Abstract: A double-cylinder shock absorber, which is particularly suitable for use in a MacPherson strut, includes an inner cylinder having a closed lower end and which is filled with oil. A piston rod extends into the inner cylinder through the upper end thereof. A piston is secured to the lower end of the piston rod and divides the cylinder into upper and lower oil chambers. The piston is provided with a fluid metering device providing a damping force mechanism. A rod guide head closes the upper end of the inner cylinder and is provided with an opening which is slightly spaced from the piston rod to form an annular clearance therebetween. An outer cylinder is coaxially disposed around the inner cylinder and forms therewith an annular reservoir chamber having closed upper and lower ends. The lower portion of the reservoir chamber is filled with oil and the upper portion is filled with gas.

Abstract: A hydraulic elevator buffer contains a piston (plunger) which is pushed down into a volume of hydraulic fluid. The buffer has no seals separating its interior from the atmosphere. As the piston is pushed down, the displaced fluid is forced through ports in the cylinder which gives rise to a restricting force. The displaced fluid escapes into a volume in which an air/fluid mixture is produced. A nozzle area surrounds the piston at the top of the container, and the mixture is forced through the nozzle, separating the fluid and air. The fluid condenses down, lubricating the piston. The air is forced out through the space between the fluid container and the piston, removing any contaminants around the piston. The buffer contains a fluid-fill port which is at a horizontal angle at which a minimum and maximum fluid level in the buffer can be determined by looking in the port.

Abstract: An apparatus for a suspension system in a vehicle provides both spring and damping characteristics in a single unit. Within a closed container that has a variable volume (similar to commonly available shock absorbers), a gas-liquid interfacial system acts under input deflection from the axle of a vehicle to provide both spring and damping characteristics. To increase the damping response time of the system, the interfacial area in contact between the gas and the liquid is increased over the ordinary cross-sectional area of the container. The gas is soluble in the liquid and preferably increases in solubility with an increase in temperature so that, as the temperature increases and the gas expands, the static condition of the container is substantially maintained by the increase in absorption of the gas into the liquid. Preferably, pentane thickened with 3% aluminum octoate and 4% oleic acid is the liquid. It is stored in an open-cell urethane foam having an average pore cell size of approximately 0.

Abstract: A fluid seal for a liquid and gas-filled damper mechanism. The seal includes a casing and a primary lip body subdivided into two portions, one portion being adapted to provide a fluid seal with an associated reciprocable rod, and the other to provide a one-way relief valve action to bleed fluid from one side of the lip body to the other when higher pressure is on the rod side; and to increase the sealing force when the higher pressure is on the other side of the lip body opposite the rod.

Abstract: The shock absorber is characterized by the fact that it comprises a rod (1) sliding in a cylinder (2) through a piston (3) to determine at least two variable-volume chambers (4,6), ports (40,41) for placing the two chambers in communication, one of the two chambers (4) comprising first elastic fluid (44) at a first given pressure, the other chamber (6) comprising second elastic fluid (10) at a second given pressure, controllable according to at least one parameter, corresponding to a force to be absorbed.

Abstract: A hydropneumatic shock absorber has an outer tube, an inner tube inside the outer tube, forming therewith an outer gas/liquid chamber and itself internally forming an inner chamber and a piston rod inside the inner tube. A body of liquid fills the entire inner chamber and partially fills the outer chamber. A piston on the rod subdivides the inner chamber into an upper and a lower compartment. A foot valve is located at the lower tube ends. A rigid centering washer has an outer periphery engaged against the upper end of the outer tube and an axially extending ridge engaged directly radially against the upper end of the inner tube. A flexible annular outer lip on the washer engages radially against the upper end of the inner tube to bear flexibly to permit limited fluid flow from the upper compartment to the outer chamber while blocking opposite flow. A flexible annular inner seal underneath the ridge on the washer engages radially inwardly against the piston rod.

