Patent ID: 8328439

Claim:
A camera crane comprising: a crane arm; a camera platform pivotally attached to first end of the crane arm; at least one camera platform leveling cable attached to the camera platform and to the crane arm, with the cable acting to maintain the camera platform substantially level as the elevation angle of the camera arm changes; a motor drive unit attached to the crane arm, with the motor drive unit including a first drive motor having a first shaft and a first gear attached to the first shaft, and including a second drive motor having a second shaft and a second gear attached to the second shaft, and with the polarity of the first motor opposite to the polarity of the second motor; first and second platform gear segments attached to the camera platform, with the first gear meshing with the first platform gear segment and with the second gear meshing with the second platform gear segment; and an electronic dampening circuit electrically connected to the first and the second drive motors, with the dampening circuit placing the first and second drive motors electrically in series, and with the output of the series connected drive motors connecting to a rectifier, a variable resistor, and a transistor.