Patent ID: 7523528

Claim:
A universal cradle apparatus, comprising: a telescoping clamping mechanism, comprising: (i) a male drive shaft and a mating female drive channel, the female drive channel further comprising a pair of spaced apart walls, and the male drive shaft further comprising a portion thereof sized to be received between the spaced apart walls of the female drive channel, (ii) a biasing member between the drive shaft and the spaced apart walls of the drive channel and positioned for elastically biasing the drive shaft toward the drive channel substantially along a common axis, (iii) a discrete locking key engaged between the biasing member and the female drive channel for constraining the biasing member between the drive shaft and the drive channel, the locking key being engaged with an opening in at least one of the two spaced apart surfaces for interlocking the locking key between the two spaced apart surfaces, and (iv) one of the drive shaft and the drive channel being structured for being secured to an external mounting surface; first and second mounting surfaces each positioned on a respective one of the drive shaft and the drive channel; and a first substantially rigid jaw structure and a second resiliently flexible jaw structure, each of the first and second jaw structures being coupled to a respective one of the drive shaft and drive channel adjacent to the respective mounting surface thereof, each of the jaw structures having a respective clamping surface projected therefrom and forming mutually opposing interior clamping surfaces arranged adjacent to the mounting surfaces positioned therebetween, and the clamping surface projected from the second substantially resiliently flexible jaw structure being inclined toward the mounting surfaces.