Self-adjusting socket for lower limb prosthesis

A socket adjustment mechanism for a lower limb prosthesis, comprising:

• an actuator enclosure connectable to a receptacle body having a residuum receptacle;
• at least one actuator disposed within the actuator enclosure and connectable to a residuum retention mechanism associated with the residuum through a respective mechanical linkage, the at least one actuator configured to reciprocally cycle between a rest position and an actuated position and to act through the respective mechanical linkage to incrementally tighten the retention mechanism against the residuum on each movement of the at least one actuator into the actuated position and leave the retention mechanism further incrementally tightened upon each return of the actuator to the rest position;
• a releasable locking mechanism carried by the actuator enclosure and configured to maintain tightness of the retention mechanism against the residuum after each cycle of the at least one actuator;
• the actuator enclosure configured so that each step transmits motion to a respective resilient resistive element coupled to a respective one of the at least one actuator, wherein:
• when a tightness of the retention mechanism is below a threshold, each step transmits motion across the respective resistive element to the respective actuator to cycle the respective actuator to further tighten the retention mechanism;
• and
• when the tightness of the retention mechanism has reached the threshold, on each further step the respective resistive element yields to absorb the motion, so that the respective actuator fails to cycle on each further step, inhibiting further tightening of the retention mechanism beyond the threshold.