Patent ID: 6241614
Filing Date: 2001-06-05
Classification: F16F

Abstract:
A damper mechanism comprising:a first rotary member;a second rotary member coupled to said first rotary member for relative rotary displacement with respect to said first rotary member about a central rotary axis, the relative rotary displacement occurring in a rotating direction defined about the central rotary axis;a first elastic member elastically coupling said first and second rotary members together in the rotating direction, said first elastic member being compressible in a first stage of the relative rotary displacement between said first and second rotary members, said first stage being confined within a first torsion angle;a second elastic member elastically coupling said first and second rotary members together in the rotating direction, and being compressible in a second stage of the relative rotary displacement between said first and second rotary members, said second stage being defined by a second torsion angle that exceeds said first torsion angle in circumferential size, said second elastic member providing rigidity in said second stage that is greater than rigidity of said first elastic member in said first stage;a first friction generating mechanism frictionally coupling said first and second rotary members to each other in the rotating direction, said first friction generating mechanism being configured to allow sliding between said first and second rotary members within both of said first and second stages;a friction suppressing mechanism located between said first and second rotary members to prevent sliding of said friction generating mechanism in response to torsional vibrations having a magnitude less than a predetermined torque in said first and second stages, said friction suppressing mechanism being arranged to define defining a first rotational gap to render said friction generating mechanism inoperable in response to said torsional vibrations in said first stage and a second rotational gap to render said friction generating mechanism inoperable in response to said torsional vibrations in said second stage.