Class / Patent application number | Description | Number of patent applications / Date published |
188275000 | With fluid regulated in response to inertia of valve member | 19 |
20080236966 | Damping force adjustable fluid pressure shock absorber - A piston coupled to a piston rod is fitted in a sealed cylinder in which oil is contained. During an extension stroke of the piston rod, a damping force is generated by an extension-side valve body, and at the same time, a valve-opening pressure of an extension-side main valve is adjusted by an inner pressure in an extension-side backpressure chamber. During a compression stroke of the piston rod, a damping force is generated by a compression-side valve body, and at the same time, a valve-opening pressure of a compression-side main valve is adjusted by an inner pressure in a compression-side backpressure chamber. A simple structure is realized by using a common guide bore for guiding the extension-side valve body and the compression-side valve body. Check valves are provided at both ends of the guide bore and communication passage are provided through the extension-side valve body and the compression-side valve body so that an amount of excess oil due to a movement of the extension-side valve body and the compression-side valve body can be expelled, thereby improving responsiveness of the shock absorber. | 10-02-2008 |
20090000885 | BICYCLE DAMPER - A damper including a valve movable between an open position and a closed position to selectively alter the compression damping rate of the shock absorber. The valve may include a groove feature at the location of the openings in the valve shaft which operates to accumulate the flow of hydraulic fluid through the openings and to equalize the pressure exerted by the fluid on the other components of the valve. | 01-01-2009 |
20090000886 | BICYCLE DAMPER - A damper for a bicycle, having a primary unit including a damper tube, a piston rod that supports a main piston, a reservoir tube that is outside of the compression chamber of the primary tube, and an inertial valve within the reservoir tube. The damper also includes a flow path connecting the reservoir fluid chamber and the compression chamber of the primary tube. The damper also may have a damping valve in the reservoir tube. When the inertia valve is open, the damping valve opens before flow through the inertia valve is maximized. The main piston and the damper tube at least partially define a compression chamber and a rebound chamber. The main piston is movable within the damper chamber of the primary unit. The reservoir tube includes a reservoir fluid chamber. The inertial valve is responsive to terrain-induced forces and not responsive to rider-induced forces when the shock absorber is assembled to the bicycle. | 01-01-2009 |
20090000887 | BICYCLE DAMPER - A damper for a bicycle having a primary unit and a remote unit that is substantially entirely outside of the primary unit. The primary unit includes a damper tube, a spring chamber, and a piston rod that supports a main piston. The main piston is movable within the damper chamber of the primary unit. The main piston and the damper tube at least partially define a compression chamber. The remote unit comprises a remote fluid chamber, and an inertial valve within the remote unit. The inertial valve is preferably responsive to terrain-induced forces and preferably not responsive to rider-induced forces when the shock absorber is assembled to the bicycle. The shock absorber forms a flow path separated from the piston rod that connects the remote fluid chamber and the compression chamber of the damper tube. | 01-01-2009 |
20090000888 | BICYCLE DAMPER - A damper for a bicycle, having a primary unit including a damper tube, a piston rod that supports a main piston, a reservoir tube that is outside of compression chamber of the primary tube, an inertial valve within the reservoir tube, a flow housing within the reservoir tube, and a flow path connecting the reservoir fluid chamber and the compression chamber of the primary tube. The main piston is movable within the damper chamber of the primary unit. The main piston and the damper tube at least partially define a compression chamber and a rebound chamber. The reservoir tube has a reservoir fluid chamber. The flow housing defines a first end and a second end, a first one way valve positioned at the first end, and a second one way valve positioned at the second end. The inertia valve has an open position and a closed position. The inertial valve permits a flow of the fluid from the compression chamber of the primary tube to the reservoir fluid chamber of the reservoir tube when the inertial valve is in the open position and the flow through the inertia valve is reduced when the inertia valve is in the closed position. In one embodiment, the damping valve opens when there is 25 pounds of force on the damping valve. | 01-01-2009 |
