Granted Patent B2

US 6,843,352 · App. 10/443,164 · Granted Jan 18, 2005

Abstract

Claims (37)

1. A vehicle shock absorber comprising:

a shock absorber body having a shock rod displacement end and a support end;

a shock rod partially disposed within said shock rod displacement end of said shock absorber body, including a hydraulically sealed portion disposed in said shock absorber body and a distally extending free portion; and

a mount assembly connectably disposed at said free portion having both a compression mount and a shear mount disposed therein;

said compression mount further comprising:

a travel limiter plate; and

a resilient element horizontally extending from said travel limiter plate, and

said shear mount further comprising:

a generally tubular shear mount body disposed on said shock rod;

and a pair of conical ends extending longitudinally from said shear mount body, wherein said shear mount operably absorbs a low-input vertical load transferable via said shock rod to the vehicle and said compression mount operably limits a vertical displacement of said shear mount and absorbs a medium-input vertical load transferable via said shock rod,

said mount assembly further comprising:

an inner metal sleeve having a sleeve outer diameter bonded to an inner diameter of said tubular shear mount body, and a sleeve inner diameter slidably disposed on an outer diameter of said shock rod;

an upper mount plate having a plurality of sequentially arranged vertical and horizontal plate surfaces, including:

one of said vertical plate surfaces being bonded to an outer diameter of said shear mount body; and

one of said horizontal plate surfaces operably providing an upper travel limit for said resilient element of said compression mount; and a lower stamping slidably joined to said upper mount plate, said lower stamping operably providing a lower travel limit for said resilient element of said compression mount; and

wherein said shock rod further comprises:

a shoulder to transfer said low-input vertical load and said medium-input vertical load from said shock rod to said inner metal sleeve of said shear mount to said compression mount; and a threaded distal end at said shock rod free portion for connectably disposing a preload fastener.

2. A combined shear and compression mount assembly for a shock absorber comprising:

an upper stamping having an inner cylinder and an outer cylinder;

a shear mount bonded to said inner cylinder;

a reinforcement ring enclosing both said inner cylinder and said shear mount;

a lower stamping having an outer surface butted to said outer cylinder of said upper stamping and an inner surface shaped to form an inner cavity between said upper stamping and said lower stamping; and

a compression mount assembly disposed within said inner cavity.

3. The assembly of claim 2 , further comprising an aperture disposed through both said shear mount and said compression mount assembly to slidably receive a shock rod of said shock absorber.

4. The assembly of claim 3 , wherein said compression mount assembly further comprises:

a travel limiter plate having a ferrule end slidably disposed in said aperture adjacent to said shear mount, a raised surface and a horizontally extending bonding surface; and

a resilient element having a receiving slot to matably receive said horizontally extending bonding surface of said travel limiter plate;

wherein said compression mount assembly is slidably disposed on said shock rod such that said resilient element axially displaces along said shock rod between contact positions with one of said upper stamping and said lower stamping.

5. The assembly of claim 4 , wherein said resilient element of said compression mount assembly further comprises:

a first surface contacting said upper stamping during travel in a first compression mount deflection direction; and

a second surface contacting said lower stamping in a second compression mount deflection direction.

6. The assembly of claim 3 , further comprising:

a sleeve bonded an inner surface of said shear mount within said aperture.

7. The assembly of claim 2 , further comprising:

said shear mount having an allowable deflection distance varying between a nominal, non-deflected position and a maximum allowable longitudinally deflected position; and

said raised surface of said travel limiter plate providing a travel limit clearance between said resilient element and said upper stamping;

wherein said travel limit clearance is predetermined to equate to said allowable deflection distance of said shear mount in a shear mount deflection direction.

Assignments (19)