Apple Rubber does the leg work and a solution takes wing

We investigated the malfunctioning feeder and discovered that an O-ring configured around a small rod would often stick and not allow enough water through. In addition, the high pressure of the system had the potential to completely blow the seal off the rod, allowing too much water through.

Microminiature applications such as this are an Apple Rubber specialty so it wasn't long before we had the solution. Actually, we offered two solutions:

• The first was a microminiature seal made of fluorocarbon which would withstand environmental factors and act as a seal and force limiter to eliminate the potential sticking and blow-off.
• But we knew seals generally are not effective force limiters. So we also provided a rubber-bonded-to-metal seal in which the metal becomes the force limiter and the seal only has to seal. The metal bond adds the necessary stability to the seal, eliminating potential swelling and disfiguring.

The second solution was chosen, and it provided additional benefits such as combining two parts into one, eliminating an assembly process and reducing assembly costs.