Patent ID: 8215108

Claim:
An apparatus comprising: a cylinder; a piston disposed, at least in part, in the cylinder and dividing an interior of the cylinder along a longitudinal axis of the cylinder into two subchambers; a valve arrangement connected to a first subchamber of the cylinder and configured to assume a closed position to prevent a fluid contained in the first subchamber from flowing out of the first subchamber if a pressure of the fluid is less than a predetermined pressure control value of the valve arrangement, and further configured to assume an open position to enable an outflow of the fluid if the pressure of the fluid is greater than the predetermined pressure control value; and a prestressing device coupled to the valve arrangement and the first subchamber, wherein the prestressing device is configured to damp a pressure load in a form of an abrupt pressure increase in the fluid brought about by a movement of the piston due at least in part to a load acting on the piston in a direction toward the first subchamber and produced through a relief of the pressure in a compression volume formed in the second subchamber, and wherein the prestressing device is configured to generate, independently of the load, a pressure increase in the fluid to a predetermined compressive prestressing value.