The Seal Man lives in Stockbridge, which he has dubbed the seal capital of America.

The Seal Man is a broker, buying from and selling to markets worldwide. He's got a home office with a computer and wall clocks showing the time in Los Angeles, London, Denver, Hamburg, Melbourne and Houston, among other places. Each clock is trimmed in yellow, with "The Seal Man" spelled out across the face plate just between 9 and 3.

Before going further let the Seal Man explain: "We are talking about the industrial seal and gasket business. Not the furry little animals. Same word, different thing."

It's a crucial distinction. The Seal Man sells seals for hydraulically operated hospital beds. He sells them to Coca-Cola for bottle-filling machines and to Smuckers for jelly-filling machines. He sells seals that fit into dental drills, pop-up barbershop chairs and pulsating showers.

"I coined a phrase: The earth will not move without seals," said the Seal Man. "Think about it."

The Seal Man has a name, Jerry Whitlock. He was reared in Jonesboro and has lived his entire 45 years in a 10-mile radius in Clayton and Henry counties.

He graduated from Jonesboro High School in 1971, but couldn't afford college, so he went straight to work. He started working in seals in 1973. By the early 1990s he was heading up Seal Jet USA, a company with 67 branches worldwide and 300 employees.

"I have a master's in mechanical engineering, business, marketing and chemistry," Whitlock said. "They come from the school of hard knocks."

As Seal Jet's CEO, he would leave home before sunrise and return late. He crisscrossed the globe, interviewing and hiring employees. He flew to Nassau regularly to meet his Austrian business partner on a Caribbean yacht. "Listen," Whitlock said. "I'm one of the movers and shakers in the seal world. I have a burning passion for seals. But I had the candle lit at both ends and also in the middle."

In the fall of 1992, Whitlock was hospitalized with heart problems. After being discharged, he scaled down his business, distilling seals and gaskets to their essence.

He has his home office and a modest 1,200-square-foot warehouse in Stockbridge, and two full-time employees - his wife, Rita, and Mike Conner, his long-time machine operator.

He calls the company EPM Inc., and he rarely travels any place except to his second home on Lake Oconee. Sometimes he makes local deliveries, and one time awhile back he heard a customer say, "Here comes the seal man."

A light bulb turned on. "The Seal Man™" now adorns his stationery, bumper stickers and packaging.

"You must become known with what the customers call you," he said. "That's Marketing 101."

In three years Whitlock has built a business. He sells seals from less than a millimeter in diameter up to 84 inches. He sells seals that go into sewing machines, golf carts and hydraulic presses that mold toilet seats.

In his warehouse, he produces seals made of polyurethane, rubber, hard plastic and metal. When Whitlock talks about making specialized pieces - seals of dense rubber rings, flimsy lips and deep grooves - it's like Robert Frost describing a New England snowfall.

"I know the dynamics of seals," he said. "I know the way they fit and function.