The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jan. 22, 2002
Filed:
Feb. 04, 1999
Norman E. Ritchie, Portland, OR (US);
Christopher J. Sameck, Portland, OR (US);
Marc Milobinski, Scappoosse, OR (US);
Freightliner LLC, Portland, OR (US);
Abstract
A vibration damper module is described with a first member adapted for coupling to one of the vehicle and seat, and a shock absorber adapted to be coupled to the other of the vehicle and seat. The first member may take the form of a housing within which the shock absorber is substantially disposed. A latch selectively couples and decouples the housing to the shock absorber to respectively apply and relieve the application of the dampening force from the shock absorber to the seat which dampens vibrations in the seat. The shock absorber may include an external housing carrying a latch gripping surface, such as a plurality of teeth. The latch may comprise at least one latch arm having a latch surface. The latch arm may be shifted to a first position in which the latch surface and latch gripping surface are engaged to couple the first member to the shock absorber and to a second position wherein these components are disengaged. The latch arm may be pivoted to the housing with the housing also pivoted to one of the vehicle and seat. The shock absorber may also be slidably coupled to the housing. In addition, the shock absorber may apply a non-linear dampening force to the seat when the latch arm is in the first position.