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US 2017/0246927 A1Published application
Methods and apparatus for suspending vehicles
AssigneeFox Factory, Inc.
InventorsAndrew LAIRD, Sante M. PELOT, William M. BECKER, Dennis K. WOOTTEN
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method and apparatus for a shock absorber for a vehicle having a gas spring with first and second gas chambers, wherein the first chamber is utilized during a first travel portion of the shock absorber and the first and second chambers are both utilized during a second portion of travel. In one embodiment, a travel adjustment assembly is configured to selectively communicate a first gas chamber with a negative gas chamber.
Claims18
A shock absorber for a vehicle comprising:
- a gas spring having a main gas chamber and a secondary gas chamber;
- a first valve disposed along a first fluid path coupling said main gas chamber and said secondary gas chamber, said first valve having an open position which allows fluid to flow from said main gas chamber to said secondary gas chamber, said first valve having a closed position which prevents said fluid from flowing from said main gas chamber to said secondary gas chamber;
- and
- a user-operable adjustment rod coupled with said first valve, said user-operable adjustment rod configured to control a compression placed on said first valve to control when said first valve moves from said closed position to said open position;
- and
- a second valve disposed along a second fluid path coupling said main gas chamber and said secondary gas chamber, said second valve having an open position which allows said fluid to flow from said secondary gas chamber to said main gas chamber, said second valve having a closed position which prevents said fluid from flowing from said secondary gas chamber to said main gas chamber.
3 more elements
An air shock comprising:
- a main gas chamber at a first pressure;
- a secondary gas chamber at a second pressure;
- a first valve disposed along a first fluid path coupling said main gas chamber and said secondary gas chamber, said first valve having an open position which allows fluid to flow from said main gas chamber to said secondary gas chamber, said first valve having a closed position which prevents said fluid from flowing from said main gas chamber to said secondary gas chamber, said first valve moving to said open position provided said first pressure reaches a sufficient pressure difference with respect to said second pressure;
- and
- a user-operable adjustment rod coupled with said first valve, said user-operable adjustment rod configured to control a compression placed on said first valve to adjust a value of said pressure difference at which said first valve moves from said closed position to said open position;
- a second valve disposed along a second fluid path coupling said main gas chamber and said secondary gas chamber, said second valve having an open position which allows said fluid to flow from said secondary gas chamber to said main gas chamber, said second valve having a closed position which prevents said fluid from flowing from said secondary gas chamber to said main gas chamber.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.