caustic environments such as citric acids in juice processing and strong sulfides in pulp and paper processing.

This bearing isolator is a unitized, two-piece non-contact design that offers extended bearing life.    It is this characteristic labyrinth technology that provides contaminant exclusion instead of an internal O-ring protection. 

ProTech™ bearing isolator seals offer an answer for applications where improving the mean time between failure (MTBF) is critical. The ProTech family relies on true non-contact labyrinth seal technology to provide 100% exclusion of contaminants and 100% retention of bearing lubrication for the life of the bearing. 

The superior quality and high performance of ProTec™ seals make it the ultimate in bearing protection.  Parker, the innovation leader in bearing isolator technology, has designed this unique sealing component to deliver maximum protection for a multitude of applications.

Web Seal can provide ProTech seals in many standard and custom designs, with support to ensure that the proper isolator for your equipment and application is recommended. Expedited delivery is available.

Characteristics of ProTec Bearing Isolator Seals

  • Unmatched corrosion resistance  
  • Allows for standardizing a single material in your plant
  • Extends bearing life as the unique technology eliminates wear associated with internal O-rings, PTFE elements, or other locking rings
  • Zero lubricant leakage
  • Total exclusion of contaminants, including dirt exclusion and oil retention
  • Multiple design availability, with more than a dozen standard and several custom configurations, allows for ease of retrofitting most equipment
  • The Millennium® metallic-style profile is available in bronze, 302 SS, 304 SS, 316 SS, and carbon steel
  • The ProTech 360 is designed for flooded oil and oil mist applications
  • Independently tested to IEEE IP55, IP56, and IP66
  • ProTech WD design for the food processing area meets IP69k
  • Exceeds IEEE-841 for electric motors
  • ProTech 360 design (flooded), for tough gearbox applications including vertical down
  • Typical size range is for shaft diameters from 0.492″ (12.5 mm) to 38″ (965 mm)
Press-in-Place Seals

Press-in-Place Seals

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Press-in-Place Seals (PiP) | Drop-in-Place Seals

Press-in-Place (PiP) or "drop-in-place" seals are static seals that overcome installation issues and sealing performance problems common with many typical face seal products, such as an O-ring.

Benefits of Press-in-Place Seals

  • Fool-proof installation
  • High seal retention
  • Cost savings on tooling
  • Less micro-leakage
  • Easy serviceability and quick removal

A unique seal design, PiP incorporates precision-cut ribs or nibs on the outside or inside diameter of an extruded or molded seal with a rectangular cross-section, which keeps the seal firmly in the seal groove regardless of its functional position and without adhesives. Even if the seal is installed upside down, the press-in-place seal will remain firmly in the groove and maintain high sealing performance.

PiP-SealsInterference created between the groove wall and the nibs on the seal allows for high sealing pressures since the seal retains its cross-section, offering a large contact surface area and improving the seal with non-ideal mating surfaces.

Since the extruded seals do not use molds, there is a reduction in upfront tooling costs with the added benefit of eliminating voids, flash, and flow or parting lines.

For narrow, straight-walled molded or machined grooves, a cost-effective drop-in-place solution is Parker’s Diamond Seal™. Especially useful as manifold or cover seals, and for use with low to moderate system pressures, this cost-efficient diamond-shaped seal with nibs has a smaller footprint and narrower cross-section, which allows more room for other components. The diamond seal design can also be modified to fit round or other complex groove shapes, depending on the application.

For wider straight-walled or dovetail grooves, Parker’s H-Seal™ resists twisting and provides stability. The small contact points of the nibs on the H-shaped design are particularly advantageous with less-than-perfect mating surfaces as they generate high sealing pressures for reliable performance. The H-seal is particularly effective with perimeter, manifold or cover seals, and performs well in face seals with low to high system pressures. Both the geometry of the H-design and the material compound can be adjusted to meet specific application seal loads.

Click Image to Open Full Size in New Tab
Click to open full size in new tabPress-in-Place seal when pressed into groove.
Gif courtesy of Parker TechSeal.
Space Shuttle

Importance of O-Rings

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In Grateful Memory of the Challenger Astronauts

(January 18, 2016) In the words of President Reagan "The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honored us by the manner in which they lived their lives. We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and "slipped the surly bonds of earth" to "touch the face of God."

As we reflect on the tragic deaths of the crew of the Challenger space shuttle it is also important to remember that until this morning 30 years ago most Americans, other than some engineers and plumbers, even knew or thought about O-Rings.

Since the tragedy of January 28, 1986, the words O-Ring and Challenger will be forever linked.

And while our customers many think of the parts they specify and purchase as “just an O-Ring”, we know differently. Because we know how important it is to select the correct material, properly design the gland and understand the tolerances, we have an obligation to our customers to make sure they are taking all of these factors into consideration.

I say the above not to trivialize the deaths of the Challenger crew but as a reminder that what we do every day has a meaningful impact on the lives and safety of our customers and theirs.

John F. Hurley
President, CEO
Web Seal Inc.

Sealing Seminar

Sealing Design Technology Seminar

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Create a Customized Sealing Technology Seminar

Sealing SeminarWeb Seal can enhance your knowledge of sealing design technology to help you improve your product designs with seminars tailored to…

  • your industry
  • your company
  • your specific project

We offer a selection of topics and times, and can work with you to create either a stand-alone seminar or an addition to another event.

The customized seminars are designed to be hands-on, so you can bring your project specs, problems, questions, or material samples for review and suggested solutions. Seal design considerations will be explored for your specific industry or organization, as well as confidential options for current or in-the-pipeline projects.

Our most popular seminar sessions are 2-hour "Lunch & Learn" style, but we also offer half-day and full-day options.

You can choose from among a variety of topics, including:

  • Precision-engineered sealing design technology overviews
  • Common sealing problems and resolutions
  • Safety and environmental concerns
  • Unique tolerance considerations of gasket materials
  • Engineered seals and molding processes
  • Die-cut enclosure seals
  • Operating conditions and groove design
  • Rubber compounding process

    • Sealing Seminar

  • EMI/RFI considerations
  • Trouble-shooting issues
  • Case studies

Seminars are complimentary for existing Web Seal customers. For others, we can quote you a package based on your needs.

You can save time, money and aggravation with more in-depth knowledge of sealing design technology. Contact the pros at Web Seal to provide you with the educational edge to boost your productivity.