Integrated and self-contained suspension assembly having an on-the-fly adjustable air spring

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017106937-A1
Application number	US-201615395594-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 30, 2016
Priority date	Jun 25, 2002
Publication date	Apr 20, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

An integrated and self-contained suspension assembly having a gas spring integrated with a shock absorber (damper) is described. The rigid gas cylinder of the air spring is divided into a first gas chamber and a second gas chamber. A flow port connects the first and second gas chambers, and can be manually opened or closed by valve and a simple one-quarter turn rotation of an external knob to instantly switch the gas spring between two different spring rates. The different spring rates are functions of the separate or combined volumes of the two. gas chambers. The integrated suspension assembly is compactly packaged and self-contained, i.e., does not require any externalities, such as gas sources or electricity, to operate.

First claim

What we claim is:

1 . A suspension unit operable between a compressed position and an extended position, comprising:
a first chamber filled with gas; a second chamber filled with gas, the second chamber gas biasing the suspension unit toward the extended position; and a valve assembly, comprising; a valve member operable between:
an open position where the valve assembly provides open fluid communication between the gas chambers such that volumes of the chambers are effectively combined during compression of the suspension unit, and
a closed position where the valve assembly prevents gas flow from the second chamber to the first chamber;
a compression chamber at least substantially filled with damping fluid; a rebound chamber at least substantially filled with the damping fluid; and a damping piston operable to dampen flow of the damping fluid between the compression chamber and the rebound chamber in response to movement of the suspension unit between the positions.

Assignees

• Fox Factory Inc

Inventors

• Fox Robert C

Classifications

• B60G2300/12

  Cycles; Motorcycles · CPC title

• B60G2500/20

  Spring action or springs · CPC title

• B62K2025/048

  with suspension manual adjustment details · CPC title

• F16F2228/066

  Variable stiffness · CPC title

• B62K2201/08

  Fluid springs · CPC title