Rotary cartridge seals with retainer

A rotary cartridge seal comprising:

• a cold flowable plastic ring having body means for sealably engaging a housing bore and lip means for sealably engaging a shaft rotating within said housing bore;
• separable metal retainer means for fixing said plastic ring within said housing bore and around said shaft, said separable metal retainer means having a surface of revolution with a rear portion having a radius suitable for press fitting into said housing bore and a front portion of lesser radius ending in a ring;
• and
• means defining an internal groove in said body means for engaging the ring therein in order to latch the plastic ring and metal retainer means together with residual stress in both axial and radial directions within the plastic ring due to the groove and ring dimensions and shape,
• said internal groove having a diameter greater than the ring and wherein a width of said internal groove is smaller than a width of the ring in order to maintain axial stress in the plastic ring.