Patent Application
20070007701
The present finding relates to an improved shock absorber to be used in particular in the bodies of trucks and/or transport motor vehicles, i.e. a device which absorbs the shocks as a truck or the like approaches a loading platform and is able to overcome all of the problems caused by the height difference between the vehicle and the loading platform upon loading/unloading.
As an alternative to the fixed rubber bumper installed to the horizontal rear body and/or to the end of chassis, trucks of the state of art are provided with shock absorbers consisting of cylinders rotating about a horizontal axis, as disclosed in Patent EP 0 648 644, or cylinder with a vertical, axis, or rubber ball bodies housed in suitable recesses arranged in the bumper or the shock absorber of the vehicle in which such ball bodies are able to rotate.
However, all of the above-mentioned solutions do not fully satisfy the requirements of users as they are not able to absorb any unevenness of the contact surface. In known devices, if the wall against which the rear portion of the truck body rests is shifted upwards or downwards because of a load change, the distance between the resting wall and the truck could be reduced, thus providing axial stresses that could possibly damage the shock absorber.
Moreover, the functionality of such shock absorbers provided with rotating members is strictly bound to the necessity that such rotating members keep the capability of a free rotation in time, however such rotation is often hampered by the undesired accumulation of debris and/or dirt caused both by the loading/unloading and the road circulation (mud, dust, etc.).
The main object of the finding is then to overcome such problems by providing a shock absorber provided with protected dampening means which is able to fully absorb or at least to limit the harmful effects of shocks in the axial direction, such as for example those that might occur as the truck approaches a loading platform.
This has been accomplished according to the present finding by providing a shock absorber or buffer for truck, characterized in that there is provided at least one support or contact member which is connected to a fixed member by mechanical connecting means of dampening material which allows such support member to shift axially by changing its distance with respect to such fixed member.
According to the disclosed finding, such support member acts as a “sliding shoe” for side shifts between the shock absorber and the contact surface to which the former rests or is pressed, as well as for axial shifts to absorb changes of distance between the vehicle and the wall of the loading platform.
An embodiment of the finding is shown only by way of a not limiting example in the accompanying drawings in which:
Referring particularly to the above Figures, the disclosed shock absorber includes, in combination, a preferably box-like fixed member 4 with an essentially parallelepiped shape provided with a front cover 16 and a rear base 6 as well as with one or more dampening members 10 which are, kept in their positions by a suitable spacer 8 that is free of moving to a direction perpendicular to the rear base 6 and the box-like fixed member 4, the support member or front shoe 1 made preferably of an antifriction material or other materialable to slide on the surfaces on which it rests being rigidly connected to such spacer 8.
According to the finding, such contact shoe 1 is able to shift perpendicular to its contact surface and to absorb resiliently any shock as the vehicle approaches the wall of the loading platform, as well as the little distance changes that can occur upon loading/unloading if the wall of the loading platform is not perfectly even and/or parallel to the loading body of the vehicle.
Moreover, the shoe has bevelled, rounded, corners to ensure the greatest ease of sliding on the wall of the loading platform in case side shifts of the shoe occur upon loading/unloading.
At last, it should be appreciated that the shock absorber disclosed can be installed preferably at the rear end of the loading body of a vehicle, however, it can also be installed with the same effectiveness of operation and without any modification to the wall of the loading platform which the vehicles have to approach. Of course, in the latter case, the height at which the shock absorber is secured depends on the model of vehicle which will approach.
According to a peculiar characteristics of the finding, the dampening means consists of preferably tubular cylinders 10 of elastic material which are capable of being deformed, by reducing their height by the compression exerted by shoe 1 connected thereto.
In the embodiment shown, shoe 1 is secured to the dampening means by a spacer 8. In other words, shoe 1 is firmly secured to one end of each elastic member 10, and the latter is connected with its opposite end to the fixed base 6 of the shock absorber. Thus, the elastic action of each dampening member 10 is performed by a temporary relative shift of shoe 1 that approaches the fixed base 6 and then leaves it up to the rest position.
It should be noted that, in order to guide shoe 1 inside the box-like body of the shock absorber, spacer 8 has an outer cylindrically shaped body matching the inner cylindrical shape of the box-like fixed body 4 so that the side shifts are limited.
The present invention has been described and illustrated according to a preferred embodiment thereof, however, it should be understood that anyone skilled in the art can make technically, functionally equivalent modifications and/or replacements without departing from the scope of the present industrial invention.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| RM2003U000083 | May 2003 | IT | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/IT04/00058 | 2/13/2004 | WO | 7/11/2006 |
