Patent ID: 8776961

Claim:
A shock absorber comprising: at least one cylinder apparatus comprising a cylinder sealingly containing operating fluid, a piston slidably fittedly inserted in the cylinder to divide an interior of the cylinder into two chambers, and a piston rod coupled to the piston and extending to an outside of the cylinder; and at least one damping force generation mechanism connected to the cylinder apparatus, the damping force generation mechanism being capable of generating a damping force to be applied to a flow of the operating fluid caused by a movement of the piston and adjusting the damping force by control signals supplied from outside of the shock absorber, the damping force generation mechanism comprising a damping valve for generating the damping force, a pilot chamber for applying a pilot pressure by the operating fluid to the damping valve, and a pump for at least supplying or discharging the operating fluid to or from the pilot chamber, wherein the operating fluid is liquid, the cylinder includes a reservoir sealingly containing the liquid and gas for compensating for a volume of the cylinder, and the pump supplies and discharges the liquid between the reservoir and the cylinder.