US1089002A - Shock-absorber. - Google Patents

Description

R. M. LYON.'

SHOCK ABSORBBR.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 24, 1913. A LBQQ. Patented Mar. 3, 1914.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

ROY M. LYON, OF DENVER, COLORADO, ASSIGNOR OF THREE-TENTHS TO GUY C.

WALTER. 0.75' LENVER, COLORADO.

SHOCK-ABSORBER.

i have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Shock-Absorbers; and I do decla re the. followingv to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, suchas will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the'accompanying drawings, and to the letters' and figures of rei'erence marked thereon, which form a part of this speciiication. y

My invention relates to iniprovemeuts in shockabsorliers more especially adapted for use i'n connection with automobilesand motorcycles or similar machines, though my improvements may be employed in other relations where substantially the same function required.

The device consists of a vertically tubular structure having liquid containing chambers at its opposite extremities in which travel pistons connected with the opposite ends oi a rod, the latter being centrally connected with an arm secured to the body of thcvehicle so that-'as the body vibrates or moves up and down, the pistons will be reciprocated in their respective chambers. Each chamber is composed of inner and outer shells both of which are cylindrical and stationary. The inner shell of each is provided with a 'number of. triangular slots, the said slots-being widest` at th`e`top in the lower chamber and widest atthe bottom inv the upper chamber. As the Apistons reciprocate, that in the lower chamber moving downwardly and traveling toward the points of the slots, the area of the out-let for the liquid from the compartment below the piston through these trianguliar ports, is continuallv diminishing thus offering increased Spec'cation of Letters Patent.

Patented Marrit, 191% Application led March 24, 191. -Sera1No. 756,336.

the piston and consequently opensduring the downward movement thus Iallowing the liquid to flow freely through the upper piston from the compartment. ofthe chamber below the piston to the compartment above when the piston is traveling downwardlv. However, when the pistons are moving ilu the opposite direction the valve of the lower piston opens and the liquid passes freely from the upper compartment oi the chaniber into the` lower compartmentl ,while in the case of the .upper piston the valve closes during its upward movement and the escape ot liquid from the upper compartment to the lower compartment takes place by virtue cf the triangular slots in the inner shell of the` chamber. And as theseslots diminish in area toward the top of the chamber, the resistance offered by the liquid in the upper compartmentwto the upward travel of the piston, increases gradually during such upward travel.` Each'chamber is provided with a stuing box through which the piston stem or rod passes, these stuiling boxes 'ormingliquid tight joints.

Having briefly outlined my improved con- Fig. 1, looking toward the left, the parts however being shown on a much larger scale. Fig. 3, is a section taken on the line 3-3 Fig. 2, looking downwardly or in the direction of arrow3. Fig; 4, is a detail view of the vpiston looking in the direction of arrow 4 Fig. 2. Fig. 5, is a detail view of the inner shell of the lowermost piston chamber.

' A"Thesame reference characters indicate 'the same parts in all the views.

Let the numeral 5 designate a cylindrical tube into the opposite extremities of which are threaded stutling boxes 6, the outer ex-, tremities of these boxes being shouldered and, interiorly threaded as shown at 7 to receive the threaded extremities of the outer shell vmembers 8 ot' the piston chambers. Each shock absorber unit is connected with the vehicle by passing the lower stuffing box through an o] oening` 9 formed in a plate 10 which is secured to the axle 12 of the vehicle by means of U-shaped bolts 13. A lock nut 14 is interposed between the upper surface of the plate 10 and the lowerextremity of the'tube body 5. It is preferred to allow the tubular body 5 a limited degree of movement andfto this end the lock nut 14 may not be" screwed tightly against the plate 1U.

Within each outer shell 8 of each chamber is located acylindrical shell 15 in which is formed a number of triangular slots 16, these s lots-diminishing in areafrom the top. t0- Ward the bottom in Vthe lower chamber and from the bottom toward the top in the upper chamber. The inner shell members 15 fit closely within the outer shell members of the respective chambers and are held securely in place by means of screwed caps 17 which are applied to the upper an'd lower extremities respectively of the shells 8 of the two chambers. The stuffing boxes close the chambers at one extremity of each, being the upper extremity ofthe lower charnber and the lower extremity of the upper chamber. Within each of thesechambers is located a piston18, the twopistons being connected as shown at 19 with the opposite extremities of a rod 2O which is centrally reinforced as shown at 21 and provided with an opening 22 to receive the extremity 23 of an arm 24 secured to the ybody 25ct the vehicle as shown at 26. The extremity 23 is partially ball shaped to-per1nit a limited degrec of movement between the tubular body .of the shock absorber and the arm to provide for different vibratory conditions incident to the "use of vehicles of the character with which my improvement will be employed.. This construction cooperates with the relatively loose connection between the shock absorber and the plate 10 heretofore described. To thefree extremity of the arm 24 is applied a stop washer or plate 27 which is slightly curved to permit a limited degree of movement between the shock absorber structure and the body of the vehicle, the structure of this washer corresponding to and coperating`- with the ball construction of the arm extremity heretofore explained.

