B USINESS & FINANCIAL

the a n n o u n c e m e n t of a Special Recognit ion Award for the de- ve lopers of a p a t e n t e d bear ing t ha t cuts fuel c o n s u m p t i o n in vehicles.

Of the 149 US p a t e n t s i ssued to Ingersol l -Rand in 1996, s ix were to Dresser-Rand and th ree to I n g e r s o l l - D r e s s e r P u m p s . Both Dresser-Rand and Inger- so l l -Dresse r P u m p s a re j o i n t ven tures of Ingersol l -Rand and Dresser Indust r ies . The figure of 149 US p a t e n t s compares wi th 111 i ssued in 1995, 101 issued in 1994 and 122 i ssued in 1993.

Contact: Ingersoll-Rand Limited, PO Box 2, Choriey New Road, Horwich, Bolton, Lancs BL6 6JN, UK. Tel: +44 1204 690690; Fax: +44 1204 690516.

DuPont raises cost o f Tef lon

DuPont F luoropo lymers has an- nounced pr ice increases ranging f rom 10 to 15% for c e r t a i n grades of Teflon effective from 1st July 1997.

The increases reflect cur ren t m a r k e t d e m a n d and are repor t - edly des igned to ensure t h a t DuPont is ab le to cont inue to invest in bo th capac i ty expan- sion and env i ronmenta l prefor- mance.

Contact: DuPont (UK) Limited, Wedgwood Way, Stevenage, Herts SG1 4QN, UK. Tel: +44 1438 734833; Fax: + 44 1438 734550.

Ii Fugitive e m i s s i o n s conference for Dusse ldor f

The European Seal ing Associa- t i on is s p o n s o r i n g t h e 2nd European Conference on Con- t ro l l ing Fugit ive Emiss ions from Valves, Pumps and Flanges in Sep t ember nex t year.

Reinforcing the success of the 1st Conference (he ld in Antwerp dur ing October '95), the 2nd Conference a ims offer de lega tes prac t ica l , cost-effec- t ive so lu t ions to mee t ing the r equ i remen t s of emiss ion legis- la t ion across the EU. It will be pa r t i cu la r ly va luab le for all per-

sons r e spons ib l e for environ- men ta l compl iance - bo th in i n d u s t r y a n d t h e r e g u l a t o r y author i t ies .

Key a ims of the 2nd Confer- ence...

• to he lp indus t ry in general con t r ibu te towards the pro- tec t ion of the env i ronment

• to min imise bar r ie r s to in- d u s t r y in c o m p l y i n g w i th e n v i r o n m e n t a l p r o t e c t i o n measu res

• to c rea te a forum for the exchange of in format ion

$ to c o n t r i b u t e t o w a r d s the h a r m o n i s a t i o n of emis s ion legis la t ion across the EU

The Call for Papers will be i ssued dur ing A u t u m n '97 and the 2nd Conference will be he ld in Dusse ldor f on Sep t ember 8 and 9, 1998. The event will be organised by the VDI (Verein Deu tscher Ingenieure, the Asso- c ia t ion of German Engineers) on beha l f of the ESA.

Contact: Dr Brian Ellis, European Sealing Association, Bowerham House, The Grove, Lancaster LA1 3AL, UK. Tel: +44 1524 844 222; Fax: +44 1524 844 222.

AES incorporates NI distributor

AES Engineer ing comple ted the acquis i t ion of i ts Nor thern Ire- l and d is t r ibu tor , Seal teck MCI~ on Ju ly 1st 1997. F inanc ia l de- ta i l s of the ag reemen t have not been disclosed.

AES has worked closely with Seal tec MCK Ltd and i ts foun- der, J im McKeever, for many years. They ac ted as d i s t r i bu to r for the Ir ish m a r k e t and AES a l r eady he ld a equi ty s take in the business. Engineer ing seal- ing systems deve loped by Seal- tec MCK will now be m a r k e t e d by AES Engineer ing on a world- wide basis.

Mr McKeever, as managing d i rec to r of Seal tec MCK, will now assume re spons ib l i ty for the deve lopment of engineered sealing systems across the world.

Contact: AES Engineering Ltd, Mangham Road, Barbot Hall In- dustrial Estate, Rotherham, South Yorkshire $61 4RJ, UK. Tel: +44 1709 369966; Fax: +44 1709 720788.

[ ] Metallic gaskets buy spiral-wound

Garlock Metal l ic Gaske ts has recently purchased the assets of Signum Manufacturing Company from Virginia Sealing Products. Signum produces p remium spir- al-wound gaskets used in the nuclear power industry, chemi- cal p lan t s and the product ion of valves. The machinery required to manufac tu r e these seal ing produc ts is being moved from Virginia Sealing Products ' facility in Prince George, Virginia, to the Garlock Metallic Gaskets p lan t in Houston, Texas. Virginia Seal- ing Products is one of the largest d i s t r ibu tors of Gariock products .

G a r l o c k b e l i e v e s t h e ad - v a n c e d t e c h n o l o g y c o m p l e - m e n t s t h e F l e x s e a l s p i r a l - wound gasket bus iness t ha t i t acqui red las t year. In addi t ion , th is acquis i t ion enables i t to redep loy manufac tu r ing equip- men t for sp i ra l -wound gaskets from the Hous ton faci l i ty to Gar lock Sea l ing Techno logy ' s p l an t s in Singapore, Aust ra l ia , Mexico and Canada. As Gar lock e x p a n d s i ts p e n e t r a t i o n into g lobal marke t s , i t feels i t is becoming inc reas ing ly impor - t an t to be able to manufac tu re h igh-qual i ty sp i ra l -wound gas- kets in those markets .

Contact: Garlock Sealing Technol- ogies, 1666 Division Street, Pal- myra, New York 14522, USA. Tel: +1 315 597 4811; Fax: +1 315 597 3173.

II Guests go half- price to fluid seal ing conference

Organisers of the Flu id Seal ing Conference in Maas t r ich t nex t m o n t h a re encou rag ing even more i ndus t r i a l i s t s to a t t e n d and par t i c ipa te . There are, in p a r t i c u l a r , m a n y r e p r e s e n t a - t ives from user compan ies for whom the o p p o r t u n i t y to hea r the p resen ta t ions , see the ex- h ib i t ion and share in the dialo- gue between delegates , might be an invaluable exper ience .

The F lu id Sea l ing Confer-

WORLD PUMPS AUGUST 1997