Variable friction tuning for shock absorption
AssigneeFox Factory, Inc.
InventorThomas Wittenschlaeger
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An exemplary shock absorber includes a damper tube, a damper piston, a piston shaft, and at least two different surface treatments. The damper tube includes an interior surface. The damper piston includes a piston surface that engages the interior surface. The piston shaft couples with the damper piston and includes a shaft surface that engages a fourth surface. The at least two different surface treatments are disposed on at least one of the interior surface and the shaft surface and create a corresponding plurality of coefficients of friction with at least one of the piston surface and the fourth surface respectively.
Claims4
A fluid damper shock absorber, comprising:
- a damper tube including an interior surface;
- a damper piston including a piston surface that engages the interior surface;
- said piston surface further comprised of:
- a wear band disposed around an outer circumference of said damper piston;
- and
- said piston surface including an exterior surface of the wear band;
- a first surface treatment at a first end of the interior surface of the damper tube having a first coefficient of friction with the piston surface when the damper piston is moving in a first direction and a second coefficient of friction with the piston surface, different from the first coefficient of friction, when the damper piston is moving in a second direction;
- and
- a second surface treatment adjacent the first surface treatment having a third coefficient of friction with the piston surface that is greater than the first coefficient of friction.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.