Patent ID: 7637685

Claim:
In an adjustment device having: a socket attached to an article to be adjusted; a housing remote from said article; a shaft moveable along a longitudinal axis in said housing, said shaft having a socket end engaging said socket; and a clutch to allow slippage of said shaft, the improvement comprising: a friction brake positioned in said housing and engaging said socket end of said shaft; wherein said socket is spherical and said socket end of said shaft engaging said socket is at least hemi-spherical, said friction brake comprises a tubular body and surrounds said shaft, a portion of said body has a solid wall that at least partially resides within said housing, a portion of said body is comprised of flexible fingers, said hemi-spherical end of said shaft has a flat portion extending in a direction transverse to said longitudinal axis, and the terminal ends of said flexible fingers engage said flat portion at the end of travel of said shaft.