Patent ID: 6321888
Filing Date: 2001-11-27
Classification: B60G,F16F

Abstract:
A damper comprising:a pressure cylinder;a piston reciprocally mounted in said pressure cylinder to define a compression chamber and a rebound chamber, said compression and rebound chambers operable to store damping fluid, said piston movable for reciprocally varying the volumes of said compression and rebound chambers;valve means provided on said piston for controlling flow of fluid between said compression and rebound chambers;a reservoir tube surrounding said pressure cylinder to define a reservoir between said pressure cylinder and said reservoir tube;a compression transfer tube disposed within said reservoir tube for providing fluid communication between said compression chamber and said reservoir;a rebound transfer tube disposed within said reservoir tube for providing fluid communication between said rebound chamber and said compression chamber;a compression valve in fluidic communication with said compression transfer tube and operable between open and closed positions to regulate fluid flow from said compression chamber into said reservoir in response to compressive motion of said piston toward said compression chamber, said compression valve further operable to prevent flow in response to rebound motion of said piston toward said rebound chamber;a rebound valve in fluidic communication with said rebound transfer tube and operable between open and closed positions to regulate fluid flow from said rebound chamber into said compression chamber in response to rebound motion of said piston toward said rebound chamber, operation of said rebound valve being totally independent from operation of said compression valve;a base valve carried in said cylinder in fluidic communication with said compression chamber and said reservoir, said base valve provided therebetween and spaced apart from said piston for controllably providing bi-directional fluid flow between said compression chamber and said reservoir; anda reservoir fluid aperture provided in said reservoir for establishing fluid flow from said reservoir into said rebound chamber in response to compressive motion of said piston toward said compression chamber.