Torsional shock absorber

A torsional shock absorber for arrangement in a drive train of a motor vehicle, comprising

• first and second damper parts which are rotatable about a common axis of rotation, one of the damper parts also being rotatable about the axis of rotation relative to the other damper part and one of the damper parts being an input part and the other damper part being an output part;
• a substantially annular channel in the first damper part, the channel being concentric to the axis of rotation;
• a plurality of spring means received in the channel and arranged for operation under load in a circumferential direction with respect to the damper parts for elastically coupling the damper parts to each other torsionally, each spring means having two control ends and at least one coil spring between the two control ends, and the damper parts having control edges that are located between the control ends of adjacent spring means in the circumferential direction and are engageable with the control ends of the spring means for torsional load transfer between the damper parts;
• and
• a plurality of intermediate elements, each of which is carried by the second damper part for movement in a circumferential direction relative to the second damper part, is resiliently coupled by spring elements with the second damper part, and has stop edges which in a relative resting position of the damper parts project circumferentially beyond the control edges of the first damper part and engage the control ends of an adjacent pair of the spring means so that the intermediate elements elastically couple the two damper parts together torsionally by way of the spring elements, each of the intermediate elements, in the relative resting position of the damper parts, being arranged substantially without clearance in the circumferential direction between the control ends of the adjacent spring means, each of the spring elements having a spring constant sized for no-load operation that is smaller than the spring constant of the spring means, and each of the spring means being supported by their two control ends on the control edges of the first damper part with a preload that is substantially equal to the maximum force of the spring elements.