Maremont Corporation

Michael H Kobiske

Jerome S Pepi

Kris Sharma

Michael P Astorino

Jon M Adorjan

William Voigt

A left-to-right interchangeable, vehicle suspension strut includes a left-to-right interchangeable functional line bracket plate and accommodating left and right brackets or bracket portions.

Interchangeable strut body

An improved, spring-assisted shock absorber. Springs are mounted in series between spring retainers fixed on the cylinder exterior, and a spring guide slidably mounted on a sleeve protector to the cylinder exterior.

Series spring shock absorbers

An improved compression valve mechanism for a shock absorber comprising an upwardly facing annular valve seat on the shock absorber piston, an annular valve seat engaging member having an exterior periphery spaced closely from the interior periphery of the cylindrical shock absorber chamber providing a relatively small annular gap therebetween and a downwardly facing surface adapted to engage the upwardly facing annular valve seat, an annular seal mounted above the annular member in motion transmitting relation therewith, the seal being made of relatively rigid material and being split radially so as to be expandable radially outwardly and having an upwardly and inwardly facing generally frustoconical spring force transmitting surface and a peripheral sealing surface, and a coil spring above the seal having its upper end fixed with respect to the piston and having its lower end disposed in force transmitting relation with the force transmitting frustoconical surface of the seal so that the seal is biased thereby (1) downwardly against the annular member to urge the same into engagement with the piston valve seat and (2) radially outwardly to urge the peripheral sealing surface thereof into sealing engagement with the interior periphery of the cylindrical chamber. The seal when in spring biased relation has a bleed gap at the radial split thereof providing a bleed path in series with the annular gap for the flow of hydraulic fluid between the compression and rebound spaces within the cylindrical chamber.

Growing community of inventors

St. Charles, IL, United States of America

Michael H Kobiske