The body of each piston 18 is provided with ports or perfor-ations 28 adapted to be closed by a -valve disk 29 when the lower piston is moving downwardly and when the upper piston is moving upwardly. For this reason the yalve disk of the lower piston is located below the body of the piston while the corresponding disk of the upper piston is located above Ithe piston body, of the piston by means of screws 30 which are Vmade fast to the valve disk'and are freely slidable within the piston body, `the shanks of the screws being of suflicient length to permit' the necessary opening and closing movement of the valve disk, spiral springs 31 being interposed between the screw heads and the piston body.` -AThese springs are lcomparatively weak and yield readily to the pressure of the liquid when it passes through' the ports 28 .of ,the piston body, during the downward movement of the upper piston and during the upward. movement of the lower piston.

The outer shell of the lower chamber is provided with a port 32 to permit the filling of the chamber with liquid, preferably oil.v This port is normally closed by a screw plug 33. The cap 17 ofthe upper chamber is provided with' a similar port 34 normally closed by screw plug 35 the port 34 being also utilized for iilling the chamber with liquid.V A l `4ln order to regulate or vary the passage of the liquid from one compartment of either chamber to the other during the downward travel of the loiwer piston and during the upward travel of the upper piston, a valve, plate 36 of triangularshape to conform to the shape of one of the slots 16 of each inner shell but of less area may be employed.

Each of these valve plates may be mounted upon a screw 37 which is threaded in an opening 38 formed in a lug 3,9 of the valve plate the said lug extending into a narrow cavityv 40 extending beyond the body of the outer shell 8 of each chamber. T he screw 37 is journaled in the offset portions 41 and 42 of the shell at the top and bottom respectively of the cavity 40. One extremity of each of these screws is shaped 'as shown at 43 to receive a port key or wrench whereby the screw may be operated for the purpose within rits slot 1G. If it is desired vto increase the resistanceto the downward travel of the lower piston and the upward travel of the upper piston, these valve plates may be moved toward the smaller extremities of the slots in which they are located and when the edges of the valve plates are brought into engagement with the adjacent edges. of the inner shell members the passage of liquid'through the slot will be cut o after the.

rof adjusting lthe position of the valve plate Y piston has entered the chamber Zone inwhic'lr cylinder and cap-it would beA necessary to pack the Aopening through which the stem passedv extremely' tightly in order that it might withstand the force of heavy blows and if such a hard packing were employed there would be no give where merely slight obstacles were.' encountered and the device would thus prevent the springs of the v'ehicle from acting. In the construction of my invention there is no necessity for very 'tight packing of the piston stems and consequently they mayA slide comparatively freely thus .not detracting to any appreciable extent from" the -resilience of the springs when the vehicle is passing over the slight obstacles to be encountered -upon city streets and good-roads.

From the foregoing description the use and operation of my improved shock absorber will be readily understood.

By reference to Fig, 1, the manner of applying my shock absorbers to the rear axle 12 of an automobile will be understood. As the arms 124 connected with the body 25 of the vehicle as heretofore explained move downwardly,the pistons V18 in the lower chambers in the shock absorbers will travel in a corresponding direction and force the liquidl from the 'compartments of the chambers below the pistons through the slots'l and into the compartments of these chambers above the pistons. `At the same time the liquid in the upper chambers will move freely from the lower compartments to the upper compartments as the valve disks 29 of the upper pistons will open freely against theirsprings 31 in response to the pressure of the liquid as it passes through the piston openings Q8. Again as the vehicle body moves upwardly vthe reverse movement is` imparted toy the pistons in the two chambers, the liquid in the upper chambers re sisting the upward travel of the corresponding pistons` while the liquid in the lower chambers travels freely'thro.ugh\the openings 28 of the pistons as the valve disks of the lower pistons open in response to the pressure of the liquid as it passes downwardly through the piston openings 28.

