rubber ring in my airlock?

i bought a new airlock the other day, same style as the first one i got, just your general 3-piece airlock. thing about this one is there is a white rubber ring inside.i have never seen this before and i tried doing some homework and cant find similar things anywhere. im a pretty mechanically inclined guy, and logically it doesnt make any sense because i would think it would stop the bobber from lifting. can anyone shed light on this for me? whats it for? has anyone seen this before, or is it just a factory screw-up?

Was it used for shipping? Keeping things in place so they don't break? Post a pic?

Totally a screw up...

Cheers!

I am just guessing here, but was it a rubber ring at the bottom of the inner piece? I could see making a gasket so when you have negative pressure it prevents suck back by forming a seal, but I am probably just talking out of my a...

yes it was around the bottom of the inner piece, and i didnt think about a suckback block, that would make sense. but only thing is it doesnt allow the inner piece to bob up and down freely.

No clue. I am starting to think a suckback gasket would be a cool addon for your common 3 piece (4 in this case). My million dollar idea has been given freely to all of you on HBT. Would probably be able to decide better if we could see it, but I dunno. If it is removable without damaging anything and is obstructing the normal workings of the airlock, just remove it.