Abstract: An apparatus for controlling hoist control lever velocity on hydraulic cranes. The device is connected to the hoist control lever via a linkage. The device contains a housing which defines a fluid circuit. A slidably mounted pressurizing component communicates with the fluid circuit and is connected to the linkage. The fluid circuit contains a flow restricting device. When the hoist control lever is moved from a first position, wherein the hoist is stationary to a second position, wherein the hoist is moving, the linkage exerts an inward force on the pressurizing component moving the pressurizing component from a neutral to a pressurizing position. Such movement in turn induces a pressure build-up within the fluid circuit. Flow restricting device within the fluid circuit exerts a back pressure on the pressurizing component thereby through the actions of a the pressurizing component and the linkage limits the velocity of the hoist control lever.

Abstract: A method of assembly of a shock absorber is disclosed. A cell, formed of plys of polymeric material impervious to hydraulic fluid and a high molecular gas, while pervious to air and water vapor, is wrapped about the inner tubular container, secured thereto by clips at a midsection of the cell, and effectively inserted into the outer tubular container even though the cell contains a predetermined quantity of gas. The containers can preferably be filled with hydraulic fluid prior to insertion.

Abstract: A hydropneumatic shock absorber comprises an outer tube centered on an upright axis, an inner tube coaxially spaced inside the outer tube and forming therewith an outer gas/liquid chamber, a piston rod inside the inner tube, generally coaxial with the tubes, and forming with the inner tube an inner liquid chamber, and a piston carried on the rod and radially outwardly engaging the inner tube, whereby axial displacement of the piston and rod relative to the tubes in one direction pressurizes the inner chamber. A foot valve between the inner and outer chambers permits limited liquid flow therebetween. An annular plug is fixed at the upper axial ends of the tubes and axially upwardly blocks the inner and outer chambers. A guide bushing in the plug surrounds the piston rod and an annular outer seal in the plug surrounds the piston rod above the bushing and forms with the bushing and plug an annular compartment surrounding the rod.

Abstract: Preferably, a ski or like member contacting the ground suspends a snowmobile frame or chassis via vertical telescoping tubes defining a variable volume chamber. A hollow piston rod fixed to an end cap at one end of one of the telescoping tubes bears at its opposite end and slidable within the other cylinder, a damping piston. The damping piston bears a plurality of orifices for permitting restricted flow of hydraulic liquid to opposite sides of the piston and between chamber sections separated by the damping piston. The hollow rod opens at the end bearing the piston, directly to one chamber section, and bars at least one radial port adjacent its opposite end opening to the other chamber section with the port being closed off by an expandable O-ring functioning as a check valve. A given mass of hydraulic fluid is supplied to the chamber, and the chamber is gas pressurized.

Abstract: An oleo-pneumatic shock absorber for use as a load-bearing element in a vehicle wheel-suspension arrangement. The shock absorber comprises a cylinder attachable at its lower end to the wheel hub, a drowned piston housed in the cylinder and connected by a piston rod to the vehicle body, and flow-determining means determining fluid flow past the piston during operation of the shock absorber. The drowned piston and piston rod are jointly constituted by a hollow rod closed at its end projecting from the cylinder. This hollow rod contains oil and gas. Means can be provided to adjust the quantity of gas and oil in the shock absorber.

Abstract: A direct acting hydraulic shock absorber of the twin tube type including inner and outer tubular members, having an improvement which comprises forming an opening in the inner tubular member adjacent an end thereof, mounting a sleeve of elastomeric material in surrounding relation to the exterior periphery of the inner tubular member in covering relation to the opening, and providing a rigid tube having a pair of axially spaced radially inwardly deformed annular beads disposed in spaced relation between the interior periphery of the inner tubular member and the exterior periphery of the outer tubular member in surrounding relation to the sleeve with the beads sealingly compressing the elastomeric material of the sleeve into sealing relation with the adjacent exterior periphery of the inner tubular member at annular positions spaced longitudinally on opposite sides of the opening so that hydraulic fluid within the adjacent space of the cylindrical chamber subjected to pressure can pass through the opening for

Abstract: A hydro-pneumatic damping device particularly for spring legs of automotive vehicles comprises an inner cylinder, an outer container, a central cavity within the inner cylinder, an annular cavity between the inner cylinder and the outer container, a piston rod with a piston unit, venting passage means between the central cavity and the annular cavity extending across a cylinder closing unit and check valve means associated to said venting passage means. The check valve means comprise an annular check valve member in frictional sliding engagement with the piston rod for axial movement with the piston rod toward a sealing position during inward movement of the piston rod and toward an opening position during outward movement of the piston rod, first and second abutment means being provided for defining said sealing position and said opening position of said annular check valve member respectively.