While l haveillustrated `in the drawing and described in the specilication the openings or cavities in the inner surfaces of the piston chambers as triangular in shape, the said openings `or cavities diminishing in width from the top toward the bottompin the lower chamber and from the bottom toward the -top in the upper chamber, it must be. understood that the invention is not limited to this particular fshape ofiopening, as these openings may be of diii'erent shape-or contour and as long as they vary in crosssectional area betweenthe upper and lower extremities of the chambers they will still be within the scope of my invention as outlined by the appended claims.

Having'thus described my invention, what I claim is: 4 ,o

1. A shock absorber, comprising upper and lower chambers having shallow cavities,

lengthwise disposed in the inner surfaces of their walls, the said cavities diminishing in area from the top toward the bottom inthe lower chamber and from the bottom toward the top of the upper chamber, pistons mounted imthe said chambers, and a stem connecting said pistons, each piston having valve f controlled orifices, the valves being arranged to close the said orifices during the downward movement of the lower plston and during the upwardmovement of the vupper i piston, thesaid orifices, during the reverse movements of the said pistons being open to permit the passage of iiuid, substantially as described. j y

2. A shock absorber, comprising a verti- \cally disposed tubular 4body member, chambers connected with t-he body member at the opposite extremities thereof, each chamber being composed of inner and outer shells, the inner shell of each chamber bef ing provided with slots which .diminish in area from the top of the chamber downs wardly in the lower chamber and from the bottom of the chamber upwardly in the upper chamber, pistons located in the respective chambers, a stem connecting the said pistons, each piston having perfora tions and being equipped with a movable valve disk normally closing the perforations therein, the valve disk of the lower piston being arranged to open during the upward movement of the said piston, while the valve disk of the upper piston is arranged to open Aduring the downward movement thereof.

3. A shock absorber, Vcomprising a vertically disposed body member, chambers connected with ythe opposite extremities of the said member, each chamber being composed of separable inner` and outer shellsl closely fitted together and connected to form a substantially integral device, the inner shell of each chamber having slots extending lengthwise 'of the shell, the slots of the shell of the lower chamber diminishing in width from the top toward the bottom, while the width of the slots in the inner shell of the upper chamber diminish in widthfrom the bottom toward the top, pistons fitted within the inner shells oft-he respective chambers, a stem connecting the said pistons, the pis-. tons having ports and equipped with valves arranged to close the said ports during the downward movement of the lower piston and during the upward movement of the upper piston.

4. A shock absorber, comprising a body member adapted to be connected with the axle of a vehicle, chambers connected with the opposite extremities of the said member, each chamber being composed of inner and outer shells fitted together to form a substantially integral device, each chamber being closed at the top and bottom, the inner shells of the respective chambers havingv elongated openings formed therein and extending lengthwise thereof, the said openings diminishing in area from the top to-,

Vward Amovement of the piston, while the check valve of the upper piston is reversely arranged, and a stem connecting the two pistons and adapted to be connected with the vibrating body of a vehicle, substantially as described.

5. A shock absorber, having upper and lower chambers, having shallow cavities formed in the inner surfaces of their walls,

'the said cavities extending lengthwise of the chambers and varying in cross-sectional area between the top and bottom of the chambers; pistons mounted in the said chamf bers and a stem connecting said pistons, each piston having a valve-controlled opening, the valves lbeing arranged "to close said openings during the downward movement ofthe lower` piston and during the upward movement of the upper piston, the said orifices during the reverse movement of the said pistons being open' to permit the passage of fluid, substantially as described,

6. A shock absorber, comprising a vertii cally disposed body member, chambers connected 'with the body member` at the oppo- `site extremities thereof, each chamber being composed of inner and outer shells fitted closely together, .the inner shell of each chamber being provided. with openings extending'vertically ofthe chamber and varying incross-sectional area between the upper and .lower extremities of the said openings; pistons located in the respective chambers, a stem connecting the said pistons, each piston having a valve-controlled opening,

the valve ofthe lower piston being arrangedto open during the upward movement of the said piston, `while the valve of the upper piston is arranged to open during the downward movement thereof for the purpose set forth.

Intestimony whereof I aHix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

ROY M.l LYON. VVitneSseS:

A. J. OBRIEN,

I C. M. WATERBY.

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