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US 4,318,522 AGranted
Gimbal mechanism
AssigneeRockwell International Corporation
InventorWalter T. Appleberry
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A novel gimbal mechanism utilizes one or more support arms so rotatably coupled to support structure and to an article whose position is to be controlled as to permit such article to be reoriented along any axis within a cone defined by axes of rotation of the gimbal's support arms.
Claims9
An article positioning apparatus comprising:
- a mounting base, and
- an angulated crank having first and second crank shafts, said first crank shaft rotatably attaching said angulated crank to said mounting base, said second crank shaft rotatably attaching said article to said crank, the axes of said crank shafts being non-parallel and intersecting at a point near the center of mass of said article.
An article positioning apparatus comprising, in combination:
- a mounting base;
- a plurality of support elements;
- each of said elements comprising an angulated crank having a crankshaft at each end thereof;
- said elements successively, rotatably coupled together by means of said crankshafts;
- the first of said elements rotatably connected to said mounting base by means of one of its crankshafts;
- the last of said elements so connected as to support a pointable article;
- all support elements rotating about axes defined by said crankshafts, with all said axes intersecting at or near a single point.
4 more elements
An article positioning apparatus comprising, in combination:
- an article having a pointing axis;
- a mounting base;
- a plurality of support elements;
- each of said elements comprising an angulated crank having a crankshaft at each end thereof;
- said elements successively, rotatably coupled together by means of said crankshafts;
- the first of said elements rotatably connected to said mounting base by means of one of its crankshafts;
- the last of said elements so connected as to support said article;
- a wedge shaped element rotatably disposed between the last support element and said pointable article;
- said wedge shaped element having first and second faces inclined to each other at a small angle;
- axis of rotation of said wedge shaped element being displaced at a small angle from the pointing axis of said article;
- all support elements rotating about axes defined by said crankshafts, with all said axes intersecting at or near a single point.
8 more elements
An article positioning apparatus comprising, in combination:
- an article having a pointing axis;
- a mounting base;
- a plurality of support elements;
- each of said elements comprising an angulated crank having a crankshaft at each end thereof;
- said elements successively, rotatably coupled together by means of said crankshafts;
- the first of said elements rotatably connected to said mounting base by means of one of its crankshafts;
- the last of said elements so connected as to support said article;
- all support elements rotating about axes defined by said crankshafts, with all said axes intersecting at or near a single point, including means to adjust the location of said single point.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.