🔍 Key Concepts

• Identify the main components shown: a rotating shaft, stationary housing, and a seal arrangement with springs and mating seal faces. • Differences between a traditional soft packing (stuffing box) and a face-type seal that uses springs to maintain contact pressure. • How a seal that uses a spring-loaded axial face works compared with O-rings, quad-rings, or simple lip seals.

💭 Think About

• Look closely at the parts labeled around the shaft: do you see multiple rings of packing compressed radially, or do you see a pair of flat faces being held together by a spring? • Ask yourself which option in the list describes a seal that relies on spring pressure to keep two smooth faces in contact on the shaft centerline, rather than stuffing material around the shaft. • Consider where the actual sealing surface is: is it along the shaft length like packing, or on a flat circular face at right angles to the shaft? Which term matches that design?

✅ Before You Answer

• Verify whether the illustration shows a spring or springs acting axially (along the shaft) to push two seal faces together. • Check if there is a gland follower and multiple packing rings (typical of soft packing) or instead a compact cartridge with hard faces and a spring set. • Confirm that a quad seal would normally look like a specialized O-ring cross-section, not a full assembly with bearings and multiple rigid parts.