Abstract
The progress made in suspension during recent years, especially with regard to forms of relatively frictionless springing, makes the shock absorber, now generally known as the suspension damper, an essential part of the suspension system.
The simple friction type of damper has been displaced from universal popularity by some form of hydraulic control, and it is to the hydraulic damper that the paper is devoted. The three main types of hydraulic damper mentioned are the vane type, the lever-operated piston type, and the direct-acting telescopic type.
Design requirements for recuperating, transfer, and pressure valves are stated, and types of seals, and sealing problems, are given. Reference is made to the desirable characteristics of damper fluids, together with a summary of tests on various fluids.
The causes of noise—the most common being knock, swish, and squeak—are investigated, and remedies for their elimination are discussed. Various tests on dampers are described, and work diagrams, from which it is possible to analyse the various common faults, are given. Ride determination is mentioned and a damper calibration chart illustrated.
A review of the use of dampers for auxiliary purposes is made, and the type of damping that is required is considered.
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