Hydraulic shock absorber

Abstract

A hydraulic shock absorber includes a cylinder, a piston axially slidably fitted in the cylinder so as to divide the interior of the cylinder into a first cylinder chamber and a second cylinder chamber, and a damping force generating mechanism mounted on the piston for generating damping force by controlling the flow of the working fluid between the two chambers. The damping force generating mechanism comprises first and second passages and first and second recesses. The first passage is formed through the piston oblique to the axis of the piston and connects the first and second cylinder chambers. The first recess is formed in one end of the piston on the side of the outlet end of the first passage so as to include the outlet end of the first passage. The second passage is formed through the piston parallel to the axis of the piston, at a circumferential position differing from that of the first passage, and connects the first and second cylinder chambers. The second recess is formed radially outside the first recess in the end of the piston on the side of the outlet end of the second passage. A disk valve assembly is disposed on one end of the piston on the side of the outlet end of the first passage, and includes a plurality of disk valve elements having different diameters and superposed in decreasing order of diameter on the piston so as to define a first chamber together with the first recess and to define a second chamber together with the second recess.