Mechanical compass arm for remote handling by slave arm - has secondary framing forming pin-jointed parallelogram and has jack negating arm weight

摘要

The mechanical compass type handling arm (FBA) has secondary framing (EDC) with a hydraulic jack (R) to negate the effects of gravity. The arm cantilevers from a static pin joint (F) and has an intermediate knuckle joint (B). It may be used to operate a remote-controlled slave arm of similar compass form in handling e.g. radio-active materials. The secondary framing comprises two further straight members (ED, DC) which are pinned (E, C) to the main compass arms (FB, BA) to form a pin-jointed parallelogram. The jack may acton the pin-joint (D) between the two secondary members, and may apply a vertical lifting force (R) of constant magnitude to the joint. In this way the self weight of the frame is negated during horizontal movements of the arm tip (A).