US Patent 7845649 Methods and apparatus to facilitate sealing high pressure joints

A method and apparatus facilitates coupling a pressure vessel first mating surface to a second mating surface. The method comprises inserting a seal assembly into a groove defined in the first mating surfaces such that a portion of the seal assembly extends outwardly from the first mating surface, positioning the second mating surface in close proximity to the first mating surface such that the portion of the seal assembly extending outwardly from the first mating surface is received within a groove defined in the second mating surface, and such that the seal assembly facilitates reducing fluid leakage between the first and second mating surfaces.