Remotely operable vacuum seals

The development of large, non-round, bakeable, high-vacuum, remotely-operable seals breaks down into three separate tasks. The first was to provide a system capable of remotely sealing and breaking a vacuum joint. The second was to choose between mechanical and welded joints. The third, mechanical joints having been chosen, is to resolve the problems associated with extending the state-of-the-art from round seals to large non-round seals. The factors affecting the decisions made are presented and the follow-on plan is discussed