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 substantially 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 a lower gimbal portion and an upper gimbal portion adapted for connection relative to a drive member and a driven member, respectively, and a middle gimbal portion extending between said lower and upper gimbal portions, the ends of one slot of each pair of said members terminating a predetermined circumferential distance from the corresponding ends of the other slot of the same pair to form flexure portions between said ends, said flexure portions providing effective connections between said gimbal portions while permitting movement of each of said upper and middle gimbal portions relative to said lower gimbal portions about said transverse axes, said middle gimbal portions of said members having respective centers of gravity, said centers of gravity being arranged to substantially coincide with each other and with said coincident pivot points, and stop means to limit said movement, wherein each gimbal portion of one of said members is substantially coextensive with a corresponding gimbal portion of the other member, and wherein said stop means includes a ringshaped stop member having a groove portion receiving said outer lower gimbal, and wherein said inner lower gimbal is fixedly connected to said outer lower gimbal, and wherein said inner upper gimbal is fixedly connected to said outer upper gimbal, and wherein said outer upper gimbal is fixedly connected to said stop member.