Gimbal
The device has been known since antiquity, first described in the 3rd c. BC by Philo of Byzantium, although some modern authors support the view that it may not have a single identifiable inventor.
This was done by the suspension of the inkwell at the center, which was mounted on a series of concentric metal rings so that it remained stationary no matter which way the pot is turned.
[10] Extant specimens of Chinese gimbals used for incense burners date to the early Tang dynasty (618–907), and were part of the silver-smithing tradition in China.
[12] However, Carra de Vaux, author of the French translation which still provides the basis for modern scholars,[13] regards the Pneumatics as essentially genuine.
[14] The historian of technology George Sarton (1959) also asserts that it is safe to assume the Arabic version is a faithful copying of Philo's original, and credits Philon explicitly with the invention.
[18] The ancient Roman author Athenaeus Mechanicus, writing during the reign of Augustus (30 BC–14 AD), described the military use of a gimbal-like mechanism, calling it "little ape" (pithêkion).
But to prevent the shipborne machinery from rolling around the deck in heavy seas, Athenaeus advises that "you must fix the pithêkion on the platform attached to the merchant-ships in the middle, so that the machine stays upright in any angle".
In the Latin West, reference to the device appeared again in the 9th century recipe book called the Little Key of Painting' (mappae clavicula).
In this application, the inertial measurement unit (IMU) is equipped with three orthogonally mounted gyros to sense rotation about all axes in three-dimensional space.
In portable photography equipment, single-axis gimbal heads are used in order to allow a balanced movement for camera and lenses.
[21] This proves useful in wildlife photography as well as in any other case where very long and heavy telephoto lenses are adopted: a gimbal head rotates a lens around its center of gravity, thus allowing for easy and smooth manipulation while tracking moving subjects.
This leaves the center of gravity of the whole rig, however heavy it may be, exactly at the operator's fingertip, allowing deft and finite control of the whole system with the lightest of touches on the gimbal.
