Metal gasket with cold formed stopper

1. A multilayer metal gasket installable between opposing members having at least one fluid passage communicating therebetween which is to be sealed against leakage, said gasket comprising:

outer active layers fabricated of elastic metal plate material of predetermined material thickness and having at least one set of aligned apertures therein for surrounding the fluid passage, said active layers having at least one set of sealing bead formations surrounding said aligned apertures and including laterally opposed outer sealing surfaces of the outer active layers engageable with opposing surfaces of the members about the fluid passage, said sealing beads being elastically deformable under a predetermined compressive load exerted by the members for supporting said sealing surfaces of said active layers into sealing engagement with the members about its passage, said sealing beads having a predetermined maximum compressive load capacity beyond which said beads are subject to overcompression and permanent plastic deformation;

an intermediate metallic layer having a base portion of predetermined thickness disposed between said active layers in contacting relation therewith and defining a precompressed spacing between said sealing surfaces of said active layers; and

said intermediate layer including a stopper portion disposed radially inwardly of said apertures in said active layers defining an opening for alignment with the passage of the members and laterally opposed sealing surfaces surrounding said opening and unobstructed by said active layers, said stopper portion being cold formed to a thickness greater than the combined material thicknesses of said active and said base portion of said intermediate layer but less than said pre-compressed spacing of said sealing surfaces of said active layers and having an imparted cold-formed compressive strength exceeding said maximum compressive load capacity of said sealing beads of said active layers rendering said stopper portion incompressible during installation and operation of said gasket and thereby enabling said compressive elastic deformation of said sealing beads to achieve the desired sealing of the passage while precluding overcompression and possible damage of said beads.

2. The gasket of claim 1 wherein said stopper portion comprises a cold-formed folded over section of said intermediate layer.

3. The gasket of claim 2 wherein said thickness of said folded over stopper portion is less than twice said material thickness of said base portion of said intermediate layer.

4. The gasket of claim 3 wherein said sealing surfaces of said stopper portion protrude equally above and below opposing surfaces of said base portion of said intermediate layer.

5. The gasket of claim 4 wherein said material thickness of said intermediate layer is greater than said material thickness of each of said active layers.

6. The gasket of claim 1 wherein said material thickness of said intermediate layer is greater than said material thickness of each of said active layers.

7. The gasket of claim 1 wherein said stopper portion serves as a primary seal about the passage when installed between the members insulating said sealing beads and their associated sealing surfaces of said active layers from direct exposure to hot gases flowing through the passage.

8. The gasket of claim 7 wherein the gasket comprises an exhaust manifold gasket of an internal combustion engine.

9. The gasket of claim 1 wherein said sealing beads project outwardly of one another away from said base portion of said intermediate layer.

10. The gasket of claim 9 including transition regions of said active layers disposed radially inwardly of said sealing beads having inner surfaces thereof contacting said base portion of said intermediate layer and outer surfaces spaced laterally inwardly of said sealing surfaces of said stopper portion.

11. The gasket of claim 10 wherein said material thickness of said intermediate layer is greater than said material thickness of each of said active layers.

12. A multilayer metal gasket installable between opposing members having at least one fluid passage communicating therebetween which is to be sealed against leakage, said gasket comprising:

outer active layers fabricated of elastic metal plate material of predetermined material thickness and having at least one set of aligned apertures therein for surrounding the fluid passage, said active layers having at least one set of sealing bead formations surrounding said aligned apertures and including laterally opposed outer sealing surfaces of said outer active layers engageable with opposing surfaces of the members about the fluid passage, said sealing beads being elastically deformable under a predetermined compressive load exerted by the members for supporting said sealing surfaces of said active layers into sealing engagement with the members about its passage, said sealing beads having a predetermined maximum load capacity beyond which said beads are subject to overcompression and permanent plastic deformation;

an intermediate metallic layer having a base portion of predetermined thickness disposed between said active layers in contacting relation therewith and defining a pre-compressed spacing between said sealing surfaces of said active layers; and

said intermediate layer including a folded over stopper portion having a radially inner edge defining an opening for alignment with the passage of the members and a radially outer edge spaced radially inwardly of said apertures of said active layers presenting laterally opposed sealing surfaces surrounding said opening in such manner as to be unobstructed by said active layers for direct sealing engagement with the members about the passage, said folded over stopper portion being cold formed to provide a reduced thickness of said folded over stopper portion less than twice said material thickness of said intermediate layer and less than the pre-compressed spacing of said sealing surfaces of said active layers and an induced compressive strength exceeding said maximum compressive load rating of said sealing beads thereby rendering said folded over stopper portion incompressible during installation and operation of said gasket enabling said compressive elastic deformation of said sealing beads to achieve the desired sealing of the passage while precluding overcompression and possible damage of said beads.

13. The gasket of claim 12 wherein said sealing surfaces of said folded over stopper portion protrude equally above and below opposing surfaces of said base portion of said intermediate layer.

14. The gasket of claim 12 wherein said material thickness of said intermediate layer is greater than said material thickness of each of said active layers.

15. The gasket of claim 12 wherein each of said active layers includes a transition region lying between said sealing beads and said aligned apertures having inner surfaces thereof contacting said base portion of said intermediate layer and outer surfaces spaced laterally inwardly of said sealing surfaces of said folded over stopper portion.

16. The gasket of claim 15 wherein said sealing beads project laterally away from one another outwardly of said base portion.

17. A method of making a multilayer metal gasket installable between opposing members having at least one fluid passage communicating therebetween which is to be sealed against leakage, said gasket comprising:

providing laterally opposed active layers fabricated from elastic metal plate material of predetermined material thickness and having at least one set of aligned apertures formed therein for surrounding the fluid passage of the members;

forming at least one set of elastically compressible sealing beads in the active layers surrounding the apertures and having a predetermined maximum compressive load capacity, below which the bead embossments deform elastically under load to support the sealing surfaces of the active layers in sealing engagement with the members during normal installation and operation of the gasket and above which the beads are subject to overcompression and permanent plastic deformation;

providing an intermediate metallic layer having a base portion of predetermined material thickness;

cold forming the intermediate layer material to provide a stopper portion having an inner edge defining an opening and an outer edge sized radially smaller than the aligned apertures;

arranging the intermediate layer between the active layers with the base portion supporting the sealing surfaces of the active layers at a pre-compressed spacing and with the stopper portion spaced radially inwardly of the aligned apertures to present axially opposed sealing surfaces of the stopper portion unobstructed by the active layers;

and wherein the cold formation of the stopper portion imparts a thickness to the stopper portion that exceeds the combined material thicknesses of the base portion of said intermediate layer and each of the active layers but is less than the pre-compressed spacing of the sealing surfaces of the active layers, and further work hardens the material to induce a compressive strength to the stopper portion that exceeds the maximum compressive load rating of the sealing beads to thereby render the stopper portion incompressible during normal installation and operation of the gasket enabling the sealing beads to undergo elastic deformation to achieve the desire sealing while precluding overcompression and possible plastic deformation of the beads.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the cold formation of the stopper portion includes folding over the intermediate layer material and plastically compressing the folded over region to reduce its thickness to less than twice the material thickness of the base portion of the intermediate layer under a compressive load exceeding that which the gasket would encounter during normal installation and operation to provide a strain-induced hardness and compression load capacity exceeding the compressive load capacity of the sealing beads.