Abstract: A laminated hollow rubber damper with increased buckling strength and lengthened period of vibration. The buckling strength of a hollow laminated rubber damper is increased by making at least the inside or the outside wall of the damper of non-uniform section, such as obtained with an arcuately concave wall. By taking advantage of the improved buckling strength of hollow laminated rubber dampers, both the deformability in a horizontal direction and the period of the damper are increased. The hollow laminated rubber damper may be used as a spring element in an active or passive type vibration control device, or as a supporting device suitable for the protection of structures having long natural periods, such as multi-storied buildings.

Abstract: A plurality of laminated rubber or rubber-like elastoplastic ring-configured pads vertically stacked and secured together to provide seismic damping for a building structure. The laminated pads include ring-like steel plates or solid disk-like steel plates to form one laminated stage of a multi-stage seismic damping device. A plurality of damping devices are used to support a vibratable mass on a building structure. The combination of stacked ring-configured elastoplastic pads and steel plates provides a damping device having a high lateral deformation capacity with a long period and high resistance to buckling. The damping device is suitable for protecting building structures having long natural periods, such as multi-storied buildings.