Fluid damped unit, particularly for use as shock absorber or telescopic strut

A fluid damped unit particularly suitable as a shock absorber comprising a cylinder, a piston rod positioned within said cylinder and arranged for extending and retracting movement from one end of said cylinder, means located at said one end of said cylinder for guiding said piston rod and sealing said cylinder, a piston fixed to said piston rod near the end of said piston rod within said cylinder, said piston dividing the interior of said cylinder into a first annular work chamber adjacent said guiding and sealing means and a second work chamber adjacent the end of said cylinder which is opposite said guiding and sealing means, a fluid charge in said cylinder, wherein said piston rod can be reciprocated between a fully retracted position and a fully extended position relative to said cylinder, and damper means arranged in said first annular work chamber for damping the movement of said piston rod, said damper means arranged to create a damping force applied against said piston rod during a portion of its movement intermediate said fully retracted and fully extended positions and including throttling fluid passage means located within said first work chambers and dividing said first work chamber into two annular chamber sections, said damper means also comprising a compression spring which surrounds said piston rod, said compression spring having one end facing toward said guiding and sealing means which bears against one of said guiding and sealing means and said cylinder, damping ring means including a damping ring carrier arranged at the other end of said compression spring to divide said first annular work chamber into said two annular chamber sections, a damping ring arranged in said damping ring carrier to frictionally contact the inner circumferential surface of said cylinder and being axially movable relative to said damping ring carrier between a pair of end positions, one of said end positions being closer to said piston and the other end position being more remote from said piston, said damping ring reducing the flow cross section of said throttling fluid passage means when located in the one of said end positions and increasing the flow cross section of said throttling fluid passage means when located in the other said end position, and said damping ring carrier is fixed to said compression spring, and stop means mounted for movement together with said piston rod.