World's Biggest O-Ring
The record attempt
The culmination of the project was on Friday, 12 July 2019, when the elastomer O-Ring measuring 364 metres in circumference was ceremoniously laid around the medieval Tewkesbury Abbey in the presence of the Borough Mayor of Tewkesbury, adjudicators, 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 we re very talented and contributed some great ideas. We hope to see them emerging as engineers of the future.”
Involving the local community
For the project to set a world re cord for the largest O-Ring ever produced, Trelleborg Sealing Solutions in Tewkesbury, England, 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. Produced in the Trelleborg facility in Tewkesbury using FlexiMold™ proprietary technology, the O-Ring was rolled on a drum as a cord to transport it to the Abbey. It was then laid around the e xternal circumference of the ancient building; the two ends being joined and sealed ina mobile vulcanizing unit to comple te the O-Ring.