Flexure hinge assembly

Claim 1

A flexure hinge assembly comprising a pair of fixed telescoped tubular members, each said member having a longitudinal axis and a pair of transverse axes arranged in quadrature and intersecting at a common pivot point, said corresponding axes of said members being aligned, said pivot points of said members being coincident, each said member having at least two pairs of slots extending through the wall thereof, the slots of one pair being axially spaced from the slots of the other pair to form at least three gimbal portions in each member, said gimbal portions including an upper gimbal portion and a lower gimbal portion and a middle gimbal portion, said middle gimbal portion connected to said upper and lower gimbal portions, a bore being formed through the wall of each of said members at each end of each of said slots, the bores at the ends of one slot of each pair of one of said members terminating a predetermined circumferential distance from the corresponding bores at the ends of the other slot of the same pair to form at least two flexure portions between said bores, said flexure portions extending parallel to the longitudinal axes of said members, the bores at the ends of one slot of each pair of the other of said members terminating a predetermined axial distance from the corresponding bores at the ends of the other slot of the same pair to form at least two additional flexure portions between said bores, said additional flexure portions extending perpendicular to said longitudinal axes, wherein said middle gimbal portions of said members have respective centers of gravity said centers of gravity being arranged to substantially coincide with each other and with said coincident pivot points.