Abstract: An assembly is provided for rotatably supporting a rotor on a stator so that vacuum chambers in the rotor and stator remain in communication while the chambers are sealed from ambient air, which enables the use of a ball bearing or the like to support most of the weight of the rotor. The apparatus includes a seal device mounted on the rotor to rotate therewith, but shiftable in position on the rotor while being sealed to the rotor as by an O-ring. The seal device has a flat face that is biased towards a flat face on the stator, and pressurized air is pumped between the faces to prevent contact between them while spacing them a small distance apart to avoid the inflow of large amounts of air between the faces and into the vacuum chambers.