Abstract: A motor truck hood opening damper restraint in the form of a vertically mounted, hydraulic hood damper or dash pot which restricts the speed of travel of the hood past an overcenter position, cushions the hood at the stop at the open position and permits unrestricted speed of travel when closing the hood.

Abstract: A shock absorber of the hydraulic-pneumatic type includes a cylindrical casing closed at both ends and partially filled with a liquid damping medium. A piston is reciprocable in the casing, has valve controlled passages and a piston rod thereon extending outwardly through a packed opening in one of the ends. A quantity of gaseous fluid under super-atmospheric pressure occupies the space above the level of the liquid, and a perforated partition forming an anti-splash device is disposed slightly below the liquid level. The partition is stationary in the casing and is frictionally held in place against the inner surface of the casing but is displaceable under the effect of a force greater than that applied to it by the movement of the shock absorber as a whole or of the liquid damping medium upon reciprocation of the piston.

Abstract: A hydropneumatic assembly particularly for use as a pressure reservoir in a shock absorber includes a housing with a diaphragm operatively mounted within the housing to define therein a liquid chamber on one side of the diaphragm and a gas chamber on the opposite side thereof. The liquid chamber is defined between an inner wall of the housing and the diaphragm and the diaphragm is arranged to be pressed against the inner wall under the influence of gas pressure within the gas chamber. Damping liquid for a shock absorber flows into and out of the liquid chamber to an opening provided in the inner wall of the housing and, by a special feature of the assembly, ducts are defined between the inner wall of the housing and the diaphragm, with the ducts being directed to extend toward the opening through which liquid flows into and out of the liquid chamber.

Abstract: A shock absorber and suspension strut unit having an outer cylinder containing a predetermined amount of a damping liquid. An inner cylinder is mounted rigidly and concentrically in the outer cylinder and is arranged so as to form an intermediate concentric space between the cylinders. A movable piston rod assembly is movable relative to the double-cylinder assembly and has a piston slidably arranged within the inner cylinder for movement therealong. Check valves are provided in the piston for permitting selective fluid flow from one side of the piston to the other. Further, one or more communication passages are provided in an end of the inner cylinder which abuts the enclosed and the outer cylinder for allowing fluid passage therethrough mutually between a liquid chamber formed below the piston within the inner cylinder and lower part of the annular space formed by and between the cylinders. Thus, these spaces are a substantially unified liquid chamber.

Abstract: A shock absorber comprising telescopically inserted cylinders, the empty space between them being filled with a medium of appropriately selected rheological properties of increasing viscosity, decreasing elasticity and one of which being filled with a media having viscous characteristics under static conditions and elastic characteristics under dynamic conditions.

Abstract: A mechanical press has a self-adjusting device for automatically setting the position of the mould in the correct position with respect to the stroke of the pressram. The device is located between a fixed platen and a mould carrier and comprises a cylinder having at one end a stiffly resilient plug which normally covers a valve port in the cylinder; a volume of liquid is located between a piston in the cylinder and the plug. If the mould is incorrectly set for the ram stroke, the pressure generated in the liquid so compresses the plug to expose the port for release of sufficient liquid to reposition the mould.

Abstract: A dual tube hydraulic shock absorber includes an inner tube or a cylinder slidably receiving a piston therein, a piston rod secured to the piston and extending out of the cylinder through the upper end thereof, an outer tube surrounding the cylinder to define around the outer periphery of the cylinder an annular reservoir chamber, working liquid filled in the cylinder and in the lower portion of the reservoir chamber, pressurized gas filled in the upper portion of the reservoir chamber, a seal member engaging with the piston rod to seal the shock absorber from the outside, a path connecting the lower portion of the reservoir chamber with the interior of the cylinder, a passage connecting the upper portion of the reservoir chamber with the interior of the cylinder, and check valve means disposed in the passage. The check valve means is formed separately from the seal member and comprises an annular resilient valve member secured to a retaining member formed of a metal.

Abstract: A drill string protecting axial shock absorbing sub which is relatively short and rugged and comprises inner and outer telescopically intersplined tubular elements forming therebetween an annular shock absorbing cushion confining piston chamber which is filled with a tightly packed suspension of 3/8" polyurethane pellets in a highly heat resistant lubricant such as "Mobil #1 Synthesized Engine Lubricant".

