A nonlinear mechanical element including a buckling column and hard stops. In one embodiment when the nonlinear mechanical element is subjected to an increasing compressive load, the buckling column buckles at a critical load, resulting in reduced stiffness past the critical load. One or more lateral hard stops may be provided adjacent to the buckling column to prevent the buckling deformation from exceeding a certain extent, and axial hard stops may be provided to shift the load path away from the buckling column when a certain amount of compressive displacement has been reached.

A front fork of a bicycle may include a suspension system that includes a damper. The damper may include a hollow tube with orifices that may be partially blocked by an adjustable blocker. A free end of the adjuster that adjusts the blocker may maintain its axial position in any rotational position. Ambient air may be introduced through a valve and retained in the suspension system. The suspension may include a mechanical spring in a chamber away from the valve that introduces the ambient air.

A laundry treating apparatus includes a main body, a washing tub, and a suspension assembly. The suspension assembly includes a support rod, an elastic member, and a damper. The damper includes a cap, a housing, and a friction member. The friction member is disposed in both the cap and the housing, and is configured to press the support rod through the coupling of the female coupling portion and the male coupling portion.

A vibration isolator includes a housing forming an internal cavity, an elastomeric diaphragm within the internal cavity, the elastomeric diaphragm combining with a first end of the housing to form an air spring within the internal cavity, a mechanical spring in series with the air spring within the internal cavity; a mount in series with the mechanical spring opposite the air spring, an annular elastomeric stopper between a second end of the housing and the mount, wherein the mount and the annular elastomeric stopper combine to seal the second end of the housing to form a chamber within the internal cavity between the elastomeric diaphragm and the second end of the housing, and a plate seated on the mount within chamber.

A first hydraulic damper includes one end portion attached to a first attachment position of a vehicle body. A second hydraulic damper includes one end portion coupled to the other end portion of the first hydraulic damper via a linking member, and the other end portion attached to a second attachment position of the vehicle body. Each of the first and second hydraulic dampers includes a hydraulic cylinder, a piston, a piston rod, a free piston, a compression coil spring, first and second working oil passages to cause first and second oil chambers to communicate with each other, and working oil passage throttles. The first hydraulic damper, second hydraulic damper, and the linking member are coupled in the longitudinal direction. One of the hydraulic cylinder and piston rod is attached to the vehicle body, and the other is coupled to the linking rod.

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to pneumatic pogo sticks having features that allow for the jumping and/or landing characteristics of the pogo stick to be varied. These characteristics may even be modified by a user during use. For example, the housing of the pogo stick may have multiple air chambers and air may be selectively transferred between the multiple air chambers. The transfer of air may change the volume, air pressure, compression ratio, and spring-characteristics of the one or more air chambers in which air is compressed during the compression stroke of the pogo stick. These changes will affect the jumping and/or landing characteristics of the pogo stick and in some cases may allow the user to obtain a greater jump height. At the same time, these features may also allow the pogo stick to be collapsed so that it can be easily stored, packaged, and transported.

A shock absorber includes a suction passage permitting flow only from a reservoir toward a compression-side chamber, a rectification passage permitting flow only from the compression-side chamber toward an extension-side chamber, and a variable valve permitting flow only from the extension-side chamber toward the reservoir. A large chamber as a compression-side pressure chamber communicating with the compression-side chamber and an outer periphery chamber as an extension-side pressure chamber communicating with the extension-side chamber are partitioned in the shock absorber by a free piston that moves slidably within a bottom member serving as a housing. A compression-side pressure-receiving area of the free piston is larger than an extension-side pressure-receiving area. Therefore, even in the uniflow shock absorber with the extension-side chamber and the compression-side chamber at equal pressures during the contraction operation, the damping force is reduced under conditions in which high frequency is input since the free piston moves downward.

A shock absorber includes i) a hollow base defining an axial direction and having a first mounting portion, ii) an outer axial tube, having first and second longitudinal ends, and being coaxially mounted into the hollow base via its first longitudinal end so as to allow adjusting a distance of the second longitudinal end relative to the base; and iii) an inner axial tube slidably mounted into the outer axial tube therein; the inner axial tube having a second mounting portion. The hollow tube has an opening therein that defines a window to allow visualizing a part of the outer axial tube therethrough which includes the first longitudinal end thereof.

A lockable lift assist assembly includes a piston assembly moveable between an extended position and a retracted position. A valve assembly is coupled in movement together with the piston assembly. The valve assembly is configured to selectively alter a flow of a hydraulic fluid through a fluid communication path established within the valve assembly to control movement of the piston assembly.

The present invention relates to an actuator system with a magnetic lead screw, comprises a magnetic rotor and a translator cylinder, the translator cylinder comprises a magnetic stator, the translator cylinder has a closed first end and a second end confined by a lid, the lid having a shaft opening for a shaft coupled to the magnetic rotor, wherein the magnetic rotor, when inserted in the translator cylinder, is arranged to translate a linear movement of the translator cylinder into a rotational movement of the magnetic rotor by using magnetic flux interacting between the magnetic stator and the magnetic rotor, said rotational movements is being transferred through a shaft, the lid with a shaft opening arranged for receiving the shaft, wherein the shaft is arranged to make both the linear and the rotational movement in the shaft opening, the lid being arranged for confining the second end of the translator cylinder, the translator cylinder confined by the lid forms, when divided by the magnetic rotor, a first chamber with a first volume and a second chamber with a second volume, wherein the first volume and the second volume changes as a function of the linear movement. The invention also relates to a method of operating an actuator system with a magnetic lead screw.