Earlier this month, Trelleborg Sealing Solutions set a new Guinness World Record title for the Largest O-ring. Manufactured at Trelleborg’s facility in Tewkesbury, England, using its unique FlexiMold process, the successful record attempt was the focus for a community-based project with Tewkesbury School.

The culmination of the project was on Friday, 12 July, when the elastomer O-Ring measuring 364 m in circumference was ceremoniously laid around the Medieval Tewkesbury Abbey in the presence of the Borough Mayor of Tewkesbury, an adjudicator from Guinness World Records, employees from the Trelleborg facility, the pupils that had been involved in the project, their teachers and parents, and other representatives from the local community.

Tony Collingwood, General Manager of the Trelleborg Sealing Solutions manufacturing facility in Tewkesbury, says: “We are delighted to have been involved in this challenging project. We’re an important employer in the area and we like to support our local community. This undertaking has not only a lot of fun, but a learning experience for the pupils at Tewkesbury School and our team here too! The students were very talented and contributed some great ideas. We hope to see them emerging as engineers of the future.”

For the project to set a world record for the largest O-Ring ever produced, Trelleborg Sealing Solutions in Tewkesbury teamed up with 20 GCSE engineering pupils from Tewkesbury School. Over a summer school term, the students were coached in various manufacturing disciplines and were involved in the design, costing and production planning of the O-Ring. One of the big issues was how to get the O-Ring over the Abbey, with drones and catapults being a couple of suggested solutions.

The O-ring was manufactured using FlexiMold proprietary technology, which allows the production of high quality giant seamless O-rings. Large O-rings are used across all process industries, including chemical and hydrocarbon, pharmaceutical, food and beverage, and in the electronics industry, in particular the production of flat panel displays applications.

Produced in the Trelleborg facility in Tewkesbury, the O-ring was rolled on a drum as a cord to transport it to the Abbey. It was then laid around the external circumference of the ancient building; the two ends being joined and sealed in a mobile vulcanizing unit to complete the O-Ring. The integrity of the O-ring was independently verified by Artis, an elastomer consultancy based in the UK. Once this was done, the circumference of the O-ring was measured by an industrial wire measuring machine adapted by The Walker Pritchard Partnership, a Chartered Surveyor local to the facility. The record was then confirmed by the adjudicator from the Guinness Book of Records.

Trelleborg Sealing Solutions
www.tss.trelleborg.com