Abstract: A shock absorber, particularly adapted for use in the rear suspension of a motorcycle, comprises a tubular housing having a piston reciprocally mounted therein. A first chamber is defined between the housing and the head end of the piston whereas a second chamber is defined between the rod end of the piston and the housing. An inflatable bladder is disposed in a hollow rod of the piston and defines the third chamber with the rod which is in open communication with the first chamber. The chambers are at least partially filled with oil and the first chamber and bladder are air-pressurized to selectively set the spring rates of the shock absorber. A plurality of circumferentially disposed ports are formed through a head of the piston and are normally closed by a spring washer to prevent communication of oil from the first chamber to the second chamber upon extension of the shock absorber and for permitting such communication upon compression thereof.

Abstract: An inertial energy storage device is disclosed employing a safety flywheel which is made of flexible material such as a twisted rope ring. The rigidity required for such a device is achieved through centrifugal forces inherent in such a device when it is operating. A small number of the strands of the rope ring have a tensile strength that is lower than the vast majority of the strands of the rope ring whereby should any of these strands fail, they will begin to whiplash allowing such a failure to be detected and braked before a castastrophic failure occurs. This is accomplished by the inclusion of glass tubes located around the periphery of the flywheel. The tubes are in communication with a braking fluid reservoir. The flywheel and glass tubes are enclosed within a vacuum-tight housing. The whiplashing of a broken strand breaks one or more glass tubes. This causes the housing to be flooded with the braking fluid thereby braking the rotation of the flywheel.

Abstract: A method for filling gas into a cylinder having a rod slidably extending from one end thereof. The method involves the steps of forming a reduced diameter portion in the rod at a position adjacent to the inner end thereof, locating the rod at the position of maximum extension so as to form a gas filling passage between the reduced diameter portion and an annular seal ring, filling a high pressure gas into the cylinder, moving the rod inwardly to close the gas filling passage, and deforming a portion of the cylinder to form a stop restricting the outward movement of the rod.

Abstract: A constant-force spring of the liquid-gas type comprising a piston slidable n a cylinder and an elastomeric bladder enclosed in the cylinder. The bladder is filled with a gas, preferably nitrogen. The rest of the cylinder is filled with a compressible liquid having a low bulk modulus. A liquid that can be used is dimethyl silicone which has a bulk modulus of only 150,000 psi. The low bulk modulus gives a low spring constant which is necessary if a constant force characteristic is to be achieved.

Abstract: A damper cylinder is partially filled with highly compressed gas and with operating fluid. A damping piston and connected rod portion are reciprocally movable in the cylinder operating fluid. A partition wall is fixedly mounted in the inner periphery of the cylinder and is interposed between the piston and a highly compressed gas chamber in the cylinder. The partition wall has valves opening in turn during the in and out movements of the damping piston and rod; the valve which opens during the outward movement of the working piston and rod having a closing force approximately equal to the product of such compressed gas and the effective cross-section of such outward movement valve.

Abstract: An oleo-pneumatic damper comprises a hollow rod slidable within a cylinder, and a low-pressure gas chamber defined within the cylinder adjacent to a first variable volume of hydraulic fluid, which volume is essentially provided in the hollow rod. A second variable volume of hydraulic fluid in the rod is separated from the first fluid volume by a valve device, and a separating piston separates the second fluid volume from a high-pressure gas chamber, also in the hollow rod. A spring in the first fluid volume urges the hollow rod into the cylinder, thereby to form an anti-threshold spring to reduce the threshold or minimum loading on the damper, at which the damper will commence a compression stroke movement for damping purposes.

Abstract: A method for filling gas into a sealed cylinder device having a rod guide closing one end thereof and guiding a rod slidably therethrough comprising the steps of forming the rod guide to have a cavity consisting of a cylindrical portion to retain a seal therein and an inwardly divergent portion continuous with the cylindrical portion, displacing the seal inwardly so as to form an annular gap between the outer periphery of the seal and the wall of the divergent cavity portion, filling gas into the cylinder device through the annular gap, and displacing the rod outwardly to carry the seal therewith so as to displace the seal into the cylindrical cavity portion, whereby the seal is thereafter retained in its position due to gas pressure in the cylinder.

