Handling device for displacing an object in three dimensions parallel to itself

Claim 1

A handling device enabling a moving element to be displaced in three dimensions in such a manner as to enable the moving element to conserve a predetermined attitude while it is being displaced, said device comprising a fixed base, a moving element and at least three actuator means interposed between the base and the moving element and mutually offset by identical angles, each of the actuator means being active in a substantially vertical plane and comprising: a hinge which is displaceable along a circular trajectory lying in said substantially vertical plane; a drive member supported by the base and connected at its moving end to said hinge, said drive member being suitable for imparting linear displacement to its moving end in said plane; and a link member of fixed length interposed between the moving element and the hinge and rotatably hinged to each of them; the device being characterized in that for each actuator means: the drive member comprises at least one actuator which is supported by the base so as to be capable of pivoting relative thereto in said vertical plane; the circular trajectory of the displaceable hinge is centered on a fixed point of the base situated in said vertical plane and not coinciding with the pivot axis of the actuator constituting the drive member, and is set by a connecting means which extends between said hinge and said fixed point of the base and which is hinged to both of them; the fixed length link member comprises a bar supporting a rotary part at each of its ends, said rotary parts being secured to two respective yokes which are respectively rotatably hinged to said hinge and to said moving element, an attitude transmission member also extending between said two rotary parts to couple them together in such a manner that any rotary displacement of one of the rotary parts is transformed into displacement that is identical in direction and amplitude of the other rotary part, and that the rotary connection axes of the two yokes with the hinge and the moving element respectively remain permanently mutually parallel; and all of the hinges are about axes that are substantially perpendicular to said vertical planes.