Patent ID: 8061488

Claim:
A pneumatically actuatable clamping or braking device, comprising: (a) a housing with a space accommodating a hydraulic medium, the hydraulic medium comprising a solid body surrounding a secondary hydraulic medium, the solid body comprising a deformable body that is substantially incompressible under deformation and that displays a substantially uniform pressure distribution inside its volume and on surfaces delimiting its volume, the secondary hydraulic medium consisting of a liquid, a paste, or a solid having a Shore hardness less than that of the solid body, the space accommodating the hydraulic medium being delimited on one side by a wall of the housing and on another side by a clamping or braking element; and (b) an actuating element that is adapted to act on the hydraulic medium to produce a clamping or braking force which can be transmitted by the clamping or braking element to an impinging element, wherein: (i) the actuating element is shaped like a pin or a spike; (ii) the actuating element is adapted to be movable along a predetermined spatial path; and (iii) the actuating element is adapted to act on the hydraulic medium through an aperture in the wall of the housing delimiting the space for accommodating the hydraulic medium.