On Thu, 08 Mar 2012 14:51:00 +0000, Martin Brown
wrote:

It wasn't exactly magic engineering, but up until the space race and the
need for really good mechanical seals in vacuum the packed gland was how
water pumps on cars were done and they has a serious tendency to leak
and dribble their vital fluids onto the floor. The space race put an end
to all that and modern cars use mechanical seals that were a spinoff of
the space race and/or cold war (useful in submarines too).

Quite possibly parallel development, but a serious contender for that
- the Teflon seal - was first used in the uranium seperation plants of
the 40s. I'd imagine it was classified in that use and whether it was
de-classified in time for the space race, I don't know.