Remote operation type damping force control mechanism for hydraulic damper

Claim 1

A remote operation type damping force control mechanism for a hydraulic damper including a cylinder filled with hydraulic oil, a piston slidably fitted in said cylinder, said piston separating the interior of said cylinder into a first chamber and a second chamber, a hollow piston rod fixed at the one end thereof to said piston and having defined therein an oil path permitting said first and second chambers of said cylinder to communicate with each other through holes opening into said first and second chambers, respectively, and a bracket fixed to the other end of said hollow piston rod, comprising: an adjustment rod (8) rotatably inserted into said hollow piston rod and provided at the inner end thereof with an orifice plate (9) having a plurality of orifices of different diameters operatively cooperating with said oil path so as to render said adjustment rod capable of varying the area of said oil path by rotation of said adjustment rod; a remote operation part (30) for controlling the rotation of said adjustment rod; said remote operation part having an operation member (34), a control cable (21) operatively integrally connected with said operation member so as to be twisted upon operation of said operation member, said control cable extending from said remote operation part to the vicinity of the outer end of said adjustment rod; said bracket having a space defined therein; driving means contained within said space and interposed between the distal end of said control cable and the outer end of said adjustment rod for driving to rotate said adjustment rod in accordance with the operation of said operation member of said remote operation part; said driving means comprising a support shaft (15) for supporting said adjustment rod at the outer end thereof, a plurality of first pins (16) projectingly provided on an end face of the outer end of said adjustment rod around said support shaft, and a second pin (20) integrally jointed with the distal end of said control cable and perpendicularly engageable with said first pins; and said adjustment rod having a large diameter portion at the outer end thereof and provided at said large diameter portion with a click mechanism operative to the rotation of said adjustment rod.