Patent ID: 7513490

Claim:
A shock absorber assembly including: a motion damping means that is filled with a fluid in operation and has a pair of relatively moveable parts and valve means permitting flow of said fluid between said parts, said parts comprising a first part and a second part in which the first part is receivable whereby the parts are arranged for relative retracting and extending movement during which fluid is forced through said valve means at respective predetermined controlled flow rates so as to dampen said movement; wherein said relatively moveable parts contain respective primary chambers for said fluid and said first part is substantially smaller in cross-section than said second part to define an intermediate chamber about the first part within the second part; and wherein there is further included lateral port means communicating said intermediate chamber and said primary chamber of the first part; and wherein said flows at respective predetermined controlled flow rates are limited to respective flows (i) directly from the primary chamber of the first part to the primary chamber of the second part and (ii) via said intermediate chamber and lateral port means from the primary chamber of the second part to the primary chamber of the first part; characterized in that said valve means includes peripheral compression ports and a central rebound port such that the differences in flow rates of said compression and rebound ports provides differential fluid flow rates for the compression and rebound stroke of said assembly.