Rotary viscous damping apparatuses and approach

An apparatus comprising:

• a tray to hold one or more objects;
• a plurality of platform supports, each support being coupled to the tray and to an underlying base;
• for each of the platform supports, a damper mechanism including:
• a rotary viscous damper having a piston configured to rotate about a horizontal axis, a housing having a viscous fluid in which a portion of the piston resides, and one or more seals coupled to seal the viscous fluid within the housing;
• a damper arm having a first end coupled to the platform support and a second end coupled to the piston, the damper arm being configured to rotate in a vertical plane, with the second end rotating about the horizontal axis and the first end traversing an arc having the horizontal axis as its center;
• and
• a spring configured to apply a spring force to the damper arm relative to rotation thereof, by engaging with a surface of the housing and a surface of the damper arm;
• and
• a cap coupled to the housing and configured to apply pressure to the piston in a direction along the horizontal axis to maintain the piston within the housing.

A method comprising:

• providing a platform support and a damping mechanism connected to the platform support, the damping mechanism including:
• a rotary viscous damper having a piston configured to rotate about a horizontal axis, and having a housing configured to hold viscous fluid in which a portion of the piston resides;
• a damper arm having a first end coupled to the platform support and a second end coupled to the piston, the damper arm being configured to rotate in a vertical plane with the second end rotating about the horizontal axis and the first end traversing an arc having the horizontal axis as its center;
• and
• a spring configured to apply a spring force to the damper arm relative to rotation thereof;
• and
• damping movement of a platform connected to the platform support, including using the rotary viscous damper and the spring to dampen rotation of the damper arm about the horizontal axis.