Patent ID: 7767963

Claim:
A thermal imaging camera, comprising: (a) an outer housing having a lens end and a display end; (b) a core disposed within the housing, said core having a nose end and a display end; (c) at least three core damping members, each core damping member having a core end and a housing end, each core damping member contacting the core at its core end and the housing at its housing end, said core damping members providing for damping of the housing relative to the core in three hundred sixty degrees; and (d) a nose damping member disposed between the nose end of the core and the housing, the nose damping member providing for axial positioning of the core lens with respect to the housing and providing limited axial pivotal movement of the core with respect to the housing upon an impact force to the housing and providing for damping of the core with respect to the housing upon an impact to the lens end of the outer housing; whereby, in the event of an impact force to any point on the housing, an energy force wave created by the impact force is transmitted through the housing, through the core damping members to the core thereby allowing a time of increase of load absorbed by the damping members resulting in a lower energy spike to the core.