A fluid damper is provided including a cylinder filled with a damping fluid, a piston base body shiftably guided in the cylinder along a stroke axis, and a valve disk spaced apart from a shell wall of the cylinder. The piston base body divides an inner space of the cylinder into a front space and a rear space along the stroke axis. In the piston base body, there is at least one channel connecting the front space to the rear space in a fluid-conducting manner. The valve disk is shiftably guided along the stroke axis between an opening position unblocking the at least one channel and a closing position closing the at least one channel. The valve disk has a central area extending radially outward from the stroke axis, the central area being free of apertures.

A shock absorber includes a cylinder sealed with a working oil liquid, a piston slidably fitted in the cylinder, a piston rod connected to the piston and extended to the outside of the cylinder, and a plurality of passages through which the working oil liquid flows due to the sliding of pistons therein, and a damping force generating mechanism that is provided in a part of the passages and suppresses the flow of the working oil liquid to generate a damping force. The damping force generating mechanism includes a valve body through which the passage penetrates, an annular seat that projects from the valve body and surrounds the passage, and a disc that can be seated on the seat. A contact width at which the disc and the seat come into contact with each other is different depending on a position in the circumferential direction. As a result, it is possible to obtain a shock absorber capable of suppressing a sudden change in damping force before and after the opening of the disc valve without having a complicated structure.

A damper valve with an adjustable effective stiffness of a shim. The damper valve includes a piston. The piston has a fluid path formed therethrough. A shim is disposed proximate the fluid path formed through the piston. A stiffness adjustment feature is coupled to the shim, and the shim is disposed between the piston and the stiffness adjustment feature. The stiffness adjustment feature is configured to adjust the effective stiffness of the shim without affecting a preload applied to the shim.

A damping valve includes: a ring-shaped leaf valve having either one of an outer circumference and an inner circumference as a free end, the free end being allowed to be deflected toward both sides in the axial direction; a ring-shaped opposing portion that opposes the free end of the leaf valve with a gap; a first sub leaf valve stacked on one side of the leaf valve in the axial direction; and a first passage formed in the leaf valve so as to extend in parallel with the gap, the first passage being configured to be opened when the leaf valve is deflected in the direction away from the first sub leaf valve.

A valve seat member is provided with: a first seat arranged so as to be spaced apart from an opening of a port; a second seat connected to the first seat at both ends so as to surround the opening of the port; an island portion arranged on the first seat side of the opening of the port in a region surrounded by the first seat and the second seat such that a hollow space is formed between the island portion and the first seat; and a passage configured to extend through the island portion to allow communication between the port and the hollow space.

A damping force generating mechanism includes: a flow passage formation part that forms a flow passage through which a liquid flows; a valve configured to control a flow of the liquid in the flow passage; a back pressure control valve configured to control a pressure in a back pressure chamber that provides a back pressure to the valve by inflow of the liquid; and an accommodation part that is in a tubular shape with one side opening end narrower than another side opening end, forms the back pressure chamber, and accommodates at least the valve and the back pressure control valve.

Disclosed is a frequency sensitive type shock absorber including a piston rod reciprocating an inside of a cylinder and having a connection passage therein; a piston valve mounted on the piston rod and having a plurality of compression and rebound flow paths penetrating up and down thereof, and partitioning the cylinder into compression and rebound chambers; and a valve assembly mounted on the piston rod to generate a damping force that changes with frequency during a rebound stroke; wherein the valve assembly comprises: a housing coupled to the piston rod and having a pilot chamber in communication with the connection passage; a main retainer coupled to the piston rod and having a main chamber formed on an upper portion thereof in communication with the connecting passage; and a pilot valve coupled to the piston rod and disposed between the housing and the main retainer to partition the pilot chamber and the main chamber.

A damper valve with an adjustable effective stiffness of a shim. The damper valve includes a piston. The piston has a fluid path formed therethrough. A shim is disposed proximate the fluid path formed through the piston. A stiffness adjustment feature is coupled to the shim, and the shim is disposed between the piston and the stiffness adjustment feature. The stiffness adjustment feature is configured to adjust the effective stiffness of the shim without affecting a preload applied to the shim.

A furniture damper includes a damper housing, a fluid chamber therein, a damping fluid therein, and a piston displaceably supported within the fluid chamber. A switch element can be moved, when a damping stroke is below a predetermined pressure threshold value, into a first position in which the channel of the piston is at least partially covered by the switch element and a first flow rate of the damping fluid streams through a channel of the piston. The switch element is also configured to be moved, when the damping stroke is above the predetermined pressure threshold value, from the first position into a second position in which the channel of the piston is at least partially unblocked by the switch element and a second flow rate of the damping fluid streams through the channel of the piston, with the second fluid rate being larger than the first fluid rate.

A valving assembly to cause linear damping response in a shock absorber having a digressive piston, including a linearizing plate with a first side formed to contact a ridge of a digressive piston proximate an outer edge of the first side, a second side with a substantially flat surface, and flow openings to allow fluid flow between the first and second sides of the linearizing plate; and a valving assembly to cause progressive damping response in a shock absorber having a linear piston face, including a support disk at an end of the valving assembly opposite a piston, and a metering shim adjacent to the support disk, a side of the support disk facing the piston having a stepped down recess to seat the metering shim, and the metering shim having a smaller diameter than a cover shim to provide a gap between the support disk and the cover shim.