20090000889 | BICYCLE DAMPER - A damper including a valve movable between an open position and a closed position to selectively alter the compression damping rate of the shock absorber. The valve may include a groove feature at the location of the openings in the valve shaft which operates to accumulate the flow of hydraulic fluid through the openings and to equalize the pressure exerted by the fluid on the other components of the valve. | 01-01-2009 |
20090071775 | Damping force adjusting structure of hydraulic shock absorber - In a damping force adjusting structure of a hydraulic shock absorber in which a part of an oil liquid is introduced to a back pressure chamber provided in a back surface side of a damping valve from a back pressure introduction path, a pressure within the back pressure chamber is leaked from a leak path, and a damping force can be adjusted by controlling a valve opening pressure of the damping valve by controlling the pressure in the back pressure chamber. A leaf valve with slit is provided in the back pressure introduction path, and a slit provided in the leaf valve with slit is formed as an introduction side orifice. | 03-19-2009 |
20100187054 | DAMPING ASSEMBLY FOR EXERCISE APPARATUS - A damping assembly includes a guide unit, a damper unit, and a pair of operating members. The guide unit includes a guide bar and a slide sleeve slidably sleeved onto the guide bar. The damper unit is parallel to the guide unit and includes a cylinder and a piston rod, the cylinder being connected with the slide sleeve, the piston rod passing through the cylinder. The cylinder can be driven by the slide sleeve to move straight relative to the piston rod to prevent wear and tear therebetween and to provide equable damping force for the operating members symmetrically mounted to the damper unit to further enable simultaneous actions of the operating members. | 07-29-2010 |
20100187055 | SUSPENSION DAMPER HAVING INERTIA VALVE AND USER ADJUSTABLE PRESSURE-RELIEF - A modern suspension damper, for example, a shock absorber or a suspension fork, including an inertia valve and a pressure-relief feature is disclosed. The pressure-relief feature includes a rotatable adjustment knob that allows the pressure-relief threshold to be externally adjusted by the rider “on-the-fly” and without the use of tools. | 07-29-2010 |
20110031076 | FRONT BICYCLE SUSPENSION ASSEMBLY WITH INERTIA VALVE - A front bicycle suspension assembly having an inertia valve is described. The front bicycle suspension assembly may include at least upper and lower telescoping tubes and include a damping tube containing an inertia valve. The inertia valve may include an inertia mass movable along the outer surface of a valve shaft as the inertia valve moves between first and second positions. | 02-10-2011 |
20110067965 | BICYCLE SHOCK ABSORBER WITH SLIDABLE INERTIA MASS - A damper for a bicycle having a primary unit and a remote unit that, in some arrangements, is substantially entirely outside of the primary unit. The primary unit includes a damper tube, a spring chamber, and a piston rod that supports a main piston. The main piston is movable within the damper chamber of the primary unit. The main piston and the damper tube at least partially define a compression chamber. The remote unit comprises a remote fluid chamber and, in some arrangements, an inertial valve within the remote unit. The inertia valve is preferably responsive to terrain-induced forces and preferably not responsive to rider-induced forces when the shock absorber is assembled to the bicycle. The inertia valve, which is configured to slidably move within the remote reservoir unit relative to a reservoir shaft, comprises a main portion and at least one protective coating or layer configured to contact the reservoir shaft. The protective coating or layer helps shield said main portion from contact with said reservoir shaft, advantageously providing wear resistance, anti-friction properties, durability and other benefits to the damping system. | 03-24-2011 |
20110083930 | SELF-REGULATING SUSPENSION - A self-regulating suspension includes a first suspension member movable relative to a second suspension member, a fluid reservoir having a volume, the volume variable in response to a relative movement between the first and second suspension members, and a fluid flow circuit having a first end in fluidic communication with the fluid reservoir and a second end in fluidic communication with an isolated suspension location, the fluid flow circuit comprising a first valve, a second valve and a third valve, wherein said first and third valves are in parallel with each other and the second valve is in series with each of the first and third valves. | 04-14-2011 |
