Stainless Steel

We all have some terms that we throw around everyday, but really have no idea what they mean. Some of the few that I can admit to not fully comprehending until recently are “fiber optics,” “pasteurization” and, although I used it less frequently, “string theory.” One term that I hear people say a lot but never really understood was “gasket.”

This term usually conjured up images of turn of the century plants with a variety of pipes and steam emitting nozzles, but I never knew what exactly they were. It turns out that gaskets are simply the mechanical seals that are used to fill the space between two surfaces. Now that I know what they are, I feel pretty foolish, especially since I see and use gaskets everyday.