Self-draining shaft seal with wedge-shaped trough

A self-draining seal for a rotating shaft, the seal comprising a generally cylindrical body having an axis, a radially outer periphery, a radially inner periphery, an axially inner front end wall and an axially outer rear end wall, means for seating the seal in an aperture of a housing, a plurality of axially spaced sealing rings on the radially inner periphery, each of the sealing rings being continuous and unbroken, the sealing rings contacting the rotating shaft and defining annular collection channels therebetween, one collection channel being adjacent the axially inner front end wall and another collection channel being adjacent the axially outer rear end wall, means forming a trough in the body, the trough extending axially within the body below the plurality of sealing rings, below the collection channels and radially spaced between each collection channel and the radially outer periphery of the seal, the trough including means forming a discharge orifice in the axially inner front end wall, means forming a drain aperture at a bottom of each channel, the trough including a radially outer bottom wall and a radially inner top wall, each drain aperture extending through the radially inner top wall, the radially outer bottom wall diverging radially outwardly and axially inwardly toward the discharge orifice such that the transverse cross section of the trough increases radially outwardly and axially inwardly continuously toward the discharge orifice, the trough being of generally wedge shaped longitudinal cross section.