20120305352 | DOUBLE SLIDING PISTON VALVE - Disclosed is a double sliding piston valve in which a sliding valve is added to a piston valve to realize gentle variation of damping force. The double sliding piston valve for use in a shock absorber, includes a housing placed in a lower region of a piston to store oil therein, a sliding valve received in the housing, the sliding valve having first and second flow-paths formed therein, pressure springs respectively coming into close contact with upper and lower surfaces of the sliding valve to enable vertical sliding of the sliding valve, and a washer provided below the sliding valve to support the sliding valve, the washer having a center oil hole. | 12-06-2012 |
20130056317 | FREQUENCY/PRESSURE SENSITIVE SHOCK ABSORBER - A frequency/pressure sensitive shock absorber for generating a damping force varying according to a frequency and a pressure-includes: a cylinder filled with a working fluid; a piston rod having one end located inside the cylinder and the other end extending outward from the cylinder; a main piston valve assembly installed at one end of the piston rod and configured to operate in a state that the inside of the cylinder is divided into an upper chamber and a lower chamber, and generate a damping force varying according to a moving speed; and a sensitive unit installed at one end of the piston rod under the main piston valve assembly and configured to generate a damping force varying according to a frequency and a pressure. | 03-07-2013 |
20130112517 | FREQUENCY SENSITIVE SHOCK ABSORBER - A shock absorber is disclosed herein with a frequency sensitive damping force that includes a cylinder containing a damping medium, a piston rod which is axially movable in the cylinder, and a piston assembly arranged for axial movement in the damping medium. The piston assembly is connected to the piston rod and divides the cylinder in a working space on each side of the piston. The piston assembly includes a flow path fluidly coupled to a frequency sensitive element movable relative to the piston assembly. | 05-09-2013 |
20140144737 | PRESSURE DAMPING DEVICE - A pressure damping device includes: a cylinder; a piston provided movably in the cylinder in an axial direction of the cylinder, and formed to have a plurality of channels for liquid; a moving and partitioning member located between the piston and the cylinder, and provided movably from one end to the other end in the axial direction of a movable region provided in the piston, and configured to partition a space in the cylinder into a first liquid chamber and a second liquid chamber for storing the liquid; a first opening and closing member configured to open and close an opening in at least a part of the plurality of channels of the piston and open the opening; and a second opening and closing member configured to open and close an opening in at least a part of the plurality of channels and open the opening. | 05-29-2014 |
20140262647 | FRONT BICYCLE SUSPENSION ASSEMBLY WITH INERTIA VALVE - A front bicycle suspension assembly having an inertia valve is described. The front bicycle suspension assembly may include at least upper and lower telescoping tubes and include a damping tube containing an inertia valve. The inertia valve may include an inertia mass movable along the outer surface of a valve shaft as the inertia valve moves between first and second positions. | 09-18-2014 |
20160069415 | CONTROL VALVE TO PERMIT ADJUSTABILITY OF A SHOCK ABSORBER - A controller adjusts the damping characteristics of a vehicle shock absorber that includes a shock absorber housing and a shock absorber fluid contained within the shock absorber housing. The controller includes a controller housing having a fluid passageway therein. The housing includes a shock coupler for coupling the housing for the shock absorber and for placing the shock absorber housing in fluid communication with the fluid passageway. A reservoir stores shock absorber fluid in the controller and a first valve is disposed in the fluid passageway between the shock coupler and the reservoir. Shock absorber fluid can pass between the shock coupler and the reservoir. The first valve includes a first valve controller that is configured for controlling the rate of flow through the first valve to achieve a first damping rate. A second valve includes a second valve controller for controlling the flow of shock absorber fluid through the second valve to achieve a second damping rate. A flow director directs the flow of shock absorber fluid to either the first valve or the second valve to achieve one of the first or second damping rates. The flow controller of the first valve controls the flow of shock absorber fluid to achieve the first damping rate independently of the second valve's control of the flow of shock absorber fluid to achieve the second damping rate. | 03-10-2016 |
20160131218 | SUSPENSION DAMPER HAVING INERTIA VALVE AND USER ADJUSTABLE PRESSURE-RELIEF - A modern suspension damper, for example, a shock absorber or a suspension fork, including an inertia valve and a pressure-relief feature is disclosed. The pressure-relief feature includes a rotatable adjustment knob that allows the pressure-relief threshold to be externally adjusted by the rider “on-the-fly” and without the use of tools. | 05-12-2016 |