Abstract: A front fork for suspending a front wheel of a motorcycle has an outer tube and an inner tube slidably accomodated therein. A pressure chamber is defined between the inner tube and a hollow rod and communicates with a lower chamber formed in the outer tube through a port formed in the inner tube, an anular recess formed in the inner tube, another port formed in the inner tube at the lower portion thereof and a selected one of a plurality of orifices of different diameters formed in a lock piston located in the inner tube. The lock piston is provided with an engaging member engageable with a bottom wall of the outer tube when the inner tube is caused to intrude into the outer tube by a maximum amount.

Abstract: A pneumatic suspension element of the piston-and-cylinder type in which the escape of compressed gas from the cylinder cavity is prevented by a liquid in a portion of the cylinder cavity through which the piston rod passes. The compressed gas and liquid are introduced into the cylinder cavity through resiliently sealed gaps about the piston rod and/or through a porous partition separating the liquid-filled cavity portion from the gas-filled portion.

Abstract: A supplementary air spring unit suitable for user installation on a damper or shock absorber having a generally cylindrical body in which one bead end of a resilient tubular rolling-lobe boot is removably sealingly secured on the shock absorber body by a sleeve retained in place by the air pressure in the unit and in which the other beaded end of the boot is removably sealingly pinched between a master cap and an external shell, with the shell and bead being removably retained in position by a fastening means on the cap.

Abstract: A buffer, particularly suitable for use in railway vehicles, comprising a cylinder including a movable piston and a buffer fluid contained therein, the buffer fluid formed of a very high-viscosity fluid such as silicone oil, and at the same time the cylinder includes a gaseous medium having a volume at least corresponding to the displacement of the piston rod of the piston when it moves in the cylinder to the end of its stroke.

Abstract: A hydropneumatic shock absorber for use between a bumper and the chassis of a motor vehicle has a cylinder and a plunger guided in the cylinder by the radially enlarged inner end portion of the plunger and by an annular sealing assembly which axially bound a gap radially defined by respective walls of the cylinder and plunger. The sealing assembly includes a rigid guide ring axially secured on the plunger, a resilient sealing ring, and a backing ring of intermediate hardness axially interposed between the guide ring and the sealing ring. The hollow interior of the plunger is partly filled with a compressed gas and partly by liquid which also occupies the cylinder chamber outwardly closed by the plunger, a throttling passage in a closing disc which is an end wall of the plunger, and the remainder of the hollow plunger interior, the liquid being separated from the compressed gas by a floating partition in the plunger.

Abstract: A piston and cylinder unit, such as a shock absorber which can be filled with pressurised gas. The piston rod is hollow and extends through a seal to communicate with the interior of the cylinder via a bore. The outer end of the hollow rod is adapted for connection to a source of pressurised fluid to permit pressurisation from the exterior across the seal. The piston rod may be integral or have a separate hollow portion for temporary connection thereto when the cylinder is to be pressurised.

Abstract: A shock absorber comprising an elongated cylindrical pressure cylinder having a piston reciprocally disposed therewithin and connected to a piston rod extending outwardly from one end thereof, teh piston rod carrying a dirt shield which extends coaxially of the pressure cylinder and in partial surrounding relationship therewith. The pressure cylinder is adapted to be filled with preselected quantities of hydraulic damping fluid and a pressurized gas for damping reciprocal movement of the piston therewith. The piston is provided with a novel valve arrangement which controls the compression and rebound characteristics of the shock absorber, and one end of the pressure cylinder is provided with a novel rod guide assembly which is designed so as to provide for convenient charging of the cylinder with the aforesaid pressurized gas.

Abstract: In a pneumatic spring of adjustable length, the piston rod is sealed to the cylinder by an annular sealing disc stressed in compression between the inner cylinder wall and a rigid, tubular projection on the radial end wall of the cylinder through which the piston rod extends outward of the cylinder cavity. The sealing disc is axially longer than the projection so that it extends inward of the cavity beyond the projection and carries an annular sealing lip engaging the piston rod only under the fluid pressure in the cylinder cavity, but practically fully relieved by the annular projection from the compressive stresses.