Caster shimmy damper including a viscous damping medium

摘要

A viscous rotary damper adapted to attenuate shimmy of a rotary member such as a caster relative to an associated member such as a wheelchair leg, comprises a pair of relatively rotatable annular portions having structure for respective attachment to the members. The damper portions have annular cooperative working surfaces of substantial length defining therebetween a shear film space gap working chamber which is closed at opposite ends by dynamic seals and has a viscous damping medium substantially filling the working chamber gap and providing viscous shear coupling yieldably resisting relative rotary movements of the working surfaces. The damper is adapted to be in a miniaturized form comprising a stator ring and a rotor housing, the stator ring being arranged to be keyed to one of relatively rotary members and the rotor being arranged to be keyed to the other of relatively rotary members.