Apparatus for testing pipes by a pipe tester

A sealing arrangement around an end of a pipe received in a testhead of a hydraulic pipe testing apparatus, which sealing arrangement consists of an elastic sealing ring and an adjacent, rigid support ring of varying diameters. Both rings are mounted in radial recesses in the testhead and encircle the pipe upon its entry into the testhead. The recess for the elastic sealing ring consists of a flat ring located between the sealing ring and the rigid support ring. For a sealing condition, the support ring is contracted to abut the pipe and the sealing ring is caused to be deformed whereby it flows radially outwardly from its recess against the pipe and axially along the pipe towards and away from the pipe's end. In the axial direction away from the end of the pipe, the sealing ring flows around the flat ring to abut the rigid support ring.