Abstract: A seal between an apertured body and a rod extending through the aperture comprises a box in the body around the aperture in which is disposed a packing assembly including one or more packing rings each sandwiched between a pair of adapter rings, the packing assembly being compressed in the box by a compression ring disposed about the rod and secured to the body. The packing rings are made of fabric reinforced elastomers, homogenous elastomers or similar conventional seal materials. The adapter rings are made of hard metal or plastics material. The packing rings have one or more portions of reduced axial thickness which receive mating projections of the adapter rings. Prior to compression, there is space between the adapter rings and packing rings adjacent the thicker portions of the packing rings, into which space the packing ring material can flow when compressed.